Orion factory (Eschwege)
The Orion plant in Eschwege (Werra) was a manufacturer of bus trailers and rail bus sidecars from 1945 to 1956 , as well as top-class buses for travel and scheduled services.
history
The vehicle factory, which emerged from the ruins of the war in 1945 , began in the Hindenburg barracks in Eschweg, a branch of the Kassel mechanical engineering company Henschel & Sohn . Under the management of a relative of the Henschel family, commercial vehicles used and damaged during the war , especially those of the US Army from the American zone of occupation in Germany, were restored. This should u. a. the urgently needed transport capacities for the reconstruction of Germany are built up.
In 1946 the company moved to a larger, vacant barracks in what is now the Niederhone district of Eschweg. After the business was taken over by the businessman Wolfgang Hartdegen, the company was renamed ORION-Werk Motor-Fahrzeugbau Handelsgesellschaft mbH Eschwege-Werra . The ORION factory had around 550 employees for development and production, mainly from Eschwege and the surrounding area. In the absence of expensive special tools such as deep-drawing presses for special body parts or punching for frequently used small parts, the know-how of a highly motivated craftsperson whose ranks included locksmiths from many disciplines as well as welders , tinsmiths , blacksmiths , painters, upholsterers and carpenters , of which the latter could still carry out inlay work , found other solutions. The high level of commitment of the workforce was rewarded by the management with social benefits that were unusual at the time. The construction of a canteen in the Bavarian guest house style, which offered a daily lunch for 1 DM, as well as spacious changing, washing and shower rooms. These replaced the lunch at work that was heated in the water bath, as well as the water heated there in metal buckets with welding torches for daily minimal washing.
Annual Christmas parties and company outings on the Rhine and Moselle rivers and to the International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main strengthened the cohesion between the employees in an incomparable way that continues to the present day. For example, in January 2006, former employees of the Orion factory met in a restaurant in Eschwege to exchange memories.
With the WH 112-N3 omnibus trailer and the VB 142 rail bus trailer , two vehicle types had been developed that were manufactured in large numbers on German roads and tracks and used by the Deutsche Bundespost and the Deutsche Bundesbahn. Their production developed into the backbone of the company and replaced the repair business.
In addition to the continued production of the bus trailers and rail bus trailers, the good order situation now also allowed other developments. On chassis from Daimler-Benz and Büssing NAG , some of which were still from the war period and before, bodies developed in-house for the German Federal Railroad and the German Federal Post Office were assembled in the Orion factory .
The sharp increase in road traffic in Germany at the beginning of the 1950s and the resulting safety requirements for motor vehicles led to restrictions and ultimately to the abolition of trailers for passenger transport . The need for sidecars for the now legendary rail bus had also peaked. This development prompted the company to introduce a new product line.
From 1952 onwards, Pekol in Oldenburg issued a license for a lightweight bus with a rear-engined engine, which was produced from 1953 as the WH 153 (shorter wheelbase) and WH 154 (longer wheelbase) both as a regular service bus and as a touring coach . The bus had a self-supporting body with a low center of gravity and independent suspension with coil springs. Later models had air suspension on the front and rear axles . This achieved a high level of driving safety and a high level of driving comfort. In addition, the vehicle had a hydraulically operated clutch , a hydraulically operated gearshift and hydraulic steering assistance , which made things much easier for the driver. Because of its many equipment features, the WH 154 received a lot of attention at the 1953 IAA. The coach also achieved a level of equipment comfort that was unusual for the time. This included roof edge lasing, adjustable upholstered armchairs, ventilation and heating (also for stationary operation) and an optional on-board toilet. The price of the WH 154 was between 49,400 DM and 52,900 DM. The nickname "Nobel planer" was coined for the WH 154.
The products of all companies involved in bus construction in Germany, such as the transmission company ZF Friedrichshafen , the heating company Eberspächer or the engine manufacturer Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz , were tested for their usability in the WH 154 and in the other model series. Only engines from Daimler-Benz were out of the question, as Daimler-Benz made the installation of their engines subject to the condition that the bus had to be traded as a Daimler-Benz product.
Due to sales problems with the bus trailers due to the impending ban on passenger transport in Änänger, the ORION plant in Eschwege-Werra had money problems due to underfunding and went bankrupt in 1956.
literature
- Traumschiff ORION In: Historischer Kraftverkehr , issue 6/2005, pp. 32–39, Verlag Klaus Rabe Cologne.