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
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