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
Diesel locomotive deliver 1,200 volts (earlier traction "generators", DC to DC, had the capability to deliver only 600 volts). This improvement was accomplished largely through improvements in silicon diode technology. With the capability to deliver 1,200 volts to the traction motors, the necessity for "transition" was eliminated. A common option on diesel–electric locomotives is dynamic (rheostatic) braking. Dynamic braking takes advantage of the fact that the traction motor armatures are always rotating when the locomotive is in motion and that a motor can be made to act as a generator by separately exciting the field winding. When dynamic braking is utilized, the