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 line. The increase in traffic and the promise of the general opening enabled a solution without unemployment. The general railway opening started another kind of conflict with the coalmining companies. The coal transportation was not immediately perfect for all the customers and probably there had been some favourites, for instance companies in which Seguin or members of the company board had interests. The small and medium-sized collieries from Saint-Etienne interpreted lateness and a lack of wagons as the result of a favouritism policy by the company. They very quickly started lawsuits against the railway for having “privileges and a transportation monopoly”. Generally the court supported the collieries. The public opinion took the side of the miners and lawyers, showing they did not understood the technical reasons for the difficulties. This opened up opportunities for the French administration and corps engineers to regain influence and control upon the private railway company. It happened through the bias of enquiries about commercial equity of transport and the addition of security rules for passengers and operations. Conclusion We can conclude with an ambivalent social perception of the early French railways. In terms of public opinion, hopes borne into the railway project were important, mainly for the upper classes and social elites. But opening the line started a range of corporate conflict against precise social groups or economic interests. Nevertheless success was an immediate and exceptional reality, showing favourable individual attitudes favourable toward railway transport. This happened despite evident technical problems and important technological limits. Mainly for locomotives used in intensive traffic and steep slopes. The management of a complex technical system supporting an immediate and large transportation flow asked difficult questions. The men of the Company launched specific experiments and developed interesting solutions for technology and management. Those facts established the settlement of a new kind of company management and a new technical mentality among engineers and workers. Indeed, the Saint-Etienne & Lyon Company offered a practical “railway school” in France for a range of future important engineers and railway managers, some as well-known as Perdonnet, Koeklin or Talabot. For capitalism and business, the opportunities offered by the first railways were very soon clear. Nevertheless, the major investors remained prudent and it was not so easy 63
