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.
Electro-Motive Diesel 567 engine, introduced by their renamed Cleveland Diesel Engine Division in 1938. The new engine upgraded the horsepower of EMC's E series locomotives to 2000 per locomotive unit and increased reliability substantially. Also in 1938, EMC started to increase its reach up the chain of locomotive production by transitioning from General Electric equipment to in-house produced generators and traction motors. With Eugene Kettering moving to EMC that year, EMC moved into a leading role in further development of GM's locomotive engines. GM-Winton-EMC's long development efforts put the company in an advantageous position relative to other developers of Diesel-electric locomotion. Their