Luttermöller axle

In order to assist such locomotives, the manager of the Orenstein & Koppel factory in Berlin, Dr. Luttermöller, built the axle system named after him.

The axles are housed in the locomotive frame such that they are able to move at right angles to the axis of the rails to a certain degree, likewise the cogwheels are able to slide relative to one another.

For the Hamburg Harbour railway with its tight curves, the ten-coupled steam locomotives of Class 87 were built with Luttermöller axles, front and rear.

A five-axled, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge, steam engine with the Luttermöller system was procured by the private South Harz Railway (Südharz-Eisenbahn; Braunlage - Walkenried - Tanne) in 1928 from Orenstein & Koppel with operating number 61.

It proved itself so well on the winding route, that in 1930 two Mallet locomotives, built in 1925, were converted to the Luttermöller system by Henschel (operating numbers 56 and 57).