In the late 1940s, NZR was looking for a more powerful type of diesel shunting locomotive to work in the Wellington railway yards.
These locomotives, Tasmanian Government Railways V class, were powered by a Gardner 8L3 diesel engine producing 204 hp, and weighed 25.6 tonnes.
These locomotives were of a standard Drewry design but built by English Electric at their Vulcan Works.
A similar diesel locomotive had been built for the Ohai Railway Board in Southland, makers NO 2248/D68 of 1947.
[4] In 1954, NZR purchased another five A-1 type locomotives, numbers DS 200 - 204, for wharf shunting in the South Island.
All of the DS class locomotives and variants were powered by a Gardner 8L3 diesel engine producing 204 hp at 1200 rpm, coupled to a Wilson five-speed epicyclic gearbox with fluid transmission in turn connected to a final reduction and reverse unit.