Form novelty 2026: Diesel locomotive of the Styrian State Railways

In 1968, the company Duro Dakovic delivered the first prototype 740-001 of a newly developed diesel locomotive with a bogie for testing on the Bosnian Eastern Railway to the Yugoslav State Railways JZ. The aim was to rationalize freight transport and to replace steam operation on the narrow-gauge network, which was still about 3000 km long with a gauge of 760 mm in the 1960s. By 1972, a total of 40 units were delivered with the locomotives 740-001–025 without heating equipment and 740-101–115 with a steam boiler; however, as in many other countries, they could not stop the decline of the narrow-gauge railways, so some of them found new tasks with industrial companies or track construction companies or in other countries.

The Styrian State Railways (StLB) took over the two locomotives 740-023 and 024 in 1980 for freight transport on the Thörlerbahn and the Feistritztalbahn. The two VL 22 and 23 received new MTU engines. After the closure of the Thörlerbahn in 1995, VL 22 received a more powerful MTU engine and the new red livery of the StLB. When the Feistritztalbahn also lost its freight traffic in 2014, it moved to the Murtal. There, it pulls the occasionally running freight and work trains.
Model version in condition until around 2023, before a switch and fire extinguishing box were installed on the short front.

Model version
Chassis made of die-cast
Drive and power pickup over all four axles
Sound preparation
LED front signal dependent on travel direction