The Leipzig-Dresden railway line through time

When, in 1833, a German economist, Friedrich List published one of his many papers on railway promotion, the state of Saxony was his target. List had lived for some time in America, having forsaken Germany after a conflict with local government over administrative practices. In 1822 he had been sentenced to ten months in prison for political intrigue and had fled from Stuttgart to Strasbourg and then Switzerland as a 'political' refugee. He travelled to Britain in May 1824, and then across the Atlantic to America. His itinerary was extensive and he covered many thousands of miles in both Europe and America.

While in Britain he had stayed in London for four weeks and viewed the first British horsedrawn rail track between Wandsworth to Croydon. This line, called the Surrey Iron Railway, was opened in 1803 and used horses to draw the wagons up the gradient on rails five feet apart. This was probably List's first viewing of a working railway line, although it was horse-drawn. On arrival in America he bought a 25 hectare farm near Harrisburg although he had no practical farming experience at all. He and his family only lasted six months on the farm and were virtually destitute when they moved to the town of Reading. Here, List published a German language newspaper 'Readinger Adler.' During his stay in America, the first American railway lines were being built and he sent to Joseph Ritter von Baader, a Bavarian mining engineer, several copies of the German language Ohio newspaper with information about the planned Baltimore and Ohio Railway. Von Baader had attended Edinburgh University in 1786 and became a manager at an iron works in Lancashire before returning to Germany in 1793. He had spent m ch time as well at Coalbrookdale, where a system of waggonways had been built to move materials around the industrial area.

Joseph Ritter von Baader was the key figure behind the Nürnberg -Fürth railway line, the first short railway track to be built in Germany. This link with Augsburg and von Baader led List to publishing plans for a railway system in Bavaria based around Augsburg in 1828, the first of his many schemes for regional railway systems. Behind many of List's railway network plans was his desire to see Germany unified. He had a passionate belief in the need for unification, the experience under Napoleon had been shown many Germans the benefits of closer co-operation between states.

While in America, List had cooperated with Dr Isaac Hiester in building a 21 mile horse drawn railway line in the Blue Mountains to carry Little Schuylkill coal from the mine to the nearby Schuylkill Canal. At the time of its completion, 1831, it was the longest railway line with iron capped wooden rails in America. However, before it was complete, List journeyed back to Europe, staying first in Paris, briefly returning to America before finally settling in Hamburg in 1833. It was at this time that he published many magazines and pamphlets, including the 'Nationalmagazin' and 'Eisenbahnjournal'. As an economist, List took part in major economic debates in America, and many of his ideas for development can be traced back to Alexander Hamilton, who linked nation, state and economy. Much of his economic philosophy was based on the notion of:

"...a large population and an extensive territory endowed with manifold national resources [being] the essential requirements of the normal nationality. A small state can never bring to complete perfection within its territory the various branches of production."

In July 1834 he made his way to Leipzig hoping to convince Saxony of his economic dream, which was based on what he had seen and done in both America and Britain. He had been offered three consulships for Hamburg, Baden and Leipzig by the American government but it seems he never took any of the positions. These positions were personal rewards from U.S. President Andrew Jackson, for help that List had given during the election campaign. There was a sizeable German-speaking population in America and List had worked for Jackson within the German communities. President Jackson was the first US President to travel on a railway, having been on the Baltimore - Ohio line in the early 30s. List was given American citizenship on 2 October 1830, although his consulships were never ratified by the U.S. Senate.

He obviously had grand designs and visions for railway evolution as he had written the following in 1832:

"..I could not watch the astonishing effects of railways in England and North America without wishing that my German fatherland would partake of the same benefits.."

Unification of the German states was List's ambition and he saw railway building as a necessary first step on the road to this bringing together of the countless German states. Saxony was a middle ranking state but in an important geographical and strategic position between Prussia and Austria, the two great powers. The political initiative in Saxony for unification was primarily focused on the power of Austria and the Saxon Royal family were convinced that Austria would be the key to unification.

Friedrich List co-operated with Gustav Harkort, a local Saxon business man and Friedrich Harkort's brother, in putting proposals for the building of a railway line between Leipzig and Dresden, before the Saxony state authorities.

List's pamphlet to the Saxon government claimed that:

"..the level and firm surface stretching in all directions from Leipzig, which seems to invite its inhabitants to put down rails without further preparation, makes this area suitable for the building of railways."

He also declared:

"A second important consideration for this locality is its position as the heart of the German inland traffic, the printing and publishing trade, and the German factory industry. Having settled in Saxony for some years, I determined to devote my leisure time to exploring the relevant local conditions, as far as this is possible for a stranger. Railways would carry wood, turf and coal at less than half the present costs. Bavaria, where flour, meat and other foodstuffs are 50 - 100 per cent cheaper than in Leipzig, could export its surplus to the Erzgebirge, the Elbe and the Hanseatic cities. Cheaper food and fuel would partly enhance the well-being of the working classes, and partly lower money wages, increase population and increase the extent of industry. Cheap building materials and low money wages would encourage building and lower the rents in the new and more distant parts of the city.

"On the other hand, increased population and industry would increase the rents, and by that the value of the houses, in the centre of the city, well placed for trade and industry. In one word: population, the number of buildings, industry, trade, and the value of land and houses in Leipzig would be doubled and in a short time, and I do not doubt for one minute that this increase in value in Leipzig alone would in a few years exceed the total capital costs of the new railways."

List's pamphlet was published in 1833 and proposed a railway system not just for Saxony but for the whole of Europe! He expounded these pan-European ideas that were more wide reaching than a railway for Saxony and foresaw six lines radiating from Berlin to Hamburg, Stettin, Königsberg, Breslau, Magdeburg and Wittenburg. He added that the founding of the Zollverein, the custom union of the German states would make the building and operation of these railways essential. Again he was promoting his prophecy for a united Germany. He had presented plans to the Prussians, but had been rebuffed. In his stormy life he produced pamphlets extolling the virtues of railway lines for Belgium, France, Bavaria, Prussia and Thüringia. The last one was written under a pseudonym, Justus Möser! List's plans were fortunate in arriving in Saxony at this time but were not the only reason for the line being built.

British investment capital was already present in Germany, as John Taylor and Charles Vignoles, both important railway surveyors and civil engineers in Britain, had sponsored plans for a Hamburg -Hanover line along the bank of the Elbe. Many German industrialists and government officials had spent time in Britain, closely observing the progress that the railways were making and there was a massive upsurge in interest in the new motive power. Germans had worked in British industrial premises and factories to gain a deeper insight into the craft processes and some cases employed chicanery to gain access to trade secrets. British capital and technical knowledge was exported extensively to Germany in the early part of the nineteenth century. This practice of pirating, as industrial espionage was known, was commonplace at the time. A copy of Watt's atmospheric engine was constructed in Berlin as early as 1780. Other examples of pirated copies were to be found throughout Europe as the Industrial Revolution spread. Everyone was eager to learn as much as possible from the British experiences and railway committees were started throughout the German states. The race was on to build the first German line. The prize went to a short 4 mile stretch between Nürnberg and Fürth proposed by Joseph Ritter von Baader some twenty years before!

The Saxony government agreed to List's plans, which were by now being taken over by local businesspeople, on 6 May 1835. In fact List's dreams were brought to more manageable levels to serve the economic interests of Saxony rather than the whole of Germany. List was being sidelined by the local business people who had a more limited and parochial vision and were motivated more by profit motive than List's utopian vision. Unification of Germany was not a major consideration for the business men, they were just eager to rebuild the economic power of Saxony that had been severely cut back by the loss of substantial territory to the Prussians following the Versailles Treaty of 1815. At a meeting in the Leipzig Gewandhaus on 15 June 1835, List had spoken mainly about his dreams for a national network, the Saxon business community however were not interested in such grandiose plans and List was disregarded.

The previous thirty years had seen 200 new factories opening in Saxony and the transport problem was becoming increasingly more acute. Several members of the industrial community had suggested a railway to transport coal as they required fuel in large quantities for their factories. Johann Wilheln Schmitz from Eberfeld, had advocated a railway system for Saxony before List's arrival on the scene, and published articles in the Leipziger Zeitung and Tageblatt in 1833. List's contribution was later belittled by the Leipzig - Dresden Committee. He was viewed as "an exalted fantasist with high flying ideas but with no ability to realise them". He was also portrayed as argumentative and uncooperative.

List was not offered a post with Company and was paid only 2000 Thaler in June 1837 for his work. He was very bitter about this payment that he saw as derisory since he wanted to be named 'acting manager' of the project. The committee made no attempt to bring him into the project and for the next decade List appears to have wandered around Europe extolling generally the virtues of railways.

He finally committed suicide in Kufstein in the Bavarian Alps, by shooting himself on 30 November 1846, while journeying to Meran in the Tyrol for a holiday.