Following the occupation of the Netherlands by the German Wehrmacht, the Dutch Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS) had to surrender many of their locomotives to the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

By the end of World War II, 466 of the 866 Dutch steam locomotives as well as 83% of diesel and electric multiple units had been taken to Germany.

The Dutch government-in-exile therefore had already ordered new steam locomotives from Nydqvist & Holm AB (NOHAB) in neutral Sweden in 1942 to remedy the vehicle shortage anticipated for the end of the war.

The NS 4000 was an extremely modern three-cylinder locomotive by Dutch standards; all cylinders drove the first axle.

For example, all axles ran on SKF roller bearings, the back of the streamlined cab was completely closed with folding bellows on the tender and the locomotives had electric lighting as well.

It was therefore decided to replace these with copper ones, which was a costly investment, also because a few extra boilers had to be purchased from NOHAB, which were also fitted with steel inner fireboxes.

The sandbox and steamdome shared a dome, also a feature of Swedish locomotives, as was the tender used, which was based on a design by Karl Gölsdorf.

The electric lighting of the engine, previously unknown to the NS, proved helpful in terms of entertainment.

From January 1953 onwards it was possible to run electric locomotives and multiple units to Arnhem after that the NS 4000 series lost their place on these trains.