I didn't notice the wheel centers being unusually wide or the tires being buried behind the outer rims of the centers, so....I'm assuming that the axles and wheel centers were regaged in the usual way at some time after the Confederates blew her up while evacuating Atlanta. No idea if the W&A archives from the reconstruction era are intact to research.

dave

That's a really good book. I'm reading it right now.

And get Ron Maxwell ("Gettysburg", "Gods and Generals") to direct

I stand corrected on the locomotive being sealed up inside the display building. It’s been many years since I was there and I was just a kid then.
I get that the engine was modified several times over the years, but you’d think they could at least get her into more accurate paint colors. I wonder how many people go to Kennesaw and confuse the locomotive for the “Jupiter” in Utah! And as for that L&M-style number on the headlight lens, I can’t think of any reason why they kept that on there. I don’t think she carried the number on the lens at any point until the tour in the 1960s.
As for a movie project, it wouldn’t be all that expensive to make if you picked the right route and area (with period-looking structures). Getting the route lease and the equipment would be the major cost because you don’t need massive crowd or battle scenes for this story. But keep in mind, neither “Gettysburg” nor “God and Generals” did well in the domestic theater market. “Gettysburg” cleaned up in the European market and has done well on the home video market (recently re-leased as an extended box set addition with the other movie). “God and Generals” was a huge loss for Turner, who never made another Civil War film after that after it did poorly at the box office and among critics (and was blasted by the author of the book as well). There’s almost no chance that the final book, “Last Full measure” about the end of the war will ever be made now.
But any movie on this event is one I would love to be a part of myself. I grew up doing Civil War re-enacting (my dad built his own 6-PDR field gun right after the centennial) but haven’t done it in a while since I moved to the Pacific Northwest. But yeah, I’d come back to the deep south for something like that! I always did Confederate but for a brief while I went through a fit of insanity where I got a… gulp – YANKEE uniform, for events with the US Army when I was active duty, basically a 1860s version of what I was doing for real at the time. This is one of the few photos that exist of me wearing the hated color blue (to my ancestors, anyway), at Devil’s Den at Gettysburg in 1998 during the timeframe for the big re-enactment there. These days I’ve come to my sense and back to my old Confederate ways. I go grey, or stay away!

At the begining of this thread there was discussion about what was planned to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Great Locomotive Chase. Here's what I know about so far regarding activities at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History (Home of the General) in Kennesaw, Ga. This is a partial schedule -- more events are being talked about as I write this:
APRIL 12
-- 6 a.m.: Breakfast at the Lacy Hotel. Trackside Grill, 2840 S. Main St. NW, Kennesaw. $20.
-- 8:30 a.m.: 150th Proclamation of the Great Locomotive Chase in the historic 1908 Kennesaw depot.
-- 6:30 P.M.: Great Locomotive Chase Dinner. Trackside Grill. $100; dessert only, $25. Dessert follows at the museum. Special guest: Bobby Horton.
For more information or to RSVP, call 770 427-3117 ext. 3183.
APRIL 14-15:
-- Camp McDonald Living History. Civil War re-enactors on the Depot lawn. Learn what life was like at Camp McDonald, a training camp for Confederate soldiers. Free.
MAY 26:
-- Great Locomotive Chase Descendants Party. Reunion of the descendants of the participants of the chase, Union and Confederate. Story telling, camaraderie, bus tour, catered dinner.
For more information: http://www.southernmuseum.org/visit/civ ... niversary/

At the museum's upcoming "Trains, Trains, Trains" event this Saturday, Jan. 21, some of us will be in the big hall with the General answering questions. You're all welcome to drop by for a visit! ... David Ibata, NC&StL Preservation Society

Talking and eating.......that should bring them in by the ones and twos. Where else can you find the chance to do either of these things in the metro Atlanta area?

dave

Ouch! But seriously, folks, without a steam locomotive, it seems to fall a little flat. On the other hand, Civil War events do turn them out in the south.
The whole centennial, as I think Alex #4 was trying to point out in his original posting, seems to have been "under-planned". Perhaps people have been too focused on the economy and not on the things that matter?

So Richard, what matters more than the economy right now?

But I agree; economy included, something interesting and dynamic that might not have to cost a fortune would have captivated me, but more rubber chicken and speeches - ho hum.

dave

Dave, what is the quote Ross Rowland has used so well? "With a Diesel it's a train, with a steam locomotive, it's an event!" Granted, the Diesel is not approriate to the discussion, but you get my drift, I'm certain.

Too bad they didn't think about approaching CSX to do a special sesquicentennial paint scheme on a locomotive or two...

I myself, just finished reading Russell Bonds book "Stealing the General" and I would definitely recommend it. Most of the "railroading" described is pretty accurate, but there is one thing I do not completely understand. When the pursuers reached Etowah, Georgia, they were delighted. I quote from the book:

"The Yonah was on the turntable, its tender standing nearby on a side track."

And:

"All the men then began the laborious process of rotating the engine on the turntable and hitching it up to the tender, all of which had to be done by human hands."

The Yonah (#10) was an older Rogers 4-4-0 that had been leased from the
Western & Atlantic Railroad by what the locals called the "Cooper's Iron Works". It was used in switching service between the W&A at Etowah and the plant, which was located at the end of a 5 mile branch. I can understand why the crew running the engine would want to turn it at Etowah, but I do not understand why the tender would be separated. Unless the turtable was so short that the tender had to be turned by itself. Anyone have any idea?

Les

Maybe the doomsayers of apocalypse in 2012 have caused others to shiver in their boots. Remember the Y2K panic?

<GRIN>

Doug vV

The only reason I'm resurrecting this thread is because I found this video on YouTube tonight...the footage is great, sure there's no sound, but the background soundtrack isn't half bad. It's some footage from the General's 1962 runs...it's not my footage.

http://youtu.be/xpPO5IeCkcg

.

Well, I wouldn't confuse the two (especially since I saw both engines in Utah in September), but I'm sure the average member of the public easily could. Heck, a year or two ago I was standing next to the BNSF main near a spot where the 4449/844 excursion to Seattle ran a few years back and someone stopped and asked if 'that was the steam train that stopped here way back then', pointing at an Amtrak cascades train that had just gone by. So, if someone can confuse a modern Amtrak train with 4449 and 844, confusing the Jupiter for the General would almost be a given.
I'd bet a lot that they get that question from time to time where the General is today...