Since the Comecon agreements prevented further construction of large diesel locomotives in the GDR, a total of 378 of the Soviet type M62 were ordered. These locomotives from Voroshilowgrad (today Lugansk in Ukraine) were built extra heavily for pure freight service and had a two-stroke diesel engine with 2,000 hp. Since they were initially delivered without a silencer, they were given the nickname “Taigatrommel” (“Taiga drum”) in the GDR. At the beginning of the nineties they were renumbered from class 120 to 220, but were soon withdrawn. Many locomotives then came to German private railways and others were sold to the former Eastern Bloc.