Gmeinder
| Industry | Railway engineering and locomotives |
|---|---|
| Fate | Sold off locomotive building business - becomes two separate companies |
| Successor | Gmeinder Lokomotivenfabrik Gmeinder Getriebe- und Maschinenfabrik |
| Headquarters | Mosbach, Germany |
| Website | Gmeinder Lokomotivenfabrik [1] Gmeinder Getriebe- und Maschinenfabrik [2] |
Gmeinder GmbH was a German locomotive and engineering company based in Mosbach. Its products included diesel engines, small locomotives (shunters) and other railway locomotive parts. Much of its business came through the German railways, though it also exported to the rest of Europe and the rest of the world.
From 2004 onwards the company was split into two separate concerns - Gmeinder Lokomotivenfabrik which manufactures locomotives and Gmeinder Getriebe- und Maschinenfabrik which makes components - specifically railway axle gearboxes.
In 1913 The company Steinmetz Gmeinder KG was founded in Mosbach by Anton Gmeinder and August Steinmetz, six years later the company name was changed to "A. Gmeinder & Cie.". The same year a locomotive with a petrol engine was made. In 1925 another change of identity occurred - with the organisation becoming Gmeinder & Co. GmbH with Anton Gmeinder and Carl and Hermann Kaelble as co-partners.
In 1964 with financial support from the state of Baden-Württemberg Gmeider built a small series of narrow-gauge diesel locomotives of 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge series V 51 and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge V 52 for the Bundesbahn to replace the outdated steam engines that were still in use.
Its locomotive factory was one of the major manufacturers of small and medium-sized diesel engines as well as producing small locomotives. Although Deutsche Bundesbahn was a major customer many of the industrial locomotives it produced were sold to private companies and exported around the world.
In 1976 merged with the truck manufacturer Carl Kaelble GmbH from Backnang. Due to the truck manufacturer's large contract with Libya and as a result of a trade embargo with that country it became bankrupt in 1996.
From the ruins of that company Gmeider re-emerged again as a locomotive manufacturer Gmeinder Getriebe- und Lokomotivenfabrik GmbH completely split from Kaeble. Kaeble became a construction machinery manufacturer and now is part of the Terex corporation.
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