Paulin Talabot

Paulin Talabot
Born	(1799-08-18)18 August 1799 Limoges
Died	21 March 1885(1885-03-21) (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.