17 Facts About Paulin Talabot

Paulin Talabot was a French railway and canal engineer.

Paulin Talabot 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 Paulin 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 a Lyon et a la Mediterranee.

In 1862 Paulin Talabot became its first Director General and he died on 21 March 1885.

Paulin Talabot's father, Francois Talabot, was a lawyer, and his mother was Marie Agathe Martin-Lagrave.

Paulin Talabot studied at the Ecole 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.

Paulin Talabot visited England and befriended Robert Stephenson, who later visited Paulin Talabot in France.

Between 1838 and 1840, Paulin Talabot surveyed a railway between Avignon and Marseille via the Rhone Valley.

In 1846, Paulin Talabot became a member of the Societe d'Etudes du Canal de Suez in 1846, and the following year had accompanied Robert Stephenson and Alois Negrelli to look at the feasibility of a Suez canal.

In 1855 Paulin Talabot published Le Canal des deux mers, d'Alexandrie a Suez; moyens d'execution.

Paulin Talabot later built railroads in Algeria, where he was involved with maritime transportation and mining.

In 1847 Paulin Talabot developed a 300 Franc bond to finance large railway companies, and using this method in 1852 he merged some of the struggling railways into the Lyon Mediterranee Railway.

In 1857 this amalgamated with the Paris-Lyon line to form the Chemins de fer de Paris a Lyon et a la Mediterranee ; this was managed as separate northern and southern sections until 1862, when Paulin Talabot became its first Director General.

Paulin Talabot had been decorated Officer of the Legion of Honour on 30 August 1855, and prompted to Commander on 13 August 1864.

Paulin Talabot ran for election as Representative of Basses-Alpes in the National Assembly by-election of 2 July 1871.

Paulin Talabot lost to Prosper Allemand, who won 14,212 votes against 7,412 for Talabot and 3,755 for Arthur Picard.

Paulin Talabot retired from the PLM in 1882, accepting the title of Honorary Director General.