George Krauss

Georg Krauß, from 1905 Ritter von Krauß (25 December 1826 – 5 November 1906) was a German industrialist and the founder of the Krauss Locomotive Works (Locomotivfabrik Krauß & Comp.) in Munich, Germany and Linz, Upper Austria. The spelling of the company name was later changed from Krauß to Krauss, once the form of the name in capital letters on the company's emblems had become established.

Krauß was born in Augsburg as the eldest child of four, to master weaver, Johann Georg Friedrich Krauß and his wife Anna Margarethe, née Stahl. After attending primary school, he went to the Royal Polytechnic School, founded in 1833 (today Augsburg High School). After completing his education he worked temporarily in the Maffei Locomotive Works in Munich, then for the Royal Bavarian State Railways (Königlich Bayerische Staatsbahn) in Hof, Germany, Kempten and Lindau. A decisive step in his development was his job as a master machinist with the Northeast Railway (Nordostbahn) in Zurich, where he built his first four locomotives. From then on he was already preparing for the founding of his factory in Munich. In spite of strong opposition from the already established Joseph Anton von Maffei he obtained the necessary capital to found the factory on the Marsfeld in Munich-Neuhausen on 17 July 1866, a satellite factory at Munich South station in 1872 and another works in 1880 in Linz (Austria) in order to avoid the high import taxes of the Danube monarchy.

But Krauß was not just a successful locomotive manufacturer, but also supported other technological developments, like the first refrigerators by Linde. He took part in the expansion of railway lines in the Saxony, Thuringia and Alsace, in the conversion of the horse-drawn tramways to steam operations in Munich and Vienna, the building of the Chiemsee Railway and the establishment of the Lokalbahn AG. In addition in 1876 he was one of the founders of the present day Institute of German Engineers, the VDI, (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure) and in 1903 generously supported the creation of the Deutsches Museum with 100,000 marks and the repurchase of his first lokomotive "Landwührden".

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