This Orenstein Y Koppel – Arthur Koppel S.A. steam locomotive from 1898 comes from Madrid–Barcelona–Bilbao line (Spain).
Orenstein & Koppel (normally abbreviated to “O&K”) was a major German engineering company specialising in railway vehicles, escalators, and heavy equipment. It was founded on April 1, 1876, in Berlin by Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel.
Originally a general engineering company, O&K soon started to specialise in the manufacture of railway vehicles. The company also manufactured heavy equipment and escalators. O&K pulled out of the railway business in 1981.
After 1964, the railway-manufacturing unit was separated from the other production units.
The railway business was transferred to Bombardier, which continues to manufacture rolling stock in Berlin. The Babelsberg site became an industrial park.
The escalator-manufacturing division was sold to the company’s majority shareholder at the time, Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, in 1996.
The construction-equipment business was sold to New Holland Construction, at the time part of the Fiat Group, in 1999.
