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Saturday, December 6th 2014, 4:33pm

Locomotive Manufacturing Companies

Société des Alteliers Germain
Engineering manufacturing and builder of locomotives based in Monceau-sur-Sambre near Charleroi. Founded in October 1897. The company initially manufactured cars under license from Daimler-Phoenix, Panhard-Levassor, Elan, Renault, and Hardt. The company used the brand names Germain, Panhard belges and Daimler belges. Car production ended at the outbreak of the Great War and production concentrated on railway locomotives. Around ninety were built for the Netherlands during the war. Today, locomotives remain the main product of the company.

Société Anglo-Franco-Belge
In 1859, Charles Evrard acquired Parmentier Freres et Cie. based in La Croyère and merged it with Aleliers Charles Evrard to form the Compagnie Belge pour la Construction de Machines et de Matériels de Chemins de Fer. A new company, the Société Anonyme Franco-Belge pour la Construction de Machines et de Matériel de Chemins de Fer, was created in 1881,which included all the assets of the Compangie Belge. In 1882, a new factory was established in Raismes in northern France to circumvent protectionism in the French market. In 1911, the company was renamed Société Franco Belge de Matérial de Chemins de Fer. Exports of locomotives and rolling stock were made across Europe, China, Southeast Asia and South America. Up to 1914, the company board was dominated by Belgians but the events of the Great War saw the company become majority owned by French interests. At this time the company had a capacity of around 50 locomotives and over 1,500 carriages and wagons per year. In 1927, the French and Belgian activities were separated into independent companies with the Croyere site forming the company Société Anglo-Franco-Belge (SAFB ) with British investment. In 1939, SAFB two acquired two metal working factories; Seneffe and Godarville, both located in Hainaut. In 1949, SAFB began work on diesel-powered locomotives.

La Brugeoise et Nivelles S.A.
In 1851, Joseph De Jaegher founded a hardware store in the Burg in Bruges in 1855. This expanded with a steel workshop in 1891, which later merged with another steel making company, Usines Ferdinand Feldhaus, to form the Ateliers de Construction Forges et Aceries de Bruges. By 1900, the company was a major metal engineering company. In 1905, the company moved its plant and offices to a larger site with good railway connections close to the Ghent Ostend canal at Sint-Michiels in Bruges. In 1913, La Brugeoise merged with Nicaise et Delcuve during a re-organisation of the interests of the holding company Trust Métallurgique Belge-Français, and capitalised at 10 million francs; the new company included a modern steel works, forge and mills at Sint-Michiels. In 1919, control of the company was taken over by the Société Générale de Belgique. In 1946, the company merged with Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles.
In 1875, the Manage plant produced its first rail vehicles followed by its first tram in 1885 and today it is the major supplier of locomotives to the National Belgian Railway Company. In addition to railway rolling stock, the company also manufactures bridges, locks and sluice gates, cranes, and vessels for the chemical and sugar industries.

S.A. Marchinelle & Couillet
Locomotives factory based at Couillet, Charleroi, a subsidiary company of Hainaut-Sambre S.A.