Krupp locomotive and wagon construction factory

Locomotive construction in the machine building hall M1, 1960
DB E 50 and SŽD series К

The Krupp locomotive and wagon construction factory ( LOWA for short ) of Friedrich Krupp AG was part of the Krupp cast steel factory in the west of the city of Essen . With the mechanical engineering halls M1, M2 and M3 including ancillary buildings, and in occasional interaction with the company's own railway, the Krupp railway construction existed from 1919 to 1997.

history

Three wheel tires, the company symbol since 1875

Destruction by British bombers in World War II after attacks in 1943 and on March 11, 1945 during the day

The construction of locomotives and wagons began by Friedrich Krupp AG after the First World War , when the Krupp armaments company was obliged to produce peace products by the Peace Treaty of Versailles . The entire cast steel factory was in a deep crisis at this time, as the German Reich , which had just lost the war, canceled all armaments orders by telegram in November 1918 with immediate effect. The railway was now to become an important pillar of the still very meager upswing, but this time for the first time with the production of complete locomotives and wagons. Cast steel products, such as rails and axles, have been supplied to the emerging railway industry since the middle of the 19th century. The patent for the most important invention of the company owner Alfred Krupp in 1852, the seamless wheel tire , helped the Krupp company to rise. In 1875 the three wheel tires became the corporate symbol of Krupp.

After difficult negotiations with the Prussian Railway Administration, the latter issued acceptance guarantees, so that the first delivery of a steam locomotive completely manufactured in Essen took place on December 10, 1919 to the Prussian State Railway, which became the Deutsche Reichsbahn in April 1920 .

While the entire Krupp cast steel factory was badly hit by several thousand Allied aerial bombs in World War II and around thirty percent destroyed, the locomotive factory halls were not spared either. When, after the war, the dismantling of the Krupp works, which the British military government stipulated on November 30, 1948, in order to take them abroad as reparations , the locomotive and wagon construction factory received a work license from the occupiers to repair locomotives. So the halls could be rebuilt and repaired.

In the 1960s the plant operated under the name of Krupp Maschinenbau GmbH. On June 1, 1991, the company had brought its traffic engineering activities to Krupp MaK Maschinenbau GmbH, Kiel . Krupp has been working with MaK since 1964. With effect from April 1, 1992, the traffic engineering product area and related functional areas were spun off and taken over by the newly founded Krupp Verkehrstechnik GmbH with operations in Kiel , Essen and Moers .

In 1994 the facilities in Helenenstrasse in Essen were taken over by Siemens Rail Vehicle Technology GmbH . On September 1, 1996, these were incorporated into Siemens Duewag rail vehicles GmbH in the Uerdingen wagon factory in Krefeld . Locomotive construction in Essen ended when the last power head of an ICE 2 including bogies for Deutsche Bahn left the factory on March 3, 1997 .

Machine building hall M1

Memory of the largest hall M1: a support beam, 2012

After the approximately 450,000 square meter area between today's Hövelstrasse and Bamlerstrasse (since January 2013 part of Berthold-Beitz-Boulevard ) in parts of up to ten meters had been raised by Krupp, leveled and made accessible for the company's own railway systems, the work began In 1937 the approximately 40,000 square meter and over 30 meter high machine building hall M1 was built. Before that , a roundhouse, a wheel tire rolling mill, a foundry, a double-track heating shed, various warehouses and other ancillary buildings had already been built by 1927 . The Barbara shaft of the Amalie colliery was located on the eastern edge of the site . 51.474166666667 6.989444444444451.478333333333 6.9877777777778

The five-aisled assembly hall M1 had crane systems with a load capacity of up to 150 tons in order to manufacture steam locomotives in large numbers. The hall had almost survived the Second World War , so that after the end of the war work could be resumed with the repair of locomotives. Around 1000 locomotives were repaired in this way by 1949, with the approval of the Allies , and the destroyed transport infrastructure was slowly rebuilt.

Then the first orders came from mining and industry to build new locomotives. In 1950 orders from the Deutsche Bundesbahn followed, as well as the first export orders from Asia and Africa. The delivery range expanded to include wagons and parts for rail infrastructure such as rails, switches, masts and turntables. In 1955, a 1,100-meter-long test route with a six-rail track, for the different gauges of the export orders, was laid between Hall M1 and Bottroper Strasse, although not all gauges had been laid over the entire distance. The line was partly equipped with an overhead line with voltages of 15 kV 16.7 Hz and 25 kV 50 Hz for the commissioning of electric locomotives.

In addition, heavy marine diesel engines were assembled and put into operation in Hall M1. Up to 3,500 people worked in shifts in the assembly hall. The hall, like the neighboring halls M2 and M3, was supplied with process and fresh water from the company's own waterworks at Wolfsbachtal and its own electricity.

At the end of the 1980s, Hall M1 was given up as an assembly hall and was only used for storage purposes, including for external companies such as KWU . The surrounding facilities and outbuildings were left fallow.

Situation today

In 1991 Krupp sold the M1 site of around 240,000 square meters to the city of Essen, which wanted to locate today's M1 business park at the economically interesting location. In 1993, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia approved a share of 11.7 million euros in funding to help finance the demolition of all structures on the site and its redevelopment. Then the first partial demolitions and soil investigations began. In 1994 the ProEss Projektentwicklungs-Gesellschaft Essen mbH was founded by the EWG Essener Wirtschaftsförderungs-Gesellschaft mbH and the Sparkasse Essen in order to develop the M1 industrial park from 1995 onwards.

The final demolition of the machine building hall M1 took place in 1995, as it could no longer be used from an economic point of view. A year later, the first commercial properties were sold, so that at the beginning of 1997, the first companies settled in the new industrial park.

A relic of bygone times remained an approximately 30 meter high, steel support fragment of the former machine building hall M1 on the new street Am Lichtbogen , which is illuminated in color in the evening. Furthermore, parts of the track systems and the former roundhouse are still available to the west outside of today's industrial park (February 2013):

View from the former roundhouse to today's industrial park M1
Turntable area of the former roundhouse
Five-rail test track, six tracks in parts
Embankment of the five-rail test track
Buffer stop at the former roundhouse

Machine building hall M2

The M2 machine building hall was originally used for the production of locomotive and wagon parts. In particular, bogie frames were machined on large milling and boring mills. A correspondingly large measuring platform existed for this. In the 1980s, the front of Hall M2 was given a striking, blue sheet metal cladding with large, white Krupp lettering and the emblem of the three rings. 51.471111111111 6.9891666666667

Lastly, the Krupp press building was located in this hall. Among other things, large presses for the manufacture of tanks and exhaust systems for automotive suppliers were manufactured. These meter-high presses were completely set up and put into operation in Hall M2, then dismantled for transport in order to finally set them up again at the customer's premises. Factory air raid shelters were located under the machine building hall.

When sorting systems for packaging waste had been in operation in the M2 machine building hall since the mid-1990s, the distinctive Krupp lettering was removed and the blue facade made gray and white. After the later RWE subsidiary Trienekens and then the Alba company sorted garbage, the last recycling company, Remondis , moved out in March 2011 . Hall M2 has been empty since then.

Hall M2, west side, 2012
Hall M2, east side, 2012
Hall M2, north nave, 2012
Plant air raid shelter under the administration wing of M2, 2015
Hall M2, demolished in October 2015

Situation today

As part of the so-called Krupp-Gürtel Nord master plan , the entire M2 machine construction hall with office wing was demolished between October 2015 and March 2016. The city and ThyssenKrupp, as property owners, want to develop the now vacant land with the surrounding area into an urban district with commercial and residential areas.

Mechanical engineering hall M3

Construction of the M3 mechanical engineering hall on Helenenstrasse began in 1916 as part of the Hindenburg program. An expansion for the production of 400 locomotives per year took place in 1925. This involved the production of locomotive boxes (bodyshells also came later from the locomotive builder Krauss-Maffei, which is now part of Siemens ) and bogie frames through to final assembly including all the equipment. There were also several metal processing workshops with a wide variety of lathes and milling machines in several aisles. Various welding shops were also part of it. 51.471666666667 6.9827777777778

The machine building hall M3 was also used beyond the railway construction. In 1976, the Kautex Textron company sold its mechanical engineering division to Krupp. Under the name Krupp Kautex, machines for the production of plastic tanks were manufactured in M3 . Furthermore, there is still an area for the production of systems for tin can packaging and a hydraulic hammer production (today by Atlas Copco).

At the beginning of the 1980s, the electrical department (ELA) moved from its old location on Altendorfer Straße to the southeast area of Hall M3 on Helenenstraße. This department manufactured, among other things, power supply blocks for passenger cars , large transformers and control cabinets for various electrical systems. There was also a winding shop for electric motor parts , an area for spark erosion and an electrical test field. The former location on Altendorfer Straße was the M6 assembly hall, which began being demolished in 1985. Later there was a wallpaper market in the remodeled building. 51.459805555556 6.9877777777778

Shell construction of a 218 in hall M3, exhibited at the open house on September 2, 1978
Locomotive construction in hall M3 around 1992 with retrofitting of the BR 151 150 and assembly of ICE 2 power cars
Hall of the former locomotive construction in M3, 2012
Track exit from the M3 locomotive construction, 2012
Demolition of the locomotive construction and electrical department in Hall M3, January 2016

Situation today

Krupp has also completely withdrawn from Hall M3. Siemens relocated the Essen locomotive manufacturing and electrical department (ELA) from M3 in 1996 to the Uerdingen wagon factory , which still produces rail vehicles in the Siemens Mobility division to this day . Since then, the aisles of the former ELA and the former locomotive building on Helenenstrasse have stood empty.

As part of the so-called Krupp-Gürtel Nord master plan , the southeastern, already vacant hall bays of the former ELA and locomotive construction were demolished between October 2015 and March 2016. The ELA office wing was also closed. The city and ThyssenKrupp, as the property owner, want to develop these properties and the surrounding area into an urban district with commercial and residential areas.

Parts of the Atlas Copco company , the sheet metal packaging machine manufacturer Cantec, the packaging machine manufacturer KHS and an IT division of ThyssenKrupp are active in the aisles of the machine building hall M3, which are still in use. There is a grandfathering for this part of hall M3 until 2042.

Products and product holdings (selection)

Steam locomotives

DB class 10 : express locomotive of the German Federal Railroad

Manufacturer's plate of the DR series 01 118 of the HEF

BE 31 and 32
DR series T 18.10
DR series 01
DR series 03
DR series 04
DR series 06
DB class 10
DB class 23
DR series 24
DR series 41
DR series 86
DR series 71.0
OHE 84 201 , goods train tender locomotive
Krupp mining
Krupp Knapsack
Krupp type Gladbeck
NWE No. 21
three steam locomotives for Liliputbahnen built in 1937, similar to the Martens standard Liliput locomotive , but a little more powerful with the serial numbers 1662 to 1664 and the names Rosenkavalier , Männertreu and Diligent Lieschen

Steam locomotive of the GCA series ( Garrat locomotive ) for South Africa

SAR class 19

TCDD 46 001–025 for the Turkish State Railways

TCDD 57 001-027 for the Turkish State Railways

Class 19D steam locomotive for Transnet Freight Rail , South Africa

Class S2 steam locomotive for Transnet Freight Rail, South Africa

Class D 52 steam locomotives with a tender for Indonesia

Diesel locomotives

Wehrmacht locomotive D 311

Diesel locomotive series 27D for Eritrea
various diesel locomotive series for Indonesia
diesel-electric locomotives for the State Railway of Thailand
various diesel locomotive series for Myanmar (then Burma)
U20C, U30C and UM22C locomotives licensed from General Electric for Zambia , Tanzania and Botswana
diesel-electric locomotives for ONATRAZ (National Zairean Transport Office)
Wehrmacht locomotive D 311
Hümmlinger circular path L1 and L2
DB class V 60
DB class V 90
DB class V 100
DB class V 160
DB class V 162
DB class 215
DB class 218
DB class 229

Electric locomotives

DB class 111 in Hall M3, exhibited on the open day on September 2, 1978

DB class E 10
DB class E 40
DB class E 41
DB class E 50
DB class E 320
DB class E 410
DB class 103
DB class 111
DB class 120
DB class 151
DB class 181
the first seven locomotives of the Hungarian MÁV class V43
Production of a power car for the InterCityExperimental (DB class 410 001); Both power cars (410 001 and 410 002) were mechanically developed by Krupp
Power cars of the high-speed trains ICE 1 and ICE 2

literature

Repetzki, Karl Rainer: Krupp in the service of the steam locomotive . Steiger, Moers 1981, ISBN 3-921564-51-4 .
Haeuber, Hans-Dieter: Krupp in the service of the electric and diesel locomotive . Steiger, Moers 1983, ISBN 3-921564-62-X .
Hans Hanko u. Karl Kruse: Building in Chaos: Memorandum of Fried. Krupp Lokomotivfabrik, Essen on the occasion of the delivery of the 500th repaired locomotive since the fighting stopped in 1945 . Ed .: Fried. Krupp locomotive factory. Essen 1948.