During the Second World War, the Belgian State Railways had 50 type 553 railbuses manufactured at Brossel. They represented the third generation of railbuses from this manufacturer and were based on a prototype from 1939, which had been designated as type 552. Although the vehicles were not much longer than the German railbuses of the post-war period, they had two bogies, each of which a powered inner axle. The power for this came from an eight-cylinder in-line engine, which, like the vehicles, came directly from Brossel.

Some of the 50 vehicles of the type 553 were destroyed during the war, which is why initially ten and later another ten of the successor type 554 were built from 1950. These differed from their predecessors not only with a different car body, but also with better insulation and the toilet. While the older vehicles were later redesignated as MW 49, the newer ones became MW 46. In the 1970s, the latter received new two-stroke diesel engines from Detroit diesel with only 178 hp instead of 226 hp. The vehicles were phased out between 1985 and 1994, some of them were later used in construction trains. Only two of the 50 units of the type 553 were preserved, while about half of the 20 units of the class 554 are still preserved today.

In 1948, the requirements for a railbus were formulated, which should use components from the construction of road buses. Because of the lightweight construction, there was no intention to couple conventional cars. Instead, suitable trailers were developed, which were to be attached using light-weight Scharfenberg couplings. The capacity of each vehicle should be 40 people and there should be a toilet in each vehicle. The winner of the tender was the Uerdingen car factory, which had already gained experience in the construction of railbuses in the 1930s.

In 1950, the first ten motor cars and six trailers were built as prototypes. These were 10.5 m long and had large overhangs because of the then permissible fixed wheelbase of 4.5 m. Thanks to a special permit, only the eleventh prototype could have a wheelbase of 6.0 m and was 12.75 m long, which was also adopted for series production. A Büssing U 9 with 110 hp was used as the engine, which was connected to an electromagnetically switched six-speed gearbox. The gas and brake were operated with pedals, as in road vehicles. Since the brake turned out to be undersized, a magnetic rail brake was installed in later vehicles and retrofitted to all existing vehicles.

A version of the same engine with 130 hp and later the Büssing U 10 with 150 hp were used in series production. The Bundesbahn received a total of 557 motor cars and 564 trailers. Most of the time, a combination of one motor car and one trailer was used, but the motor cars also ran on their own on hilly routes. Three railbuses were each given two engines in order to be able to use them on the steep Erlau–Wegscheid route with an incline of 6.89 percent. While the trailers were designated VB 142, 60 single-axle VB 141 trailers were built to transport luggage and bicycles.

Since there were no control cars, the motor car had to drive to the other side of the trailer at the terminus and then be operated from the second driver's cab. Later, a total of 185 motor cars were equipped with a so-called small control gear in order to be able to use two motor cars with up to two trailers in the middle. From 1964, some motor cars were equipped with equipment to use them without a conductor.

In addition to the Bundesbahn, the CFL and the JŽ each received ten motor cars and trailers. The Saarland also received 15 motor cars and 12 trailers. However, these were built under license in Saarland and had different engines in order to be able to save on customs costs. Likewise, seven motor cars and four trailers were manufactured under license in Italy. Some private railways had received vehicles with side buffers and a more powerful engine, which already represented an intermediate stage towards the successor VT 98. The VT 95, which was classified as class 795 from 1969, was retired from the Bundesbahn by 1980.

In addition to the VT 95, the family of Uerdingen rail buses also consisted of the VT 98. This was developed because the VT 95, with its single engine, was too weak for many routes and could not carry normal carriages. For this it received a second engine, which was of the same type as the later VT 95 and drove the second axle. A pedal was no longer used to control engine power, but a hand throttle.

In addition to the motor cars, not only the VT 98 trailers were procured, as was the case with the predecessor, but also the VT 98 control cars. Usually, a combination of a motor car, a trailer and a control car was used. However, they often ran without a trailer or as a motor car only. Thanks to the multiple controls, which could control up to two motor cars, trains with six cars could also be put together if necessary. The vehicles had been given buffer beams and screw couplings so that they could carry normal cars. In practice, sometimes covered freight cars for express parcels or passenger cars were attached as reinforcement.

Production included 329 motor cars, 320 trailers (220 of which had luggage compartments) and 310 control cars. From 1968 the motor cars ran as class 698 and the trailers and control cars as class 998. Only a few later got the new color scheme of mint turquoise, pastel turquoise and light gray instead of their red paintwork. Also in 1988, 47 motor cars, 23 trailers and 45 control cars were converted to one-man operation. In 1989, the Turkish State Railways bought 25 motor cars, 25 control cars and 15 trailers from the Bundesbahn. A few vehicles still made it to the DB AG, but in 2000 the last ones were retired.

The four vehicles with road numbers 801 to 804 were the first two-axle diesel railcars that the Deutsche Reichsbahn procured. They were built in 1927 and, after various rebuilds, especially with regard to the power train, some of them had a very long career in regular service, one example remained in service until 2002.

The car body came from Wegmann from Kassel and had a rectangular shape. Despite an exterior length of just under twelve meters, there were three doors on each side to speed up the boarding and deboarding of passengers on secondary routes with many intermediate stops. It offered space for 43 seated passengers, but later this number was reduced to 30 in favor of individual space.

Initially, it was powered by a four-cylinder diesel engine from MAN with 75 hp. This drove one of the two axles via a mechanical transmission. Since this performance was not sufficient in the long term, the engines were replaced in 1934 with new ones with six cylinders and exactly twice the power. With this conversion, the number 803 was the only one to receive a new hydraulic transmission. 

After the Second World War, two pieces each came to the Bundesbahn and Reichsbahn. The latter did not last very long, as one was converted into a trailer in 1950 and was later only used in construction trains. The other railcar was also retired in 1960.

The two Bundesbahn vehicles were given the numbers VT 70 900 and VT 70 901. They were sold to the Württembergische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft in 1954 and used there to pull trailers. For this purpose, they were equipped with new engines several times, most recently both received two 210 hp units, each driving one axle. As mentioned, one of these two was retired in 2002 after the line on which it was used was closed. The other is still in use today as part of the museum service of the so-called Teuto Express.

The WUMAG models with a 65 hp Mercedes diesel engine were among the smallest rail buses in Germany. Most of them had a wheelbase of 4.5 meters, but there were also variants with 3.7 and 6.0 meters. Power was sent to one axle via a Mylius gearbox. With this construction they wanted to compete against the Wismar rail buses, but could not sell large numbers. Nevertheless, the vehicles were taken over by the Reichsbahn after the Second World War and were used for a long time.

A few years after the Bundesbahn, the Reichsbahn also began to develop light rail buses for branch lines. The prototype received the same 130 hp Büssing diesel from the West German VT 95. In the series, domestic engines with 180 hp were installed. In addition to 159 motor cars, about the same number of trailers and control cars were built. They were given nicknames like “Ferkeltaxe” (“Piglet Taxi”) and “Blutblase” (“Blood Bladder”). At the beginning of the nineties, many were modernized and equipped with new engines, but at the beginning of the new millennium the last disappeared from regular use.