In the 1950s, the Bundesbahn needed a shunting locomotive to replace six- and eight-coupled steam locomotives in this role. Development began in 1951 with the participation of all well-known manufacturers, who were to divide production among themselves. Finally, in 1955, a total of four prototypes were built by Krupp, Krauss-Maffei, MaK and Henschel with different engines.

The Maybach engine ultimately used in the series was a development of the GO 6, which had been used in the pre-war period in the SVT 137 series express DMUs. In contrast to the engines of shunting locomotives from other countries, this was turbocharged, but the boost pressure was limited to a moderate 0.4 bars. The hydraulic transmission did not transmit the power to the axles via individual cardan shafts as in the V 80, but to all axles via a single jackshaft and coupling rods. Despite the coupling rods, the middle axle could be shifted sideways by 30 mm for better running through curves.

Identical or at least very similar locomotives were sold to Belgium, Greece and Turkey. Just one year after the start of series production, the locomotives received approval for one-man operation. They were used not only in shunting service, but also in light line service. Of a total of 942 V 60s built, 319 were given a reinforced frame to increase traction, which increased the weight by almost five tonnes. These could be weighed down by a further six tonnes with additional ballast. In the 1960s, the locomotives with lighter frames showed that the frames were too light and had to be reinforced afterwards.

With the renumbering in 1968, the lighter version became the class 260 and the heavier one became the class 261. In the 1980s, some industrial locomotives were tested as possible successors to the V 60, but none were adopted. Nevertheless, at the same time there were already many decommissionings, with some locomotives being sold to private railways. Others were sold to state or private railways in Norway, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Algeria, Italy and Switzerland. To save on personnel costs, the locomotives were classified as light locomotives in 1987 to be able to use less trained personell and the class numbers were changed to 360 and 361, respectively.

In the 1990s, many locomotives from the classes 360 and 361 were equipped with remote controls and were thus redesignated as classes 364 and 365. They also received automatic shunting couplers and Caterpillar engines. The unconverted locomotives were retired by 2003. In 2015, 221 of the converted ones were still available.

In the GDR's diesel locomotive program, a 650-hp locomotive was planned for medium shunting services, of which two prototypes were manufactured in 1959 as the V 60. It also had to be able to be used on tight radii and not only be used by the Reichsbahn, but also in industrial combines and, if possible, also be exported. The required axle load of a maximum of 15 tonnes made four axles necessary, which had to be in one frame because of the drive via coupling rods. Two axles were connected to each other with a Beugniot frame in order to enable the axles to be moved sideways.

The prototypes were powered by a turbocharged V8, which, however, did not prove itself with the frequent load changes in shunting. Instead, the larger V12 from the V 100 and V 180 was used in production, which still achieved the required 650 hp after the omission of the turbocharger. The first 163 prodction engines of the V 60¹⁰ weighed 55 tonnes, the others were equipped with five tonnes of ballast and designated as V 60¹². Production was soon relocated from Babelsberg to Hennigsdorf, with a total of 2,256 units built by 1982. The engines were listed as class 106 from 1968. After the completion of more than 1,000 engines, the class numbers 104 and 105 were used to comply with the three-digit serial numbers, since the 107 was already occupied by the V 75.

As planned, the V 60 was also used by a large number of industrial companies, even if the Reichsbahn later bought some of them. For the ferry port of Mukran on the island of Rügen, 14 examples were converted to a gauge of 1,520 mm and central buffer coupling in order to be able to take over the Soviet freight cars arriving there. Exports took place to Egypt, Bulgaria, Algeria and others.

After reunification, the locomotives were assigned to the classes 344 to 347. Many were gradually sold off, since the West German V 60 was more economical to use and some had already been equipped with remote control by the Bundesbahn. Even the fact that at that time some locomotives had already been rebuilt with a de-rated engine and a single-gear transmission to improve efficiency did not change that. The industry bought many more locomotives and in some cases used them for a longer period of time.

The three-axle models of the second Henschel post-war generation started with the DH 390 and shortly afterwards the weaker DH 360. Soon the engine power was increased to 440 and finally 500 hp thanks to new engines. The engine used in the DH 440 was the MAN W 8 V 17.5/22 A with a displacement of 42 liters and eight cylinders, which reached its rated output at 1,100 rpm. The DH 500, on the other hand, received the Mercedes-Benz MB 836 Bb with a displacement of just under 30 liters from six cylinders, which, however, with 1,500 rpm was already one of the high-speed engines and was turbocharged. 

The DH 440 only reached a quantity of six, half of which went to various companies and half to the Danish State Railways. However, the latter had 120 copies built by Frichs as MH (II) without licensing. The DH 500 was offered from 1956 as a „Hüttenlok” (smelter locomotive) because it was a suitable locomotive for the narrow tracks of the metallurgical works with sufficient power for the heavy loads. This was partly thanks to the shorter overall length due to the smaller engine. It could anticipate some improvements that led to the DH 500 Ca from Henschel's third generation.

The third post-war generation of Henschel shunting locomotives was based directly on the second, but used a larger number of standardized assemblies. There were again two- to four-axle locomotives, the engine power of which sometimes overlapped and made it necessary to include the wheel arrangement in the designation.

The DH 360 Ca and DH 500 Ca models were therefore three-axle locomotives with 360 and 500 hp respectively. The weaker variant used a V12 diesel from Henschel that was not turbocharged. The variant with 500 hp received the Mercedes-Benz MB 836 Bb, which already powered the previous series. Overall, the third-generation locomotives were available with 120 to 850 hp, with the three-axle models later also being offered with 700 hp. 

No locomotives of this generation were delivered to the Bundesbahn ex works and customers were primarily found in the mining industry. The DH 500 Ca also found customers in Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Sudan and Ghana. A total of 18 DH 360 Ca and 89 DH 500 Ca were built.

The Arnold Jung Lokomotivfabrik also offered some diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotives in the 1950s, which were based on the Wehrmacht diesel locomotives. Two-axle vehicles with 300 hp, three-axle vehicles with 300, 400 and 440 hp and a four-axle vehicle with 600 hp were available. The designation of these locomotives consisted of an R for “shunting locomotive”, a number that indicated the approximate horsepower in tens and the letter B, C or D for the number of axles. There were also the RK 12 B and RK 20 B with chain drive. Although these were the first successful young diesel locomotives of the post-war period, the manufacturer referred to these locomotives as the “third generation” with regard to the former models from earlier times.

The R 42 C was the most successful variant of the series with 29 units. In reality, it had an output of 440 hp, which came from an eight-cylinder in-line MAN engine. This was the same engine like that used in the competing 440 hp Henschel and Krauss-Maffei locomotives. The Bundeswehr was the largest customer with seven vehicles. In contrast to their competitors, the young locomotives found fewer sales in industrial companies and were used more often on light and district railways.

After the end of the war, Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz was one of the first locomotive builders to be able to resume full-scale production. The first newly developed model was the V6M 436 R, which, however, was based directly on the WR 360 C 14. The designation actually stood for the engine and meant “four-stroke, 6 cylinders, water-cooled, 4th generation, 36 cm piston stroke, standard gauge” and also referred to the locomotive. The transmission was still via a Voith torque converter on a jackshaft between the second and third axle, which in turn drove coupling rods. The 536 R already used a fifth-generation engine that produced 450 hp. From 1955, both had a higher driver's cab, which improved the view to the front.

The 436 R was built a total of 27 times from 1948 to 1958 and was mainly sold to customers in Germany. The Bundesbahn, Bundespost, Volkswagen and the ports of Hanover each ordered two to four locomotives, otherwise all other customers only ordered one example. The 536 R was built a total of 35 times from 1952 and was mainly used directly abroad. The export customers were in Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In Luxembourg they were run by the CFL as class 450. Two pieces were delivered to the US Army in Europe and one to the British Army of the Rhine.

The ML 440 C and ML 500 C were industrial diesel locomotives based in part on the mass-built Wehrmacht WR 360 C 14 or V 36 locomotives, respectively. This connects them with the comparable models from Henschel and Jung. The manufacturer's designation allows conclusions to be drawn about the installed engine power of 440 or 500 hp and the wheel arrangement C. The four-axle ML 550 D was also offered. Also because of the engine power, the two ML 500 Cs that came from the Wilhelmsburg Industrial Railway to the Bundesbahn were given the designation V 50.

Compared to the V 36, the systems were arranged differently in order to be able to move the driver's cab a little in the middle. This provided a better overview in both directions and gave it a typical shunting locomotive appearance with a long and a short hood. Early in production, the locomotives were given hoods that sloped forwards, which provided even better visibility.

The power transmission onto the three axles was still done by a jackshaft and coupling rods. It is noteworthy that both locomotives received engines from different manufacturers, but the ML 440 C had the same engine as the Henschel DH 440 and the Jung R 42 C, while the ML 550 C had the same engine as the Henschel DH 500 C. Two gears allow the two locomotives to have a selectable top speed of 28/55 km/h and 29/58 km/h.

A total of 53 and 56 engines were built from each of the two models, some of which achieved a long service life, as is usual with industrial railways, and some are still in use. The Augsburger Localbahn continues to use some of their ML 440 C, which have had radio remote control since the 1980s.