Concept
La Brugeoise et Nivelles, later BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques, was a Belgian manufacturer of railway locomotives and other rolling stock; it was formed by a merger of two companies: La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve and Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles (French for "The Metallurgical Workshops of Nivelles"). The company was acquired by Bombardier Transportation in 1988, plants in Nivelles and Manage closed in 1989 and 2000; as of 2011, the plant located in Bruges operated as Bombardier Transportation Belgium. In 1851, Joseph De Jaegher founded a hardware store in the Burg in Bruges; in 1855, this expanded with a steel workshop on the Raamstraat, named Ateliers J. Jaegher; in 1891, this merged with another steel making company in the nearby Gieterijstraat, the Usines Ferdinand Feldhaus, to form the Ateliers de Construction Forges et Aceries de Bruges. By 1900, the company was a major Belgian metal engineering company. In 1905, the company moved its plant and offices to a larger site with good railway connections close to the Ghent Ostend Canal at Sint-Michiels in Bruges. Until 1913, the company operated as the Société Anonyme La Brugeoise, abbreviated as La Brugeoise. In 1913, the company La Brugeoise et Nicaise et Delcuve was formed by the merger of the Bruges-based companies La Brugeoise and Nicaise et Delcuve during a re-organisation of the interests of the holding company Trust Métallurgique Belge-Français, and capitalised at 10 million francs; the new company included a modern steel works, forge and mills at Sint-Michiels. During World War I, the facilities were occupied by German forces, and at the end of the war had been substantially damaged, however post war construction also required the organisation products. In 1919, control of the company was taken by the Société Générale de Belgique. In 1956, this merged with Les Ateliers Métallurgiques de Nivelles to form La Brugeoise et Nivelles. In 1977, the company merged with Constructions Ferroviaries du Centre (CFC) (in Familleureux, Hainaut, Belgium) to form BN Constructions Ferroviaries et Métalliques (BN).
