Ten units (CR-8b) were briefly operated in Thailand in the mid-1960s.

The general design of a CR-8 locomotive was available in weights from 45 to 65 short tons (40 to 58 long tons; 41 to 59 metric tons) with installed power ranging from 400 to 1,000 horsepower (300 to 750 kW), using twin engines with hydraulic transmission via a cardan shaft final drive, in gauges from 3 ft (914 mm) to 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm).

The locomotives were originally thought to have been operated on the Royal State Railways of Siam (RSR) as numbers 2001-2010 beginning in 1963 or 1964.

[17][n 1] The locomotives were transferred to South Vietnam in the late 1960s during the period of US involvement in the Vietnam War, and operated as numbers 1988 to 1997 by the US Army.

A higher weight class, the CR-8XT,[n 5] was operated by companies including Bethlehem Steel and the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company.