The firm was founded in 1844 by Johann Schäfer in Heidelberg and was sold after his death in 1861 to Heinrich Fuchs, who formed the
Waggonfabrik Heinrich Fuchs in 1862. Fuchs moved the factory from the district of Weststadt in Heidelberg to the neighboring district of
Rohrbach (completed in 1902), in close proximity to the
Heidelberg-Kirchheim/Rohrbach station. In addition to railway wagons, in its early days the firm also built bridges and other facilities for the railways. Major customers for its wagons and coaches in the early years were the
Baden State Railways. From about 1901 the production of tramways began. Customers included the
Elektrische Straßenbahn Heidelberg–Wiesloch,
Heidelberger Straßen- und Bergbahn AG (
HSB),
Oberrheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (
OEG),
Rhein-Haardtbahn (
RHB). Even
U-Bahn trains were supplied for the
Berlin U-Bahn and the
glass train (
Gläserne Zug). Fuchs survived the two world wars, but only with heavy losses. Production had to be stopped or almost all its employees had to be made redundant on several occasions. Attempts were made to diversify to other products such as tractors or diggers, but with little success. The company was taken over in 1930 by the
Vereinigung Westdeutscher Waggonfabriken (
Westwaggon) and the majority of shares sold in 1940 to the
Dillinger Hütte that, due to its location in the
Saargebiet, sold its share of Fuchs in 1957 to the
International Harvester Company, who switched its production to
combine harvesters. == Today ==