Alsatian mechanical engineering company Grafenstaden
The Elsässische Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Grafenstaden ( EMBG ) was a heavy industry company in Grafenstaden, Alsace near Strasbourg .
history
In 1826, André Koechlin founded the mechanical engineering company André Koechlin & Cie in Mulhouse in Alsace, where it manufactured steam engines , turbines , spinning and weaving machines and, from 1839, steam locomotives . The further development of the company is closely linked to the history of Alsace-Lorraine . After the lost war of 1870/71 , France had to cede Alsace to the newly founded German Empire in 1871 . The then Elsässische Maschinenbaugesellschaft Andreas Köchlin & Cie. in Mulhouse and the Rollé & Schwillgué machine shop in Strasbourg- Grafenstaden to the German Empire. The two plants were merged in 1872 to form the Grafenstaden Alsace Mechanical Engineering Company .
The scale factory "Rollé & Schwillgué", which mainly built decimal scales based on the patent of a Benedictine monk from 1821, was bought in 1837 by the Strasbourg mechanical engineering company, which a year later moved the workshop with a workforce of 40 to Grafenstaden, a few kilometers south of Strasbourg, moved. The manufacture of tenders began in 1846, and from 1856 also locomotives.
After the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by the German Empire, many Alsatians who felt like French moved to the area around Belfort . The Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques , SACM for short, was opened there in 1872 . After the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Alsace-Lorraine and with it the Elsässische Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Grafenstaden returned to France, whereupon the latter merged with the SACM. The Belfort plant was operated until 1926 and was taken over by Thomson-Houston and Alsthom, now Alstom , in 1928 .
After the occupation of Alsace in 1941, the plant was forced to deliver class 44 and class 52 locomotives to the Deutsche Reichsbahn under the management of the Magdeburger Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik (MWF) . After the Second World War , the plant was again run under French management.
In 1951, diesel locomotives were built in the factory for the first time , but production of steam locomotives was discontinued around 1955. The production of diesel locomotives continued until 1965.
Production numbers
After the merger of the two plants, a common serial number counting, starting with the number 2118, was added, as Köchlin had built 1,412 and Grafenstaden 705 locomotives by then. The production of steam locomotives ended with the serial number 8174. Since no locomotives were delivered with 11 serial numbers, the merged company SACM had accordingly produced 6,042 steam locomotives.
The diesel locomotives built from 1951 to 1965 were given their own count starting with serial numbers 10001 and 20001. This is how, among other things, the diesel locomotives of the Saarland railways , which later became part of the Deutsche Bundesbahn , were created. In the 10,000 range, mainly type B-dh, the factory number 10199 was reached, in the 20,000 number range, type C-dh, only 23 machines were classified.
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Rollé (high-speed and weighbridge factory) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 26th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1874, p. 300 ( digitized version ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ For locomotive production in Grafenstaden see Lothar Spielhoff: Steam Locomotives: Railways in Alsace-Lorraine - Checkered History 1846 to 1960 , Düsseldorf 1991.