Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg

Edmund Heusinger was born in Langenschwalbach (present day Bad Schwalbach) in the state of Hesse in central Germany on 12 May 1817.

In 1863, when he made the plans for the Deister and South Harz Railway, which was constructed shortly thereafter, he moved to Hanover, where he lived to the end of his strenuous but successful life.

Edmund Heusinger Von Waldegg was the inventor of the reversing gear for locomotives which bears his name, the principle of which was used on all large engines throughout the world.

Among his many inventions in the line of railway technique he also developed the cast-iron plate wheel, perfected the coupling system and improved passenger coaches on through trains.

The will to work, joy in work and creative power were the three motives in the life of Edmund Heusinger von Waldegg, and it is in this spirit that a monument was erected to his memory in Hanover, the dedication of which was held in that city on 22 September 1929, in the presence of a large gathering of friends and representatives of different organisations, as well as of his grandson, Pastor Wolfgang Heusinger von Waldegg, who accepted the monument in the name of the family and thanked all contributors for the honour shown to his grandfather.