Wismar wagon factory
The Waggonfabrik Wismar , also known as Triebwagen- und Waggonfabrik Wismar , was a manufacturer of rail vehicles in Wismar from 1894 to 1947 . It was best known for its special wagons of various types, trams and light railcars .
history
The Wismar captain and wholesaler Paul Heinrich Podeus (1832–1905) founded a wagon factory in addition to his company of the same name, Podeus . In 1902 it was relocated to a site outside the city, which was adjacent to the "Eisengießerei und Maschinenfabrik F. Crull" already owned by Podeus. Since then it has operated as Wagenbau F. Crull & Co Wismar . After the company was taken over by Podeus' two sons, it became Waggonfabrik Wismar GmbH in 1907 .
The manufacturer was focused on the construction of special cars; both sleeping and dining cars and refrigerators and freezers cars were produced. At the request of some railway companies, however, some express train cars were also built. In addition to railway vehicles also were at this time chassis of trucks produced. In 1911 the GmbH became a stock corporation .
The German Waggonleihanstalt AG took over the majority of shares in 1917 and merged the two companies for railway transport AG . During the First World War , the company repaired not only rail vehicles, but also motor vehicles of the German Army . After the war, the manufacture and repair of rail vehicles was resumed.
At the railway technology exhibition in Seddin in Seddin in 1924, the first completely redesigned railcar was presented. It was characterized by a diesel engine (then called a crude oil engine ), which was not mounted in the car but in the bogie , and an all-steel structure. This vehicle was groundbreaking in many ways. The company was also pioneering in the use of electric welding , which made lightweight construction possible.
In the early 1920s, Wismar also began manufacturing tram units and sidecars , some of which were also exported to the Scandinavian countries (including Sweden ) , but were also widespread in companies in (northern) central Germany . In 1926, 1,600 people were employed. On March 23, 1936, the wagon factory was spun off again as the Wismar Aktiengesellschaft railcar and wagon factory .
The company maintained good contacts with the Lower Saxony State Small Railway Authority and in cooperation with them the Wismar Hanover rail bus was created in different sizes, designs and gauges . This light, two-axle railcar with an engine at each end of the vehicle in bonnets that protruded similar to that of contemporary trucks became one of the most famous products and was ordered by numerous German private railways .
From the narrow gauge rail car type Frankfurt (later series 699 of the DB ) were built nine copies, although here too as with the rail buses on consistent lightweight construction set and assemblies were taken from the motor vehicle. The number of employees rose in 1939 to 1,930 employees and even during the Second World War , railcars were still manufactured from orders from private railways.
After the end of the Second World War in 1945, railcar construction in what was now the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ) (later GDR ) was concentrated in the Dessau wagon construction . The systems were incorporated into the Wismar ship repair plant, and the company was deleted from the commercial register in 1948 . Until the beginning of the 1990s, propellers of the Rostock diesel engine plant were manufactured on the premises . Part of the factory is demolished today.
See also
literature
- Christian Schröder, Insa Konukiewitz and Wolfram Bäumer: The Hanover-type Wismar rail bus . In: The Museum Railway 1/2000
- Corinna Schubert et al; With steam, wood and steel. Vehicle construction by the Wismar wagon factory . [Catalog City History Museum of the Hanseatic City of Wismar 2002]. Wismar, self-published, 2002.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christian Schröder, Insa Konukiewitz, Wolfram Bäumer, pp. 17-19