Paulin Talabot
| Paulin Talabot | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
18 August 1799 Limoges |
| Died | 21 March 1885 (aged 85) Paris |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Engineer |
Paulin Talabot (18 August 1799 – 21 March 1885) was a French railway and canal engineer. Educated at the École Polytechnique, Talabot started his career building canals. Inspired by George and Robert Stephenson's steam railways in England, he built a line to transport coal from the coal mines at La Grand-Combe to the Mediterranean at Nîmes, which opened in 1839. He visited England and became friends with Robert Stephenson, with whom he surveyed a route for a Suez Canal in 1847.
The French Revolution of 1848 was followed by a financial crisis, and Talabot formed a company in 1852 to take over the struggling railway between Lyon and the Mediterranean; this merged with the Paris to Lyon Railway in 1857 to become the Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée. In 1862 Talabot became its first Director General and he died on 21 March 1885.
Paulin Talabot was born on 18 August 1799 in Limoges in western France. His father, Francois Talabot (1764-1839), was a lawyer, and his mother was Marie Agathe Martin-Lagrave. He had seven siblings: Pierre Auguste (1790-1867); Léon Joseph (1796-1863); Francois Jules (1792-1868); and Jean-Baptiste Edmond (1804-1832). He studied at the École Polytechnique from 1819; Talabot is said to have become a follower of the Saint-Simonianism movement, but according to Ernouf this is because is he is confused with his younger brother, Edmond.
In 1821, he started work building canals in Brest, and then in 1829 he moved to Decize, a coal mining area, to rebuild the canal between Aigues-Mortes and Beaucaire.
Learning of the success of the railways in England that were being built by George and Robert Stephenson, Talabot formed the Compagnie des Mines de la Grand’Combe et des chemins de fer du Gard, which planned to build a railway to take the coal from the mines at La Grand-Combe to the Mediterranean at Nîmes. The railway was approved 20 June 1833, but the scheme failed to raise the necessary funds until the government backed the scheme in 1837. Talabot visited England and befriended Robert Stephenson, who later visited Talabot in France. The first section of line from Nîmes to Beaucaire, opened on 15 July 1839, and a train covered the 28 kilometres (17 mi) in 32 minutes using steam locomotives from Newcastle in England hauling carriages built in France. A second section opened in August 1840 and the line was fully opened in 1841.
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