Borsig Plant and Foundry (1847) The Borsig mechanical engineering plant and iron foundry on Chausseestraße in Berlin. The Berlin locomotive manufacturer August Borsig (1804-1854) started from modest beginnings as a tradesman. He used practical sense and a talent for business to build up one of the leading industrial enterprises in Germany. With its vivid depiction of belching smokestacks, this painting illustrates one major downside of rapid industrialization – the harmful effects of air pollution on the environment and on the health of both workers and people living near the factories. Painting by Karl Eduard Biermann, 1847.