Georg Zacharias Platner

Georg Zacharias Platner (27 July 1781 - 8 July 1862) was a German manufacturer-entrepreneur and an astute businessman who later also became a politician.

His principal claim to fame arises on account of his role as instigator and founder of the Bavarian Ludwig Railway ("Bayerische Ludwigseisenbahn") which opened at the end of 1835. It connected Fürth with Nuremberg, a distance of 6 kilometers, by means of the first regular steam-hauled railway service in Germany.

Life Provenance and early years Georg Zacharias Platner was born in Nuremberg. Despite being in Bavaria, Nuremberg was for historical reasons a predominantly Protestant city and the Platners were a Protestant family, He served as a deputy in the second chamber of the Bavarian parliament between 1831 and 1834. was Platner, who was elected as the company's treasurer and director in chief at the November inaugural meeting, with Johannes Scharrer, the son of a small-scale artisan-brewer and a highly successful "self-made businessman", as his deputy.

Although his first achievement involved securing the necessary finance, Platner also played a key role in the construction of the company's major assets. He personally ordered the rails from the Remy Brothers' Iron works in Neuwied, where the steel masters had prudently obtained technical information on rail manufacturing from England several years earlier. A steam locomotive was also needed. Various German and Belgian manufacturers were approached, but it became apparent that their offers were costly and in some cases based on untried technology, and in the end the company's first locomotive was purchased from George Stephenson in Newcastle, England. Stephenson had resolutely refused to deviate from his preferred track gauge with the result that one side of the railway line, which had already been laid down, had to be relayed slightly more than half an inch further from the other rail than previously, in order to provide for compatibility with the "Adler" (locomotive).

On 13 July 1835 King Ludwig agreed to the company using the name "Ludwigseisenbahn" (Ludwig Railway). The line from Nürnberg to Fürth was opened on 7 December 1835.

As part of the deal with George Stephenson, the steam locomotive that the company purchased arrived accompanied by William Wilson who was an experienced locomotive driver-engineer. Wilson was able to observe the final assembly of the locomotive after the cart loads of sub assemblies and components had been delivered overland from the docks at Cologne; he then drove the train on its inaugural run. The original plan seems to have been for Wilson to return to England after a year or so, but became something of a local celebrity, and despite attempts by other companies to lure him away he renewed his contract several times and stayed with the company. He caught a bad chill in 1842 from which he never fully recovered, but nevertheless continued to work as a locomotive driver until forced to retire in 1859 by a further deterioration in his health. He lived in Nuremberg until he died there in 1862. Several sources note that in 1836, while Georg Zacharias Platner was serving as the company's principal director, the train driver William Wilson was earning an annual salary of 1,500 guilders while Platner earned only 1,200 guilders. Wilson's contract, dated 5 August 1836 also provided that his monthly salary of 125 guilders would be supplemented by a further payment of 240 guilders every time he successfully completed the training of an apprentice driver to the required standard. Wilson's salary was reduced to 1,200 guilders in 1850, but the differential with the salary of the best paid director remained, the director earning 900 guilders, reflecting the general economic downturn that followed 1848.

City parks Georg Zacharias Platner became known for his contribution to the greening of Nuremberg. Between 1818 and 1921 he laid out what is today the "Bucher Straße" (literally "Books Street") in connection with improvement of his own private garden which was adjacent to it. He was also the owner of the land known as "Platnersanlage" ("Platner's Park"), landscaped as a garden accessible for the public. What is today known as "Colleggarten" ("College Garden") can be traced back to Platner's proviate garden, along with the green spaces of the Friedrich Ebert Platz. Platner also paid for the transformation of the "Judenbühl" into a fashionable "English-style" landscaped park-garden, which for many years, known as the Maxfeld, was used for exhibitions and celebrations, and which formed the basis for today's Stadtpark ("City Park"). Platner was also involved in the beautification of the "Dutzendteich-Park" ("Park of the twelve ponds").