In 1913, the Breuer AG company that was founded in 1871, developed a small shunting vehicle for operation on company sidings as an alternative to steam locomotives. The small vehicle weighing up to three tonnes moves beneath the wagon to be pushed and lifts it. Consequently, a part of the wagon's dead weight functions as an adhesive weight on the shunting tractor, enabling it to achieve excellent performances. The ""Breuer Tractor"" was patented in 1914. Types I and II with 25 HP and no driver's cab whatsoever were manufactured into the 1930s. Type III with 40 HP that boasted an open driver's cab and an ability to produce 350 t of traction was subsequently manufactured. Type IV with 65 HP and a closed driver's cab finally brought economic success and was manufactured under licence several times. Following the war, Type 5 was manufactured up until 1955. The exact number of the individually constructed types is unknown. Some of the countries in which the Breuer Tractor was manufactured under licence included Finland and Denmark, where it was manufactured for the respective state railway companies. The Gebus company in Austria manufactured seven units for industrial companies. The Breuer Tractor was extremely popular in Italy. In total, OCM and ABL supplied over four hundred Type II, III, IV and V vehicles manufactured under licence. The "Breuer Tractor" was widespread throughout the whole of Europe and a few are still in use even today. Other vehicles have already been put into museums, including one of the most popular transport museums in Europe, the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne.
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