Diesel locomotive Calabro Lucane in southern Italy in 1926, following trials in 1924-5. In 1924, two diesel–electric locomotives were taken in service by the Soviet railways, almost at one time: In 1935, Krauss-Maffei, MAN and Voith built the first diesel–hydraulic locomotive, called V 140, in Germany. The German railways (DRG) being very pleased with the performance of that engine, diesel–hydraulics became the mainstream in diesel locomotives in Germany. Serial production of diesel locomotives in Germany began after World War II. In many railway stations and industrial compounds, steam shunters had to be kept hot during lots of breaks between scattered short tasks.
LMS diesel shunter 1831 converted to a mobile power unit, emerging in its new guise as MPU3 in November 1940. It was scrapped in August 1951. LMS diesel shunter 1831 No. 1831 was the first experimental diesel hydraulic shunter of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) which pioneered diesel shunting in the UK. It was introduced in 1932, built at Midland Railway's Derby Works. It was nominally a rebuild of a Midland Railway 1377 Class 0-6-0T steam locomotive of the same number, built in September 1892 by the Vulcan Foundry. The frames and running gear of the original locomotive were retained. The experiment