Stahlbahnwerke Freudenstein

Stahlbahnwerke Freudenstein is a defunct German railway company.

Company history

edit
 
Locomotive 73 on display at Stonehenge Works, LBNGR

The company was founded in 1891 by the merchant Julius Freudenstein; until then, Freudenstein had worked for Orenstein & Koppel. Originally, the company traded in track and materials for railways.

In 1895, Freudenstein acquired a small manufacturing facility in Tempelhof, Berlin for the construction of its own locomotives. At the same time, the company became a limited company.

The production of the company's own locomotives was only a stopgap, that was without great success, even with an order for Prussian state railway supplies. In 1905, Freudenstein merged with Orenstein & Koppel. This led shortly afterward to liquidation and closure of Freudenstein's plant at Tempelhof.

Production figures

edit

The last definite works number is FNr.238, built in 1905.

It is currently not known the exact number of locomotives that were built by Freudenstein, but it is estimated to be approximately 250, 5 are known to be preserved:


Number/Name Year Built Gauge Notes
73 Berlin 1901 610 Built for Arthur Koppel, for use at Penlee Quarry. Now on Static display at Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway
89 1902 1435 Transport rail & Museum Association, Aumühle. Originally supplied to Prussian state railway
138 1904 1000 Museo del Ferrocarril, Ponferrada
175 1904 508 Rail Transport Museum, Western Australia, Perth
217 1905 518 Bowylie Light Railway, NSW (Formerly ran at Bennett Brook Railway, WA 1989 - 1993)

References

edit