By 1925 local and urban railway passenger transport was coming under threat from the increasing usage of the automobile.
Seeing their successful use abroad, Sentetsu decided to put railcars with internal combustion engines into service.
[1] These small, 30-passenger railcars, the Nakeha1 class, were made in Japan by Nippon Sharyō and were powered by a 33 hp (25 kW) Ford engine.
A total of seven were built in 1928 and 1929, and they quickly proved well suited to frequent suburban service due to their low operational costs when compared with locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
Powered by a Waukesha Motor Company 6-KU 62 hp (46 kW) 6-cylinder petrol engine imported from the United States, they carried 45 passengers in 3rd class accommodations.