Günter Dinhobl (Hrsg.): Sonderband 7. Eisenbahn/Kultur – Railway/Culture (2004)
I. Für eine Kulturgeschichte der Eisenbahn / Towards a cultural history of railways - Michael Cotte: Railways and Culture: An Introduction
Railways and Culture: An Introduction use. The tender rate of 9,8 cents per ton-km would prove a very difficult challenge for the future operating budget of the company, and climbing uphill of trains along the 20 km at 13,6%o from Rive-de-Gier to Terrenoire a very difficult for technology. Organising the Company and Seguin’s Vision of Future Benefits In the middle of the 1820s, Marc Seguin and his brothers were probably among the best civil engineers in France and the most well-informed about railways; but even they under-estimated some financial and technical elements for construction and use. The tender of 1826 created a huge opportunity with clear advantages, because exploitation of Loire coal in the Rhone direction was a very promising challenge. If the very low rate accepted at the tender competition marked public opinion in favour of the railway, it certainly did not convince the capitalists. In order to found a limited company, Seguin had to gather an enormous amount of capital for that time: 10 million francs, with the possibility to claim one million more. When he obtained the definition of railways as a “technical machine” constructed and managed by a private company from the administration, he had to provide immediately a large deposit of 800 000 francs to the state, as a guarantee for the construction of the line! The “High French Bank" (Rothschild, Laffitte, etc.) refused to support the joint stock society Seguin proposed. They remained suspicious about the reality of benefits through the railway. They did not wish to become shareholders and only offered large loans with fixed interest to the new company. There were, however, some mediumsized Parisian bankers and some large private investors who bore funds to create the limited company and complete its board of administrators (1827). Seguin and probably some advised businessmen understood early on that the largest benefits did not lie in the operation of the railway, but in the new commercial opportunities he would offer. For instance, the Seguin brothers bought land close to the railway and organised some capitalist projects in Saint-Etienne, Givors and mainly at Perrache in Lyon, with an ambitious industrial zone. That was carried out with arrangements and contracts with the local councils and the main land holders. They also took interest in some collieries at Saint-Etienne. The financial crisis of 1830-31 changed the perspective and the Seguin brothers transferred their personal properties surrounding the railway to the company, avoiding its failure and allowing the line achievement in 1833. At that time there was certainly an unfavourable atmosphere of affairs and land speculation for the company and for the Seguin brothers themselves. More signifi59
