The VR Class Hr11 was the first class of line-haul diesel locomotives used by Valtionrautatiet (Finnish State Railways). Only five units were built, all delivered by Valmet in 1955. The Maybach diesel engines used in the locomotives proved highly unreliable, resulting in a complete overhaul of the engine-transmission system in 1956–58, but this did not solve all of the reliability problems. The Hr11 series was withdrawn from service in 1972.
9-679: VR (Finnish Railways) started a modernization project in the early fifties. VR had a small amount of diesel and gasoline-powered railcars since the 1920s, but in 1952 VR had only steam locomotives. Modern aluminum-carriage diesel powered express multiple units (Dm3 and Dm4) were introduced in 1952. Related to these orders, VR ordered in 1952 five passenger train diesel locomotives with hydraulic transmission from Valmet Oy, Tampere. The locomotives were delivered in 1955. The locomotives had originally two six-cylinder Maybach MD320 diesel engines driving each their own Maybach Mekydro K64B hydraulic-mechanical gearbox. The engines and transmission were placed in
18-549: A “pandemic discount,” and the front page of the Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri celebrated that Sweden would soon own Finland's industry. Valmet started buying Neles stock. By the autumn, Valmet owned nearly 30 per cent of the stock. Alfa Laval only received the support of a third of Neles owners for its takeover bid, and withdrew from the competition in November. In January 2021, Valmet reported that it would supply
27-473: The Finnish Railway Museum . Valmet Valmet Oyj , a Finnish company, is a developer and supplier of process technologies, automation systems and services for the pulp , paper , energy industries . Flow control serves a wider base of process industries. At the end of 2009, Metso acquired Tamfelt Corporation, one of the world's leading suppliers of technical textiles. At
36-464: The bogies. The engine-transmission units proved to be very unreliable, and in 1956–58 a complete overhaul was done. Among other improvements, the engines were fitted with turbochargers, which increased the power from 450 hp to 600 hp, but simultaneously lowered the RPM from 1700 to 1500 r/min. The new engine designation was Maybach MD325. The gearboxes were changed to another type, Mekydro KL64. After
45-696: The companies constructed a pilot plant and a factory in Sundsvall together. In July 2021, Valmet and Neles agreed to merge. Neles owners obtained 18.8 per cent of the merging company. The companies’ synergies were considered to be substantial during the transaction. Neles was thought to help increase sales in automation systems, while its products were also to be sold to the paper industry. Neles merged into Valmet in April 2022, becoming Valmet's fifth business line, Flow Control. The companies had several managers and employees who knew each other from Metso days. After
54-483: The end of June 2020, Neles was separated from Metso. The State of Finland sold its share of 15 per cent to Valmet. In mid-July, the Swedish company Alfa Laval made an offer to buy Neles. Valmet's CEO Laine rebuked the board of Neles for ill-advised actions and accepting a price that was too low. Laine had previously managed the business operations of Neles and thought that Valmet could in time have bought more of its stock. Alfa Laval's CEO said that they had bought Neles at
63-444: The merger, the company had 17,000 employees, 3,000 of whom came from Neles. In February 2024, it was announced that President and CEO Pasi Laine would be retiring at the end of September 2024. Danish CEO of Mediq , Thomas Hinnerskov, was chosen by Valmet's board of directors to lead the company as the new President and CEO. In October 2024, Velmet announced that is it cutting 112 jobs to improve "profitability and competitiveness of
72-603: The mills of the Swedish company Renewcell with equipment to produce dissolving pulp from recycled clothes and textiles. In May, Valmet announced that it would deliver drying technology to Spinnova, which produces textile fiber from cellulose. Valmet equipment for the textile industry is in high demand in Europe, because the collection of discarded textiles for recycling must be organized in the EU countries by 2025. Valmet had been developing recycling technology with Renewcell for years, and
81-476: The upgrade, the engines were reasonably reliable, but the reliability of the Maybach Mekydros did not improve significantly. The locomotives carried a gray livery, with wine-red broad stripes. The gray color and sleek looks earned it the nickname Lentävä susi (Flying Wolf). They pulled mainly passenger trains between Tampere, Helsinki and Turku. All units were abandoned in 1972. No 1950 is stored at
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