Theodor Weishaupt
Theodor Weishaupt (born April 8, 1817 in Magdeburg , † April 5, 1899 in Berlin ) was a German civil engineer .
Career
education
Julius Alexander Theodor Weishaupt, the second eldest son of Magdeburg District Building Inspector Weishaupt, received his first scientific training at the grammar school in Quedlinburg am Harz, where he was also a student of Karl Ferdinand Ranke . Influenced by the example of his older brother Hermann , he chose the construction profession and passed the surveyor's examination in 1835. From 1836 to 1839 he studied at the Bauakademie in Berlin, followed by an internship in land, water and road construction until 1842. The prerequisites for the successful examination as land, road and hydraulic engineering inspector, which took place in 1843, were met. For his professional career, he then turned to railway construction with brief interruptions .
career
The following stations shaped his remarkable professional career:
- until 1848: Departmental master builder in the Thuringian Railway Company , responsible for the construction of the difficult route: Weißenfels - Naumburg - Kösen - Sulza.
- 1848–1849: Hydraulic engineering inspector in Bromberg, site manager at the Bromberg Canal .
- 1849: Joins the Prussian Ostbahn with its headquarters in Danzig , later in Bromberg as head of the central technical office.
- 1850: Appointment as a railway builder and appointment to Berlin in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Public Works.
- 1852: Appointment as railway construction inspector.
- Spring 1853: Posting to Bromberg as a member of the royal management of the Eastern Railway with successful work for the establishment of administration and operation of the Eastern Railway.
- 1855: Transfer to the management of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrorter Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft .
- 1856: Appointment to the government and building councilor and appointment to the ministry as head of the technical railway office, member of the ministry until 1878
- 1858: Appointment as a secret building officer.
- 1862: Promotion to the secret senior building officer.
- 1869: Promotion to Senior Building Director with the rank of First Class Council.
- 1878 to 1880: Head of the construction department
Activity for civil purposes
In the course of his 22-year activity at the ministry, he helped negotiate and sign numerous state agreements with foreign railway administrations, for example:
- State treaty between Prussia, Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Meiningen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Reuss j. L., concerning the layout of the Gera-Eichicht railway line. 18 March 1867
- State treaty between Prussia and Hesse on the railways from Giessen to Gelnhausen, from Giessen to Fulda and from Hanau to Friedberg. 12 June 1868
- the treaty between the German Empire and Austria-Hungary for the construction of a railway between Leobschütz and Jägerndorf and a railway between Neisse and Olbersdorf of May 21, 1872
- the treaty between the German Empire and Austria-Hungary for the construction of a railway between Görlitz and Reichenberg from the same date
- Plenipotentiary of the North German Confederation at the Bern Conference in September 1869 on the Gotthard Railway
Furthermore, he found out about the local railway and tunnel construction industry while traveling, also together with his brother Hermann (then a technical member of the Royal Railway Directorate in Elberfeld) to France, England and Italy.
He was a member
- the jury of the Paris World Exhibition 1867 ,
- the technical superstructure deputation,
- of the examination office,
- the Central Statistical Commission.
Weishaupt also held several honorary positions, for example in the Berlin Association for Railway Customers, of which he was chairman from 1869 to 1877, and as a member of the Berlin Architects' Association, to which he had belonged since 1838.
He retired in 1880.
Activity for military purposes
Working in the Prussian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Public Works meant that Weishaupt paid special attention to the military use of the railroad. Many service instructions and decrees up to the year 1870 are essentially due to his participation and suggestions. But he was also able to use his practical experience here to a greater extent, for example when the troops were transported to the Rhine in 1859 as a result of the Sardinian War . He was also able to apply and deepen his knowledge in the wars of 1864 and 1866. His abilities earned him unrestricted recognition by the highest military authorities and the assignment to the Executive Commission for Troop Transport at the Great General Staff from 1866.
His engagement as ministerial director for the railway department during the Franco-German War can certainly be rated as the high point of his military activity . Here it was only effective when the railway deployment was carried out and later in the construction and operation of the field railway departments .
As a member of the executive commission for the north German mobilization transports in Berlin, he vigorously campaigned for the organization of the transports to run as smoothly as possible. From July 16, 1870 until the end of the deployment on August 3, 384,000 infantry, 50,000 cavalry and 1,600 artillery pieces were transported to the theater of war with the help of 43 different independent German railway administrations and without a connected state railway line between Berlin and the Rhine.
The north German troop transports were carried out on the following 6 different lines, each of which was led by line commissions :
- Line A: Berlin - Hanover - Cologne - Bingerbrück - Neunkirchen
- Line B: Leipzig or Harburg - Kreiensen - Mosbach (Bierbrich)
- Line C: Berlin - Halle - Kassel - Frankfurt - Mannheim - Homburg
- Line D: Dresden or Leipzig - Bebra - Fulda - Kastel (Mainz)
- Line E: Posen - Görlitz - Leipzig - Würzburg - Mainz - Landau
- Line F: Münster - Düsseldorf - Cologne - Call in the Eifel
The threads came together at Weishaupt, which is illustrated by the following telegram from the Executive Commission to the General Director of the Army:
- "The transports requested by the army directorate are to be reported to the Executive Commission, Ministerial-Director Weishaupt himself here, specifying the quantity, time, task and address station , possibly under the name urgent or very urgent, who the further, so far only if the means are enough, will cause ... "
Troop transports were also frequently disrupted due to the special conditions of mobilization, but also to the incompetence of those responsible on site. Here Weishaupt intervened by telegram from Berlin, the following example should prove this:
- In the area of Line Commission D, the Bebra - Hanau railway line was blocked, instead of the 12 trains required every day, only 8 trains could pass the route in both directions. Line commission D then requested additional machines from the central executive commission, and therefore from Weishaupt. Weishaupt replied:
- Bebra - Hanau has 34 machines, 40 engine drivers and stokers over 19 miles, so enough staff and machines for 12 trains a day in each direction.
- The reason for the reduced capacity of the line was different, which was made clear by the following telegram from the Line Commission D of July 27, 1870:
- All D-trains so far, with the exception of DI, significantly exceed the prescribed axle strength. . . . D VI instead of 93 axles 142 axles. With such an unforeseen strength of the trains, machine power may ultimately not be sufficient. The line commission justified the high number of axles of the trains by the lower load capacity of the Thuringian wagons.
- Weishaupt replied:
- July 27th: Directorate Cassel files a complaint that trains that are too long - 142 axles - and loaded provisions trains are being led via Bebra - Hanau, which is not capable of such a performance. The Commission must firmly oppose such excesses ...
- July 28th: Trains with 135 axles much too heavy. Regular transports are therefore impossible. Low load capacity of the Thuringian wagons regrettable. If trains are up to 110 axles strong, neither provisions nor ammunition may be given. The Line Commission has to adhere to this with the utmost severity.
- In the end, the executive commission made additional machines available to restore the completely out of step daily interval with delays of up to 6 hours by diverting empty trains.
During and after the deployment, Weishaupt, as head of the field railway departments, played a key role in restoring and organizing railway operations in the conquered French territories. These field railway departments had the task of taking possession of the opponent's railways, removing obstacles, restoring destroyed structures, making changes to the stations and on the routes necessary for military purposes of all kinds and, if necessary, taking over operations. Railway installations also had to be destroyed when they withdrew. There were 5 field railway departments with railway technicians, civil servants, workers and military personnel with up to 75 pioneers and 100 unskilled workers per department.
Ultimately, Weishaupt was also responsible for repatriating the troops after the peace agreement. Weishaupt received several awards and praises for its services in the war of 1870/71.
Member of the Federal Council
Weishaupt was appointed to the Federal Council of the German Customs Union and the North German Confederation, later of the German Empire, from 1870 to 1874. He had the confidence of Bismarck in railway matters, who particularly valued him as an expert.
Publications
Theodor Weishaupt has written several specialist articles, especially in the Bauwesen magazine :
- 1851:
- "The new rail profile of the Lower Silesian-Märkische Eisenbahn"
- "The railways of Sardinia"
- 1852:
- "English ferry companies for railway purposes"
- "From tubular girder bridges"
- 1853:
- "About the impregnation of the superstructure sleepers, etc."
- "Lattice bridges of the Prussian railways"
- 1857:
- "Safety devices for the railways of Vigniéres"
- "The Homberg-Ruhrorter Rhein-Traject-Anstalt"
- 1858:
- "Notes relating to the railway system, collected on a trip to Sardinia in April and May 1857"
literature
- Senior Construction and Ministerial Director a. D. Theodor Weishaupt †. In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung . Volume 19, No. 28 (April 8, 1899), pp. 165–166.
- J. v. Pflugk-Harttung: War and Victory 1870-71. Cultural history. Berlin 1896
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1899, p. 165
- ↑ Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1899, pp. 165–166
- ^ H. Höper: The Prussian Railway Finance Legislation Berlin, 1879
- ↑ Newspaper report 1869
- ^ Commission Impériale: Rapport sur l'Exposition Universelle de 1867, a Paris. Paris 1869
- ^ Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1899, p. 166
- ↑ Railway Department of the Great General Staff: The Railway Deployment for the Franco-German War 1870/71. Berlin, 1897, p. 49
- ↑ Railway Department of the Great General Staff: The Railway Deployment for the Franco-German War 1870/71. Berlin, 1897, pp. 55-56
- ↑ Pflugk-Harttung, p. 464
- ↑ Announcement regarding the appointment of authorized representatives to the Federal Council of the North German Confederation and the German Customs Union. 12 January 1870.
- ^ Heinrich von Poschinger: Prince Bismarck and the Federal Council. First volume, p. 281. Leipzig and Stuttgart 1897
- ^ Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung, 1899, p. 166
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weishaupt, Theodor |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German civil engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 8, 1817 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Magdeburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 5, 1899 |
| Place of death | Berlin |