In 1871, Charles Brown (an Englishman from London), an engineer at the Sulzer Brothers company, founded the Swiss Locomotive and Engineering Works in Winterthur – known as SLM for short – together with a group of investors.
The first locomotive to leave the factory in Winterthur was the famous No. 7 of the Vitznau-Rigi Railway in 1873.
The fledgling SLM enjoyed its first successes with rack-and-pinion steam locomotives. Production was expanded in 1882 to include steam engines and steam boilers.
SLM rose to become Switzerland’s largest locomotive manufacturer. In collaboration with other firms (BBC, MFO and SAAS), electric locomotives were produced for Switzerland from a very early stage. SLM supplied the undercarriages and superstructures.
In 1961, SLM merged with Sulzer.
Around the turn of the century, the success story of the venerable SLM could no longer be sustained. Restructuring and the sale of divisions were the reasons for this.
In 2001, three senior executives from Sulzer took over production from the former SLM and founded the company Winpro AG.