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

going down by gravity along a very regular line with regular curves6 and going up with empty wagons by steam locomotives in the manner of Stephenson. For the horizontal parts, locomotives were also planned. This choice foresaw the future for railways. Even starting the traffic was not easy in 1830-1833 and required the use of gravity and locomotives built in Lyon, but mostly combined with horses mainly to climbup the “great slope” from Rive-de-Gier to the Terrenoire Pass (13,6 %o for 20 km long, see figure 2).7

At the same time, the Seguin brothers had obtained notable know-how in steam engines through large experiments in towing boats along the Rhone River. They constructed three steamboats8 powering mechanical winches with a gear system, able to roll up a long cable fixed on successive mooring posts (1826-1828). They used two Taylor & Martineau’s steam engines, quickly modified because the production of steam remained too limited for the rapid flow of the Rhone River. They made important design research leading them toward the first construction of the tubular boiler ( 1827— 1828).9 Spontaneously, Marc Seguin understood that the main problem of the Stephenson locomotives he bought from the famous British mechanic in Newcastle in 1827 was in the steam production. A few weeks after receiving it in his workshop in Per- rache Lyon, he changed the classical Stephenson’s boiler into a a tubular one. He successfully performed his first attempts with a “Stephenson-Seguin Locomotive” in Lyon in December 1828, ten months before Robert Stephenson did the same with his famous Rocket in the Rainhill locomotive competition10 11, undoubtedly influenced by the innovative solution promoted by his customers."

Climbing up the slopes to reach the Terrenoire pass and Saint-Etienne from the Rhone River was indeed a great challenge. After visiting the Liverpool & Manchester line in construction, Marc Seguin decided to make larger curves than the initial project and to be very strict about the regularity of slopes. That led him to the definition of the first standard for medium mountain railways with regular long slopes, large curves, and

6 150 meters in the first Seguin’s project of 1826, 500 meters after visiting the Liverpool-Manchester line in 1827.

7 Cotte: Innovation et transfert de technologie, chapters 23, 24 & 25.

8 They were powered by an original high-pressure steam engine within three horizontal cylinders acting directly upon the power-shaft. It was designed by Seguin and built by Taylor & Martineau, London in 1826-27.

9 French patentee was asked by Marc Seguin in December 1827 and registered in February 1828; it became there as a public information.

10 In October 1829, at Rainhill on the Liverpool & Manchester line.

11 During the crucial years 1827-28, Marc Seguin and George Stephenson met probably two times and exchanged around 10-12 letters.

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