Dept. Montania Nordhausen of O&K-A.G.
The history
The company "Gerlach und König"
was founded in 1905 and it produced mining equipment and stationary
engines. In 1907 the factory
was renamed into "Maschinenfabrik Montania vorm. Gerlach
& König". in 1908 they Already manufactured Their
first internal combustioned engined locomotive. The products were
sold over the sales department of the Orenstein & Koppel A.G
(O&K). In consequence of this case the company joined in the
O&K trust in 1912. In 1916 it became a department of O&K
named "Montania Nordhausen".
In the twenties and thirties of the last century the company grew
to one of the largest manufacturers of internal combustion locomotives
in the world. Many locomitives were exported to Asia and South
America. Those orders helped the factory to survive the depressions
of these years. Since 1937 the "Montania" also produced
tractors. Due to the disappropriation of jewish seisins in 1935
the company was renamed into
"Maschinenbau und Bahnbedarf AG Nordhausen" (MBA), until
1940 with the appendix "vorm. Orenstein & Koppel".
With the beginning of the manufacturing of tank engines in 1942
the locomotive production was relocated to Prague. After World
War II until 1947 the factory was completely disassambled, the
buildings were mostly demolished. Since 1948 the new founded company
"IFA Schlepperwerk Nordhausen" was built up on the same
area. It began its production in 1949. (source: H. Kieber)
The Locomotives
The first locomotives of the "U"-series had engines
running on benzene with performances between 6 an 30 h.p. They looked nearly like the locomotives made
by Deutz. This company delivered the engines. Around the year
1915 the "U"-series was replaced by the "L"-series.
Now also the engines were produced in the own works. After World
War I came a change from the slow-moving, lying, single cylinder
engines to more-cylinder engines with high speed, the "S"-series
was created. At the end of the twenties there were built the first
locomotives with diesel engine
("for running on crude oil"). It was the first type
of the "RL"-series with a power between 11 and 40 h.p.
The end of this development was the "MD"-series with
9 until 33 h.p. during the thirties. In addition to the "RL"-
and the "MD"-series the type "LD" was created.
It has a lying diesel engine. The most of the "Montania"-locomotives
could be delivered as a field railroad or a mining version with
some special add-ons. Because of the limited capacity of the "Montania"-factory
in Nordhausen the bigger types of the locomotives were produced
in the O&K-works in Drewitz near Berlin. (source: H.Kieber)