The Texas was given to the Ladies of Atlanta in 1908 for exhibition at Grant Park. It was not restored until the 1930's when it was placed in the basement of the Cyclorama building. I do not know of any information that would indicate that ownership of the locomotive was ever turned over to the City of Atlanta.

awalker2002@comcast.net

Much fiction surrounds the "General," some of which has appeared in this thread. The leading historian of the W&A "General" locomotive is none other than Steve Meola, a restoration technician at the RR Museum of PA. Steve has spent hundreds of hours researching the engine's history in various archives, has done interviews with many of the participants involved with the engine's preservation, has crawled over, under and been inside the engine many times--and has done some groundbreaking paint and cosmetic research of the locomotive with heretofore information yet to be published. Much of his work will appear in some public format at a future date, so stay tuned.

Kurtrbell@hotmail.com

I hope we can see his work sooner than later.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

> I hope we can see his work sooner than
> later.

Ditto. He and I have talked a couple times on the phone and I am very interested in his research.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> The Texas was given to the Ladies of Atlanta
> in 1908

Hmm...what would the Ladies of Atlanta want in exchange for an old locomotive?

tr2manz@frontiernet.net

> Hmm...what would the Ladies of Atlanta want
> in exchange for an old locomotive?

Scarlett O'Hara's curtain dress, which has unfortunately been lost in time.

Dave


irondave@bellsouth.net

Restoring Atlanta to it's pre-evacuation or antebellum condition (remember that Atlanta was burned during the Confederate evacuation-Sherman was not directly responsible for the majority of the destruction there). Either that or a miracle from the City of Atlanta since I suspect that they may have been given title to the locomotive. In that case, the locomotive might as well have concrete blocks cast around the bottoms of it's wheels.

awalker2002@comcast.net

Since the Kennesaw museum is growing up perhaps in the future some sort of intermuseum loan could be worked out to put Texas and General in the same museum. Unfortunately given the attitude of one member of the Frye family, it will have to be in Kennesaw, with General stuck in that same small room where you an't even get a decent picture.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

> Is this the Cyclorama Building? Is the Texas
> owned by the city of Atlanta?

As Dave said, yes, it is the Cyclorama building in Grant Park. However, contrary to previous posts here, the Texas is not in the "basement". When the Cyclorama was refurbished years ago (1980s?), the former basement area where the locomotive was exhibited was converted into the main entrance to the building. TEXAS is no longer in a dark, poorly lit basement, but in a well-lit area at the center of the Cyclorama entrance.

I hope we are not headed down the "let's get her out and run her" path. I personally think she is right where she belongs. While the idea of having both the GENERAL and TEXAS together in the same space is nice, I am happy to see the TEXAS preserved where she is.

Ever wonder why the GENERAL got all the attention and not the TEXAS? After all, the GENERAL was only stolen. It was the TEXAS, running backward, that kept the pressure on and finally caught up with the raiders' intended vehicle of distruction.

syfrettinc@bellsouth.net

Finally got tired of waiting for pictures


http://www.andrewsraid.com/t_restore.html
lamontdc@adelphia.net