One of our dedicated deliveries on a HIAB last week will have eluded even the most diligent of train spotters! A Mountania Single cylinder diesel 11HP Orenstein & Koppel locomotive was transported from Durley light railway, Southampton, to Amberley Museum in Sussex. The locomotive was is in pieces, ready for reconstruction upon it’s arrival in Amberley. The Chassis alone measured 8ft 2inches by 4ft! The locomotive was made in Berlin, Germany in 1933, and later was exported to England and will soon be on display at Amberley Museum alongside it’s impressive collection of historical locomotives.
The Amberley collection is one of the most varied in the UK. With the arrival of Cloister in early 2009, they boast a collection of steam locomotives – two in service and three awaiting boiler work – a large number of diesel and petrol locos and three operational battery electric locos.
The Orenstein & Koppel Company was a mechanical-engineering firm that first entered the railway-construction field, building locomotives and other railroad cars.
First founded in 1892 in Berlin, O&K factories expanded to supply the Imperial German Army under Kaiser Wilhelm II with field-service locomotives
O&K supplied all manner of railway equipment to the Army. Around 1908, O&K acquired the firm of Gerlach and König in Nordhausen, building petrol and diesel locomotives there under the trade mark “Montania”.
This successful collection and delivery was a job that Sussex Transport were more than happy to do, following a recommendation to use them from a colleague at Amberley museum.
