Diesel locomotive Therefore, diesel traction became economical for shunting before it became economical for hauling trains. The construction of diesel shunters began in 1920 in France, in 1925 in Denmark, in 1926 in the Netherlands, and in 1927 in Germany. After few years of testing, hundreds of units were produced within a decade. Diesel-powered or "oil-engined" railcars, generally diesel–mechanical, were developed by various European manufacturers in the 1930s, e.g. by William Beardmore and Company for the Canadian National Railways (the Beardmore Tornado engine was subsequently used in the R101 airship). Some of those series for regional traffic were begun with gasoline motors
Electro-diesel locomotive take advantage of shorter sections of electrified main lines. Bombardier has built dual-mode variants of its AGC series for the French operator SNCF; the electricity is collected by means of a pantograph. In Russia, a number of electro-diesels were built which had both pantographs and diesel prime movers; these locomotives were actually multiple units, with distinct electric, diesel, and motor sections. These included: An experimental electro-diesel locomotive, DEL120, was built by London Underground in 1940 but was not a success. Two types have been built whose electricity source was a 750 V DC third rail. Electro-diesel locomotives and multiple units