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
Terra Nova 1260HP diesel hydraulic locomotive started to produce the Terra Nova locomotive, its future plans for 2015-2018 being to build a new 2500 HP diesel electric locomotive and a new 6500 kW electric locomotive. The Terra Nova locomotive is a 1260 horsepower machine powered by 2 x Cat C18 Engines of 630 HP each with Cat TR43 Locomotive Transmission packages being able to provide a tractive effort of 230 kN. Built for short-line (20–30 miles) railroad operations or shunting procedures, the Terra Nova is ideal for making line switches and organizing cars within a rail yard. Cat engines and transmissions are worldwide known for their