The Great Locomotive Chase by Gordon Rottman

Author:Gordon Rottman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Great Locomotive Chase: The Andrews Raid 1862
ISBN: 9781782004660
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

THE GENERAL

The General, the locomotive stolen by Andrews’ raiders, was a design known as the American Standard or “eight-wheeler.” It is not known what “general” she was named after. The 50,000lb locomotive was built to order for the W&ARR in 1855 by the Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor Locomotive Works in Paterson, New Jersey for $8,850. She was what is known under the Whyte classification as a 4-4-0, that is, four small forward-leading pilot or pony wheels (two pairs of axles with four wheels), four much larger drive wheels 60in in diameter, and no rear trailing wheels (beneath the cab). The eight-wheel tender had a capacity of 1.75 cords of wood (just under what can be carried in two modern full-size pickup trucks) and 1,750 gallons of water. The General could reach a speed of 60mph and was known on the line as a fast runner. When recovered at the end of the great chase it was found the General had suffered no damage other than a brass journal bearing needing replacement. She was back in service two weeks later. Ironically it was the General that carried the captured raiders from Chattanooga to Atlanta. In September 1864, with Federal forces closing in on Atlanta, the General and four other locomotives and their freight cars were burned and the General rammed into another locomotive. She was briefly taken over by the US Military Railroad Service but not repaired, and was returned to the W&A in 1866. In the 1870s and 1880s the General underwent rebuilding and upgrading, including being converted to coal burning.

In 1888 the General traveled to Columbus, Ohio to attend the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis RR leased the W&A line in 1890 and received the General. In 1892 she was finally retired from regular service, but still towed to other cities for commemorative display. She was put on display in the Union Depot at Chattanooga in 1893 and this led to an ownership dispute. Up to the 1950s the General was frequently displayed about the country in expositions and fairs.

In great secrecy the General was moved to Nashville, Tennessee for restoration in 1961 and converted to run on fuel oil. Again operational in 1962 she undertook an extensive series of tours until 1966, the last time she ran under her own steam. In 1967 the General was to be returned to the state of Georgia, but it was halted in Chattanooga and kept there. This resulted in a legal battle, with the US Supreme Court ruling in 1970 that the historic locomotive be returned to Georgia. In 1972 she was moved to the Big Shanty Museum in Kennesaw. The General remains there in what is now the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History.

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