V 56 was built to propel suburban trains through a washdock plant. It was built in 1959 at Newport Workshops. It was powered by a tractor engine.
Buffers and autocouplers were fitted to allow it to couple up to screw coupled stock ( swing door, sliding door trains ) or autocoupled stock ( Harris train, Hitachi trains ). For coupling to the new Comeng trains of 1981, the Comeng train autocoupler adaptor coupler was required. This attached to the Comeng 'multi function' coupler and converted it to a fixed jaw autocoupler.
Whilst propelling trains through the washdock, speed was about 1km/hr. Other moves were made at 3 - 5km/hr though the maximum speed was rated at 16km/hr.
By 1997, V 56 was used at the Steamrail Depot, Newport for small shunting moves.