These Australian built locomotives were purchased second hand from Queensland Railways in Australia, where they were that systems DH class. Originally built for QR's 3 ft 6inch gauge they were regauged for VN's  metre gauge. Strangely they still carry the QR logo even after repainting in VN! Maybe no-one in Vietnam understands what it is? They were built from 1968 to 70 by Walkers Ltd at Maryborough in Queensland and are rated at 500 hp. In Queensland they were used mainly for shunting but in VN are employed in a much broader range of tasks. The first one(DH54)was ex Redbank Workshops 8/91, DH42&65 ex Redbank 10/93, DH6,8-9,15,33,39,44,57,58, ex Redbank 2/95, DH26 ex Redbank 6/95. They are sometimes seen coupled with D10H class (DFH21). They are used almost exclusively in the north and mainly on freight services on the Hà Nội - Lào Cai line.

Class	D5H
Model	GH500
Manufactured by	Walkers Ltd, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, for Queensland Railways
Year of manuafacture	1968-70 ('Demonstrator' delivered in '68, majority built 1970)
Years Delivered	1993-95 - ex 6,8,9,15,26,33,39,42,44,54,57,58,65 shipped 7-10-93 and 23-2-95
No. in Class	13
Numbers	025, 051-062
Weight	40 tonne
Maximum Speed	65 km/h
Axle load	10 tonne
Engine	6 Cylinder Caterpilar D355E diesel engine rated at 347 kW / 465 HP
Length	11.1 metres

Steam Locomotives generally used the traditional French classification system. A steam locomotive with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement is classified as 141 class, a locomotive with  4-6-2 wheel arrangement is classified as 231 class etc. To differentiate between different locomotives with the same wheel arrangement, the initial road number was added, e.g. 231-400 and 231-500. Some northern locomotives of Chinese origin were also known by their Chinese classification. e.g. 141 also known as ZL.