Economic Context and Early Management of the Sant - Etienne & Lyon Railway Company (

At the beginning of 1820s. Marc Seguin and his brothers started negotiations with French government for the construction of a railway line from the Saint-Etienne coal field to the Rhone valley and the city of Lyon. This railway is the first French railway using locomotives. Because there are few papers and publications on the history of this important railway, the writers have studied about the circumstances of the railway and the role of Marc Seguin . The originality of civil engineering works' and the development of locomotives with tubular boiler2) are already discussed . This paper reexamines the Saint-Etienne & Lyon Railway Company from the view point of the economic context and management by investigating original documents of Marc Seguin and his colleagues . Major points discussed include: 1) Economic context leading to the railway and rate competition for the governmental concession , 2) Operation of locomotives and management of the company after the opening , 3)Advanced aspects of the railway.