The Leipzig-Dresden railway line through time

Karl von Oeynhausen and Heinrich von Dechen came to Britain towards the end of 1826 to prepare a report for the Prussian authorities. Both were attached to the Prussian Ministry of Mining and had travelled widely in France, Belgium and Germany. They addressed their report to a subject, " that, in recent years, has attracted so much general interest as that provided by the extensive schemes that have been, and are still being prepared daily in England for the improvement of inland communications." In other words - the railways. They were "strongly of the opinion that railways should take in civil engineering a far reaching share that until now has been little cultivated." However the nature of the early railways was so varied in Britain that they felt it was difficult to express a general statement on their practicality.

The wealth of detail that the two engineers provided was extensive, visiting some thirty or forty sites of waggonways and the only railway using steam locomotives between Stockton and Darlington. When they visited Lancashire in April 1827, construction of the Liverpool and Manchester line had only just begun, but they gave an important contemporary account of the project. They met many railway engineers in the North-east during May 1827, where the Stockton -Darlington Railway had been operational since September 27 1825. This railway was the first in the world to use steam locomotive power and Robert Stephenson's celebrated 'Locomotion No 1', along with 'Hope', 'Black Diamond' and 'Diligence' would have been hauling coal trains along the track when the two Germans were there. They were fortunate to be able to visit the Stephenson's works at Shildon and examine the prototype locomotive 'Experiment', which was the first locomotive in the world to have horizontal cylinders.

The two Prussians believed that stationary engines probably still had slight advantages over steam locomotive engines. This was in common with the disputes among engineers in Britain. The Rainhill Trials of 6 October 1829, which were set up by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Committee to test the new moving steam locomotive engines resolved the issue on the side of Stephenson through the performance of his locomotive Rocket. State involvement in railway building was played down by the two Germans who considered that it was inappropriate for the State to be involved in "..influencing the common trade of whole districts." They felt that the railway case was proved vis à vis waterways by the lower costs of construction and therefore the "..more moderate freight charges."

Their report was published and reprinted in 1829 in Berlin. Many German industrialists were able to read in great detail about developments in Britain and the acknowledged superiority of the railway. No mention was made of any future role for the railways in the unification of Germany.

One German industrialist, Friedrich Harkort, had built a coal-carrying railway using horses in 1830 near Düsseldorf and wrote a pamphlet in favour of major railway building from Köln and Minden in 1833. Harkort had travelled to Britain in the 1810s' and had persuaded skilled British labourers to travel to Germany and use their skills at his Westphalian factory, building stationary steam engines. Many engineering materials, particularly boilers, were imported from Britain. This was true of the most engineering products at the time as Britain had the monopoly on such output and exported vast quantities of industrial merchandise. A warehouse in Dresden, Saxony, was used as a key distribution centre for the Harkort stationary engines, which were much in demand by textile manufacturers in the region. He was perhaps the most creative and influential of entrepreneurs in Germany at the time. While in Britain he was supported by a London banker of German descent and had a close friendship with Edward Thomas, a British engineer. Edward Thomas went back to Germany with Harkort and was instrumental in the design of the Harkort engines.

Friedrich Harkort's particular genius was in originating, and he was the first to install engines in ships. The first German steamship was built in Duisburg, then sailed down the Rhine, along the North Sea coast and then up the River Weser. Following the success of this project, Harkort embarked on operating steamers from Köln to London, again a complete technical achievement, but sadly uncommercial. What he lacked was commercial acumen and his career as an entrepreneur soon floundered. He had, however, played an important part in the early nineteenth century economic development that was so critical for both Saxony and the wider Germany.