Gaston Moyse began building diesel locomotives from 1921-1922. They were based in Courneuve and supplied many sites in the North and Lorraine, especially in the steel mills at the time of reconstruction after the Second World War. The company closed in the late 1970s.

In the railway world, the machines built by this company are ubiquitous due to their extreme robustness, some of the models produced in the 1930s are still in use today.

The Moyse 5Ta (one of the earlier models) were dubbed horned beasts because of their particular appearance. They were one of the first rail vehicles on the market that were not driven by steam. A copy from 1929 exists at HistoRail, a railway museum in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat.

Throughout its history, Moyse produced two major series of industrial locomotives: TDE (from about 1930 to 1960) these machines are characterized by their two rounded engine hoods and their cab with "visors" above the front windows, and BN (from about 1950 to 1970) these were more modern in appearance.

These machines were originally designed for EDF power plants. In addition to these two series, many machines have been produced for SNCF, such as the Y 2200, Y 6200, Y 6400, some Y 7400 and Y 8000. Moyse also produced 80-ton BB locomotives for heavy train manoeuvres in 1979.