The Schalke story shows that true success is born out of evolution
Schalke’s company legacy has provided underground mining solutions that have revolutionized the field.
We are proud to be known for our enduring strength and reliability for more than 150 years.
Company history
Schalke began with underground mining
On August 21, 1872, Friedrich Grillo founded Schalker Eisenhütte Maschinenfabrik GmbH, a company that manufactured machinery and spare parts for use in underground mining. These included brakes, trucks, winding drums and tempered cast steel for the wheels of mine cars and trucks as well as coke oven equipment, castings in clay/sand — even hard iron castings.
The evolution to coke pusher machines
Ten years later, Schalke innovated and evolved to build the first coke pusher machines. These gigantic steam-driven “monstrosities” were the forerunners of a series of coke oven machinery that also included transfer cars, guide machines and quenching cars. Then, Schalke once again found a way to evolve, by building the locomotives that were used to pull the coke oven machinery. Next was the move to coke-quenching cars and transport locomotives, creating a promising future market.
Expansion to electric locomotives by 1937
By 1937, Schalke was producing 70-tonne catenary wire locomotives for mining brown coal in the Rhine district. By 1954, and with enough wisdom and experience to know that working with exceptional partners can create exceptional mining engineering and design, Schalke partnered with Siemens, AEG and BBC. Schalke had built a total of 34 locomotives, and with these renowned electric companies, manufactured the first dual-mode catenary wire and battery-powered mining locomotives. Schalke’s expertise in the field of locomotives therefore grew continually, particularly when it came to inventive and alternative drive systems.
The beginnings of worldwide reputation for dependability and quality
In 1968 Schalke began their working relationship with Bochum-based Gebr. Eickhoff Maschinenfabrik u. Eisengießerei GmbH, a company that also specialized in building strong, sturdy machinery and had its origins in mining engineering. Schalke continued working on coke oven technology and increasingly on locomotives, beginning with units specially designed for use in coal mining worldwide.
With six locomotives for LKAB in the early 1970s, Schalke also started producing locomotives for ore mining. Coal mining locomotives reached their peak in the 1990s with more than 120 modular Ruhrkohle AG standard locomotives for Germany’s hard coal mining starting in 1993. There were more than 20 ore mining locomotives made for two different mine operations by CODELCO in Chile starting in 1997, nine locomotives for LKAB starting in 2012 and more than 10 locomotives for Freeport’s Grasberg mine starting in 2014.
All these projects let the company gain worldwide reputation and made the name Schalke a synonym for dependable rail haulage vehicles in the mining sector.
Expansion into urban rail transport
Consistent and foundational innovation then led Schalke to expand its range of mining products to include multi-purpose service locomotives for urban rail transport systems, welding vehicles, rail grinding machines and platform vehicles, such as those produced for the Berlin public transport system (BVG). In record time, Schalke also built the “CargoTram” rail freight vehicle for the environmentally friendly and economical transportation of car parts to VW’s “Gläserne Manufaktur” car plant in Dresden. Whether above ground or underground, in mines or in major cities, customers benefit from Schalke’s incredible flexibility in finding custom-made solutions and experience that spans three centuries.
Acquisition by Nordic Minesteel Technologies
In 2018, the future called with a new direction for Schalke – one that offers the benefit of working with a company known for their expertise in horizontal and vertical mining solutions: Nordic Minesteel Technologies (NMT). NMT acquired all rolling stock assets of Schalker Eisenhütte Maschinenfabrik GmbH, including all intellectual property rights, as well as many of the employees who offered the chance for NMT’s German subsidiary, Schalke Locomotives GmbH, to continue with the more than 150-year-old locomotive history of the brand Schalke. The acquisition enables NMT to combine German and Canadian mining innovations and expand its market to industrial and urban transportation.
This collaboration allows Schalke to move into the future, providing creatively engineered mining solutions for the growing population and infrastructure of the world. More specifically, ability to contribute to global urbanization and extraction of raw materials.
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