In 1913, the Finnish State Railways introduced the L1 shunter. It was a 0-6-0T tank locomotive that was originally operated with saturated steam and fired either with wood or coal. The wood-fired locomotives could be recognized by their balloon-shaped chimney. Due to their bad running characteristics at speeds of more than 20 km/h, they earned the nickname “Kana” (Hen). Today they are better known as Vr1, the designation they got with the new scheme that was introduced in 1942.

By 1927, 33 had been built by Tampella in Finland and 10 more by Hanomag in Germany. In 1918 six came to Russia, of which four returned ten years later. Starting in 1925, they were superheated. This ensured that their power still met the requirements for shunting service for several decades to come. The last ones were retired from regular service in 1975 and today, 17 of the 43 class members are still existing.