The Texas (locomotive)
N 33° 44.052 W 084° 22.301
16S E 743505 N 3735788
Part of the Great Locomotive Chase with the General during the Battle of Atlanta in the Civil War. Housed in the Atlanta Cyclorama museum, Grant Park - Atlanta.
Waymark Code: WM17W6
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 02/15/2007
Views: 22
The Texas is a type 4-4-0 steam locomotive that played an important role in the Great Locomotive Chase during the American Civil War. The locomotive is preserved at the Atlanta Cyclorama building within Grant Park in Atlanta, Georgia. The Texas is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Built at a cost to its owners of $9,050 in 1856 by Danforth, Cooke and Company in Paterson, New Jersey, the Texas provided freight and passenger service between Atlanta, and Dalton, Georgia, before the Civil War on the Western and Atlantic Railroad (Antebellum trains were generally known by names, not numbers.)
During early part of the Civil War, the locomotive was used primarily to haul local freight and cargo without any major incident. However, on April 12, 1862, the Texas, pulling a load of 21 cars from Dalton southbound towards Atlanta, was commandeered by William Allen Fuller to chase down spies led by James J. Andrews during the "Great Locomotive Chase." Steaming in reverse after jettisoning the railcars, the Texas pursued the fleeing General over 50 miles to Ringgold, Georgia, where the raiders abandoned their stolen train two miles north of that town and fled. The Texas's engineer, Peter Bracken, towed the abandoned General back to Adairsville, Georgia, and then picked up his 21 cars and steamed into Atlanta, well behind schedule, but with a good reason.
The Texas and nine boxcars were loaned to the East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad to haul salt and cargo from the mines at Saltville, Virginia, from 1863 through the end of the war.
Moved back to Georgia following the war, the Texas again served the W&ARR during the postbellum Reconstruction era. The locomotive was renumbered and renamed as the Cincinnati in 1880. It remained in service until 1903.
A campaign was successfully mounted to raise funds to preserve the old locomotive, which was deteriorating in a side yard in Atlanta. It was taken to Grant Park in 1911 and saved from the scrap pile, but was not moved indoors until 1927 when the Cyclorama building was erected, where it was stored in the basement. In 1936, Atlanta historian Wilbur G. Kurtz led efforts to restore the Texas to its wartime appearance and numbering. In 1981, it was moved upstairs to a new public viewing platform after the expansion and modernization of the Cyclorama building.
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