The F Class were ordered by the Victorian Railways as part of Operation Phoenix, a £80 million program to rebuild a network badly run down by years of Depression-era underinvestment and wartime overutilisation.^[1]

The Victorian Railways purchased ten 0-6-0DE diesel shunting locomotives in 1951 from English Electric. The locomotives were built at EE's Preston workshops in the United Kingdom, and entered service from October 1951 onwards. The design is similar to that of the standard-gauge British Rail Class 11 and Nederlandse Spoorwegen 600 class locomotives, which were also being built by EE at this time.

As built the locomotives were originally numbered in the 300-series as F310-319, following on from the last of the S class diesel locomotives, S309, which entered service in February 1958, seven years after the arrival of the first F class locomotives. However, VR then placed a second order for another eight S class locomotives for use on the new North East standard gauge line which were delivered starting in November 1960. In order to vacate the 300-series numbers for the new mainline diesels, all F class locomotives were renumbered into the 200-series on in late May 1958 as F201-211. Unlike their British and Dutch counterparts, the F class locomotives were also later fitted with sideplates covering the side rods and wheel cranks. This modification was made to prevent staff from getting tangled up in the rods and cranks.^{[citation needed]}

Six identical units were purchased by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1952. The SEC later sold all six units to VR; the first, SEC3 in 1956, three more – SEC4, 5 and 6 – in 1959, and the remaining two, the former SEC1 and SEC2, in May 1971.^[2][3][4] These locomotives received numbers in the 21x-series as F212-216 on entry to VR service. The first sold, F211 (formerly SEC3) received its 200-series number on entry to VR service in 1956, some two years before the ten built for VR were similarly treated.

Withdrawal of the F class locomotives began in October 1979 with the withdrawal of F214. The remaining locomotives with withdrawn between November 1979 and July 1987, when the last three locomotives, F202, F208, and F216, were taken out of service. Following withdrawal, the locomotives appear to have been placed in storage although most were later scrapped. Only one locomotive was broken up in the same year it was withdrawn; F215 was withdrawn in April 1983 and scrapped later that year.

Six of the sixteen F class locomotives were purchased from VR or donated for preservation in the early 1980s. All except F212 are owned by VicTrack and allocated to various preservation groups:

• F202, formerly F311, is allocated to the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre until deemed surplus 2017. It was used by SRHC as a shunting locomotive around their depot. It was then reallocated to 707 Operations and was again deemed surplus in 2023 awaiting disposal.
• F204, formerly F313, is in storage at 707 Operations' operational base at Newport Workshops, as a source of spare parts. Alike F202 is awaiting disposal due to being surplus to requirements.
• F208, formerly F317, was known unofficially as the Dynon Donk. It is currently operated by 707 Operations and they have renumbered the engine back to F317. (Has been renumbered back to 208 as of 2023). It is currently preserved-operational and has been restored to a Red with Yellow stripe livery.
• F211, formerly SEC3, is statically displayed at the Newport Railway Museum in V/Line Tangerine and Grey Livery. It was informally known as Little Trimmer.
• F212, formerly SEC4, was withdrawn in November 1986 and purchased by the Victorian Goldfields Railway It is preserved-operational.
• F216, formerly SEC2, is statically displayed at the Newport Railway Museum; but unlike F211, this engine has been restored to resemble its original SEC styling.