Paul Decauville


Paul Decauville was a French engineer and businessman. He was also mayor of Evry-Petit Bourg and senator from Seine-et-Oise.
He is the founder of a manufacturing company that bears his name, producing industrial railways, locomotives, and cars. By extension, the name is also used for his invention of a narrow gauge track railway system, the Decauville system, through the vast business acumen of its promoter. His name was also used for a subsidiary, Voitures automobiles Decauville, producing early automobiles. Decauville's name is further associated with the towns of Corbeil-Essonnes and Evry, Essonne, on whose territories the company Decauville erected its factories, which he directed until 1885.
He founded a construction company in 1910 to exploit the patents it had obtained. This company, Comptoir d'outillage et de matériel à air comprimé, survived until the late 1980s. Another of his companies, Emidecau, specializing in hydraulic presses, still exist.
In politics, Paul Decauville was mayor of Evry-Petit Bourg from 1881 to 1892. He was also Senator of Seine-et-Oise from 1890 to 1900, member of the Board of Customs, Secretary from 1897 to 1899. After leaving Paris, Paul Decauville served as mayor of the town of Saint-Léger.

Other narrow gauge pioneers