Diesel locomotive break down. Hydraulic transmission for locomotives was developed in Germany. There is still debate over the relative merits of hydraulic vs. electrical transmission systems: advantages claimed for hydraulic systems include lower weight, high reliability, and lower capital cost. By the 21st century, for diesel locomotive traction worldwide the majority of countries used diesel–electric designs, with diesel hydraulic designs not found in use outside Germany and Japan, and some neighbouring states, where it is used in designs for freight work. In Germany and Finland, diesel–hydraulic systems have achieved high reliability in operation. In the UK the diesel–hydraulic principle gained a poor
Victorian Railways S class (diesel) Victorian Railways S class (diesel) The S class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Victorian Railways between 1957 and 1961. The S class was based on the Electro-Motive Diesel F7 design and were very similar to the GM12 class then being built by Clyde Engineering for the Commonwealth Railways. They were mechanically similar to the 1952 built double ended B class. The first order for 10 locomotives, were progressively delivered between August 1957 and February 1958. The first four took the names and numbers of the recently scrapped S class steam locomotives, with