Ateliers Moës-Freres was an engineering company based in

Waremme Waremme (; nl, Borgworm, ; wa, Wareme) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, in Belgium. The city is located on the River Geer ( nl, Jeker), in the loessic Haspengouw region. The economy is based on the ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, specialising in engines and locomotives. The company was founded in 1904 by Guillaume Moës (1854–1929). The company saw its greatest success between the First and Second World Wars. It survived as an independent company until 1969 when it was acquired by VMF Stork-Werkspoor Diesel of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

(now part of

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include technolo ...

Founding

Guillaume Moës was born in 1854 in the hamlet of Bleret between Remicourt and Waremme. As a young man, he moved to Waremme where he founded a steam mill. His eldest son Édouard as born in 1880 and at the turn of the century he developed an

internal combustion An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combust ...

engine that replaced the mill's steam engine. Guillaume's second son, Auguste (born 1882) turned out to be a talented

salesman Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

who promoted the new Moës engine and was able to quickly gain orders from local factories. The mill was quickly turned over to engine manufacturing and in 1904 a new company, Ateliers Moës-Freres, was set up to concentrate on the burgeoning engine business.

Pre-war years

The company found early success, building and selling several hundred of its engines each year from 1905 onwards. The company continued to expand in the years leading up to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1912 a spacious new factory was built in Waremme. The company suspended production at the outbreak of war, having produced more than 2500 engines.

After the First World War

In 1918, the company restarted production, with the youngest of Guillaume's sons, Paul (born 1893), joining the family firm. They expanded into a wide range of engine production, including

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

, hot-bulb and

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

engines. In the early 1920s the company began production of

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

locomotives using their diesel engines as motive power. These early locomotives had bodies that resembled traditional steam locomotives to encourage the adoption of this new technology. Guillaume died in 1929, and the company was taken over by his three sons. In the 1930s, the company changed its name to SA Moteurs Moës, Waremme. Locomotive production expanded into specialist mining locomotives for use underground, and small standard gauge shunting locomotives. Moteurs Moës developed an international reputation, selling equipment to France, Italy, the Netherlands, the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

and Asia.

The Second World War and afterwards

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Moteurs Moës reduced production, but kept operating throughout. They developed a reputation for protecting their workers during the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupation of Belgium. After the end of the War, Moteurs Moës rebuilt its business, winning major government-subsidized contracts for marine engines. But, as war-surplus engines came onto the market, this business came to an end and Moteurs Moës focused back onto the narrow gauge locomotive market, particularly for coal mining. In the 1960s, the Belgian coal mining industry collapsed, and with it an important market for the company. The company re-focused onto diesel engines and renamed itself Moës Diesel in 1957. Paul Moës died in 1967. Two years later, the company was acquired by Dutch group VMF Stork-Werkspoor Diesel, but remained as an independent division under the Moës Diesel name. The division developed new

hydrostatic Fluid statics or hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and submerged body "fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure in a fluid, or exerted by a fluid, on an imme ...

narrow gauge locomotives, an improved mining locomotive, and a new type of standard gauge shunting locomotive. In 1993, the Moës Diesel division was sold to the BIA Group of Belgium and focused on selling generators and pumps built by the

Hatz Motorenfabrik Hatz is a German manufacturer of diesel engines, based in Ruhstorf an der Rott, Lower Bavaria, Germany. Especially known for its small, lightweight and robust engines, the engines are mainly used in all kinds of small construction ...

company. In March 2013, the division's name was changed to Moës Energy. In October 2013, all manufacturing at Waremme ceased.

References

Sources

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External links

Website dedicated to the locomotives and internal combustion engines produced by Moes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ateliers Moes-Freres Diesel engine manufacturers Rail vehicle manufacturers of Belgium Manufacturing companies established in 1904 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1969 1969 disestablishments in Belgium Companies based in Liège Province Engine manufacturers of Belgium Belgian companies established in 1904