The Maybach type MD 650 engine
© Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG/ MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH
After WW II, the situation was once again difficult for Maybach Motorenbau. Yet, the company managed to reestablish itself on the world market. The key product of this success was the MD series (MD was short for Maybach Diesel). These fast-running engines were built in a modular manner and therefore could be ordered in many different configurations - from a four cylinder to 16 cylinder one. This versatility combined with its reliability made the series a global success and it saw application in generators, boats as well as trains. Trains were to become a key segment and after the war the replacement of steam with diesel really came to fruition. Besides the newly developed MD series another engine became remarkably successful. It was not a new development in the truest sense but rather a continuous innovation based on the GO 6 engine the German Railway had been using, combined with a tunnel engine housing. The GTO 6 (the T is for tunnel) was highly successful both in Germany and internationally and powered several hundred locomotives in the domestic market alone, some of which are still in use to this very day.
The ferry ship 'Wappen von Hamburg' (Crest of Hamburg), using five MD 650 engines, 1955
© Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG/ MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH
The entrance to the company premises in Friedrichshafen, around 1969
© Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG/ MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH
The V 60 shunter locomotive using a Maybach GTO 6 type engine. Photograph: Robin Fell
© Eisenbahnstiftung