This is the Dr19, the newest diesel locomotive of VR group of the Finnish state. It's built by Stadler Rail in Valencia, Spain. VR ordered 60 locomotives of this type, with an option for possibly ordering 100 more. They are supposed to replace old Dv12 and Dr14 machines (pictured below). This individual no.2831 is actually Finland's first class Dr19 machine and it is seen here still as a prototype, not fully accepted for commercial use.
Picture from Rantaperkiö switching yards, Tampere, 22.5.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

One of the new Stadler Dr19 locomotives now in full commercial use.
Picture from Kontiomäki by Kalevi Kämäräinen 29.7.2023.

A Dr19 with a rake of empty timber wagons is approaching the road crossing of Kohtavaara which is located along the line from Joensuu to Kontiomäki. Picture by Kalevi Kämäräinen 18.12.2023.

A VR Dr19 locomotive pulling a heavy timber train is approaching and within seconds crossing the road crossing of Lokkiharjuntie in the commune of Valtimo in northern Finland.
Picture by Kalevi Kämäräinen 10.3.2024.

A Dr13 series unit 2327 built by Lokomo in 1964 under license from the French company Alsthom.
Photo by Antti Roivainen. Uploaded Feb 16, 1998

Six Dr 13 locomotives in one picture! To the left there are five Dr 13 locomotives in one cargo train, and they have to wait for incoming express train P 110 (right), which is arriving to Turku. P 110 is also being pulled by one Dr 13 (2337) locomotive.
Photo taken in Turku, Finland, main railway station 16th of May 1998. Photo by Lassi Luukkanen.

Class Dr13 heavy diesels were built by Alsthom in France and later also by Lokomo in Finland by a license from Alsthom in the beginning of the 1960s. In the early stages of their life they had a very bad reputation due to numerous design failures, but nevertheless they remained in service quite long. Nowadays one unit is preserved and kept at the Finnish railway museum at Hyvinkää. It is also used in VR's museum train called Valtteri, just like here. This picture is from the railway museum at Hyvinkää with the museum's Dr13 hauling a rack of wooden coaches from the 1930s and forming the museum heritage train "Valtteri".
Photo from Hyvinkää railway museum 9.8.2015 by Ilkka Siissalo.

A rare sight in 2018: Class Dr13 locomotive 2343 owned by the museum train association Haapamäen museorautatieyhdistys is here meeting an equally old train of blue and grey class Dm7 railbuses owned by the Keitele museum.
Picture from Suolahti 20.4.2018 by Jarkko Pasanen.

This is VR's heavy duty diesel, class Dr16, nicknamed "iso vaalee" or "the big blonde". This type was not a success. Although they are much newer than the DV12 machines, they newer got to replacing them as was planned. Dr16 is a dieselelectric machine bilt in 1985-92 in 30 copies. Its top speed is 140 km/h. A long series of accidents and fires have destroyed already almost up to a third of the machines and it has been also stated that the Pielstick engines built by Alsthom-Atlantique were a big mistake to use. All the Dr16 machines have been concentrated to be used in the northern and northeastern parts of Finland and they are now located at Joensuu and Oulu as their bases. It's rare to see one of them in the south.
Picture from Kontiomäki 20.4.2003 by Ilkka Siissalo

A class Dr16 series unit 2801 on test drive on 26 June 1986 with a class Sr1 series electric locomotive no.3091. This one is a prototype. If you compare the picture with the other pictures of Dr16 locomotives below, you can see several changes in e.g. lamps, undercarriage, air cooler on the roof etc.
Photo by Jarkko Voutilainen.

Another view of the "big blonde" class Dr16 seen from the front and surrounded by four class Dv12 diesels.
Picture 20.3.2003 from Kontiomäki by Ilkka Siissalo.

Most of the "Big Blonde" class Dr16 locomotives have already been painted in VR's new green and white livery.
Picture of one of the big blondes in Joensuu 26.6.2017 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Another class Dr16 "big blonde" with a remarkably long cargo train waiting for another passing train at Lieksa station 27.6.2017.
Picture by Ilkka Siissalo.

A class Dr16 locomotive no.2817 at Sieppijärvi, leading cargo train no. T5137 on 7.4.2018.
Picture by Aleksi Ylikangas.

A very typical Finnish express train of those days, this is the train P971 in Kajaani 13.7.2006. The locomotive is Dr16 no. 2822.
Picture by Mikko Nyman, edited by Pertti Heikkinen.

Railway museum visitors are getting a chance to look inside a beautifully restored old diesel of the class Dv16. The last Dv16s were scrapped in 2008. It was a medium heavy diesel intended mainly for shunting, but was used also in main and side line traffic, sometimes as a double pack. They were built by Valmet and Lokomo 1962-63. Top speed was 85 km/h. Dv16 is almost identical to class Dv15, but a bit more powerful due to an added turbo intercooler and due to larger wheels.
Photo from Finnish railway museum in Hyvinkää 9.8.20015 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Dv16 number 2038 in full speed on the line hauling a rack of 1930s style wooden coaches forming a museum train from the railway museum in Hyvinkää to Lohja and back on 9.8.2015.
Photo by Ilkka Siissalo.

The class Dv15 was a so called "medium heavy" class shunter machine which could also be used in mainline traffic, especially with short cargo trains. VR used this type 1958 to 2004. The slightly newer Dv16 series (shown above) is almost similar, but Dv16 had a bit better power rating due to an added intercooler and it also had bigger wheels. This individual Dv15 is a museum machine, the only one left in Finland. It is owned today by Haapamäen museoveturiyhdistys (Museum locomotive association of Haapamäki).
Picture from the Finnish railroad museum at Hyvinkää 15.5.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Another view of the same class Dv15 machine as above.
Picture from the Finnish railroad museum at Hyvinkää 15.5.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Dv12 series unit 2512 built by Valmet in 1964.
Photo by Valmet Oy. Copyright Valmet. Uploaded Feb 16, 1998.

Express train P 112 is arriving to Turku. Just behind two Dv 12 locomotives is the ferry company Silja Line's own coach, reserved for ship passengers. Photo taken in Turku, north side of main railway station 16th of May 1998.
Photo by Lassi Luukkanen.

Class Dv12 is still nowadays the most common main line diesel in Finland, here still seen in the older red and yellow livery and with 1960s style blue and grey coaches. These blue coaches have almost all disappeared by now and also the Dv12s are gradually being painted in VR's new white and green livery.
Photo from Jyväskylä station 13.4.2011 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Most of the Dv12 locomotives have nowadays already been painted to VR's new green and white colours. For this individual type the new painting does not even look particularly good.
Photo from Jyväskylä station 9.6.2012 by Ilkka Siissalo.

One of the Dv12s already painted in white and green doing shunting work at Kemi station.
Picture 11.7.2017 by Ilkka Siissalo.

This is an old class Tve1 rail tractor, also known by the manufacturer Saalasti Oy's name Otso1. These were produced 1958-63 at the Turenki sugar factory by Saalasti Oy, now Teräspyörä Oy. Now this is historic museum equipment.
Photo from Porvoo station 29.7.2006 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Another old Tve1 standing abandoned and forgotten behind the locomotive sheds of Turku station. Note the small chimney by its side. This is just aguess, but I think this one had received a Webasto heater.
Picture from Turku 30.5.2016 by Ilkka Siissalo.

The same Tve1 as above, now seen from its side.
Picture from Turku 30.5.2016 by Ilkka Siissalo.

A frontal view of the same Tve1.
Picture from Turku 30.5.2016 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Class Tve1 rail tractor no.426 in Joensuu 11.12.2005.
Picture by Jimi Alppimaa.

Another view of the class Tve1 rail tractor no.426 in Joensuu 11.12.2005.
Picture by Jimi Alppimaa.

This is the present day Tve2, built as Saalasti Oy's model Otso 2. 26 tons, 220 horsepowers, top speed 50 km/h. The engine came from Deutz.
Picture from the Finnish railway museum at Hyvinkää 18.5.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.

The same Otso 2 / Tve2 as above, now seen from its front.
Picture from the Finnish railway museum at Hyvinkää 18.5.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Class Tve 5 is a lightweight shunter machine which is peculiar in such a way that it also has large rubber wheels mounted sideways. This enables it to lift itself up from rails and move sideways onto another track. This small machine weighs 16 tons and has a modest top speed of only 20 km/h. Motorised by a Scania D11 diesel which is normally used in lorries. These machines were built by Saalasti Oy 1979-80 and VR bought 10 of them.
Picture from the Rantaperkiö fiddle yard in Tampere 21.9.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Same class Tve 5 as shown above but now seen from the other direction.
Picture from the Rantaperkiö fiddle yard in Tampere 21.9.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

A class Tve 4 lightweight shunter. The company Valmet built 40 of these 1978-83. Valmet calls this type Move 250B. It was designed for light work on shunting yards, but since it has a top speed of 75 km/h, it is also possible to use these as lightweight mainline diesels.
Picture from the Rantaperkiö fiddle yard in Tampere 21.9.2022 by Ilkka Siissalo.

The light shunter / rail truck Tka7 was a model produced for the VR by VR's own Kuopio mechanical workshops. This one individual is no longer working for VR, but the association Sinisten vaunujen ystävät (friends of the blue wagons). It is now used to move historic VR coaches. These were originally used for powering work trains for track renewal works, switch renewals etc. Therefore both a strong engine as well as the installed strong hydraulic lift were needed.
Picture from the national railway museum at Hyvinkää 18.5.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Class Tka8 rail tractor / rail truck operated by the company GRK on behalf of VR Fleetcare. Tka8 rail trucks have been modified from small locomotive series Tve4 machines. 25 locomotives were modified to become Tka8 rail trucks.
Picture from Riihimäki 15.3.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.

A class Vv13 light shunter is performing shunter duties at Haapamäki station. In the background, on the far left a steam shunter of the class Vr1 "Kana" (Hen). Next to this train an orange and grey diesel multiple unit of either the type Dm8 or Dm9 can bee seen. Nicknamed "Porkkana" (carrot), they were once common on all Finland's main lines. The type Vv13 is here seen still in its original dark green livery. They were built by the company Valmet as Valmet's type Move 51. They are from the late 1950s. After a thorough rehaul they were reclassified as class Tve in the beginning of the 1970s and even later as Tve3.
Picture from Haapamäki 4.4.1992 by Mikko Nyman.

These lightweight shunter locomotives or rather locomotor tractors of VR's type Trr are from the early 1960s. Similar machines were in use in several other European countries, for example in Italy. This small locomotive weighed only 5,5 tons but to increase pulling friction it could lift a part of the wagon or locomotive to be moved partly on top of itself thereby increasing weight - and of course friction. In Finland these carried the nickname "Kisko-Kalle" (Rail-Charlie). Kisko-Kalle's top speed was just 25 km/h and it had an engine with just 80 horsepowers power rating. They were mainly used for moving wagons in and out of repair shops but in rare cases they could also perform lightweight shunting duties.
Picture of two Kisko-Kalle locomotors at the locomotive shed of Turku station 30.5.2016 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Another class Trr shunter. If you compare this one with the ones shown above, you can notice that this one was even shorter and lacked the mechanism to lift one end of a wagon on top of itself.
Picture of a class Trr "Kisko-Kalle" at the locomotive shed of Turku station 30.5.2016 by Ilkka Siissalo.

This fairly exotic looking light shunter locomotive is of the Finnish class Dr35. They were built by the company Teräspyörä (Steelwheel) as their type Otso robot 75 HS. The type was designed for the use of Finnish state railways VR and that's why this machine is still in the green and white corporate colours of VR Transpoint. VR tested two of these machines extensively at several depots since 2012, but was finally not completely happy with the design. So far only two prototype locomotives have been built. The maximum speed of these locomotives is a modest 30 km/h. They are purely intended for switching duties only.
Picture from Kommila in Varkaus 24.10.2019 by Kusti Kinnunen.

The same Otso robot 75 HS as above, but seen from the other direction.
Picture from Kommila in Varkaus 24.10.2019 by Kusti Kinnunen.

Class Dr14 is a heavyweight shunter machine, which only can be found on the busiest shunting yards in Finland. It is nicknamed "Seepra" (Zebra) because of its typical stripy apparance as it was painted in its original red and yellow livery.
Picture from Vainikkala station by the Russian border 28.7.2006 by Ilkka Siissalo.

The same class Dr14 shunter as above, seen from aside.
Picture from Vainikkala station 28.7.2006 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Another view of the class Dr14.
Picture from Vainikkala station 27.8.2009 by Ilkka Siissalo.

It doesn't make the old shunter machines even a bit more ecological to paint them green, but yet the Finnish VR thinks it would be good for their "green" image to paint even old locomotives green. This is one of the old "Zebra" machines of Dr14 as pictured above, but now in the new greenwashed livery.
Picture from the station Imatra tavara (Imatra goods station) 29.7.2018 by Ilkka Siissalo.

One more picture of a now green Dr14.
Picture from Lappeenranta 7.9.2024 by Ilpo Ruissalo.

In the 1950s many European countries got new diesel locomotives based on 1930s US designs. In the Nordic countries, especially Denmark, the Swedish company Nohab sold huge diesels based on a General Motors Corporation 1930s model. Finland would have wanted these Nohabs also, but due to the lack of foreign currency, VR never got a license to buy locomotives from abroad. The result was this model Dr12, commonly known as "Huru". It fairly closely resembles the US style GM diesels, although is not exactly similar. These Hurus were the typical long distance express train locomotives of the 1960s and 1970s in Finland. 42 of these locomotives were built 1959-63. Only two are left and only one of them - this one - is in working condition. The locomotive is owned by the museum railway association Haapamäen museorautatieyhdistys. Behind the Dr12 Huru there is a class Dv16 diesel and a class Tk3 steam engine before a long rake of historic wooden coaches.
Picture from Turenki 5.8.2016 by Miko Rautiainen.

Another view of the class Dr12 Huru at Hyvinkää railway museum.
Picture at early morning of 6.8.2016 by Miko Rautiainen.

A Dr12 "Huru" is a huge machine if you have a look at it close by. This one was parked inside at the Finnish railway museum in Hyvinkää simultaneously as there was a miniature railways exhibition ongoing.
Picture from Finnish railway museum in Hyvinkää 18.5.2024 by Ilkka Siissalo.

As already mentioned above, VR of Finland would actually have wanted to buy General Motors - Nohab diesels made in Sweden, but finally never got the permission from Finland's bank to use so much foreign currency. As a substitute the model Hr12/Dr12 Huru was developed. But there was one GM-Nohab in Finland for test purposes, rented from the manufacturer Nohab. There are relatively few photos of this "Finnish Nohab" published, but here is one. This is the rented Nohab with a rake of old wooden VR coaches somewhere close to Helsinki. This locomotive was in use in Finland 1958-59 and it ran in Finland for about 257 000 km before it was returned to Nohab in Sweden. There is some snow in the picture, so apparently the picture is from spring 1959. The picture is taken by Olli Nieminen and is published here with his permission.
Later Nohab sold this same locomotive to Norwegian state railways NSB where it served as NSB class Di3b no.643 until the year 2000 when NSB sold it to the United Nations against a nominal price. UN took it to Kosovo and it was used there for a long time. A picture of this exactly same locomotive in Polje, Kosovo in the year 2004 by Markku Salo can be found here: http://railpics.club/Kosovo/ks-di3_643-kosovo-markku_salo-full.jpg

Passenger train at Riihimäki station in 1962, pulled by diesel locomotive Hr12 (later class Dr12) no.2216.
Photo by Taisto Ketolainen. Uploaded Feb 16, 1998.

This picture could have been taken anytime in the late 1950s or early 1960s (if it weren't for the modern train just barely visible far away in the background). But this is from May 2018 and it is a museal train owned by Haapamäen Museoveturiyhdistys HMVY (museum locomotive association of Haapamäki). Their stylish old express train was visiting southern Finland.
Picture by Petja Touru in Hämeenlinna 8.5.2018.

This new locomotive is called now in Finland class Dr20, but actually these machines were built in Turkey for a German company Heavy Haul Power International. It is designed by General Electric as their type PowerHaul PH37ACai. Nine locomotives were built in 2013-14 but they were never taken in use in Germany as they never got the expected permission to run everywhere on German rails. Basically the machines were found to be too heavy and the German authorities would have allowed their use only on a couple of named railway lines. HHPI did not accept this and returned the machines to their builder Tülomsas in Turkey. They were intended to be sold to private rail companies in Turkey, but instead they were now sold to Operail, formerly known as Estonian national state railways EWR. Operail wanted to expand its operations into Finland and for that purpose they let change the bogies of these locomotives to 1524 mm gauge and are now seeking permission to take them in use in Finland. Here one of the locomotives, no. 29010 is passing the station of Kuopio on its way to Kajaani and trial and measurement runs at Laajakangas.
The Finnish company Nurminen Logistics bought in January 2023 Operail's Finnish business and trains and officially the company is now called Northrail. However, the old Operail texts and logos are still on the locomtives.
Picture from Kuopio 28.7.2020 by Veeti Rissanen.

During the years 2020 and 2021 Operail's main business in Finland was hauling Russian coal trains from the Finnish/Russian border to the harbour of Koverhar on the Hanko peninsula in southwestern Finland. In Koverhar the coal was loaded in ships. The whole business started as political relations between Estonia and Russia deteriorated and Russians did not want to rely so much on Estonian harbours. Here we see one of Operail Finland's Dr20 locomotives at Vainikkala, which is one of the border stations between Russia and Finland. The mighty locomotive is waiting for the next coal train to arrive from Russia. All of this coal hauling business came to an abrupt end when Russia attacked Ukraine.
Picture from Vainikkala 20.7.2021 by Ilkka Siissalo.

The same Dr20 locomotive as seen above, but here seen more from its side.
Picture from Vainikkala 20.7.2021 by Ilkka Siissalo.

Operail / North Rail brought also from Estonia to Finland this locomotive called C30-MF "Jakob". It's a totally new locomotive with Caterpillar engines, but it has been built in Tapa, Estonia using old undercarriage parts and bogies from originally US made C30 machines which what was then Eesti Raudtee imported from USA to Estonia a long time ago. There are currently three of these machines in Finland and this one was the first of them. North Rail uses them only for shunting purposes. This one has been active mostly in Siilinjärvi, shunting heavy ore wagons.
Picture from Siilinjärvi 10.9.2023 by Heikki Helve.

The same C30-MF (C30, modernised, modified for Finland) seen from the other direction.
Picture from Siilinjärvi 10.9.2023 by Heikki Helve.