Chris Parker and I arrived at the museum's parking lot in Kennesaw, Georgia and across the street was the Kennesaw station, now a museum itself.
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad Kennesaw station built in 1908. The Western & Atlantic Railroad constructed the first depot in what was once known as Big Shanty, later named Kennesaw in the 1850's. Union Soldiers burned that single wood building in 1864. A new freight station was built in the 1860's. In 1908, the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis constructed a new passenger and freight depot. In the 1920's the north end of the depot was lowered and the waiting room was added to complete the station.
The museum houses artefacts from the American Civil War, as well as from railroads and locomotive manufacturers that operated in the State of Georgia and surrounding regions during the 19th and 20th Centuries. These include a collection of company records, engineering drawings, blueprints, glass plate negatives, photographs and correspondence from various railroad businesses, as well as a collection of Civil War letters, diaries and official records.
The museum started life in a barn that once housed a cotton gin as the Big Shanty Museum in 1972 with the steam locomotive "General" as its centrepiece and the museum subsequently expanded its collections to include additional Civil War material. It closed in late 2001 to carry out a major expansion to accommodate its growing collection, as well as a large number of artifacts and records donated by the Glover family, then reopened in 2003 as the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History. A further expansion was carried out in 2007 to house the recently acquired French "Merci Boxcar".
The reason that the museum is located in Kennesaw goes back to April 12, 1862 when the town was known as Big Shanty. On that date, James J. Andrews and a band of Union Spies stole the Confederate locomotive the General while the passengers and train crew were eating breakfast at the nearby Lacy Hotel right from under the noses of the guards from nearby Camp McDonald. In a matter of minutes, Andrew and his men had cut off the passenger cars and stole the General heading north for Chattanooga where they hoped to reach Union forces about to arrive there. Confederate Conductor William Fuller shortly gave chase and the Great Locomotive Chase was underway. The General made it as far as Tunnel Hill where it ran out of wood, the spies gave up the engine and headed for the woods, with almost all of them getting caught. They were taken to the prison in Atlanta where the more guilty, including Andrews, were hung.
This new museum traces the events of that day plus gives one a better understanding of the Civil War.
Our VisitWe walked inside and were given press kits then introduced to Trevor, who would be our tour guide.
Lifelines of the Civil War was the first hall that we saw. Displays here include General Custer's parade uniform, the Medals of Honor presented posthumously to the family of Sargeant John Scott and Confederate Joe Brown, as well as General John Bell's hood coat.
Georgia's Governor Joe Brown had ordered blacksmiths and other small weapon manufacturers across the state to make "pikes" at the beginning of the Civil War and this museum has an exhibit of some of them.
One of the Confederate cannons. We continued to walk through this unique museum, seeing many remarkable items from the Civil War.
This is the nation's only full-scale reproduction of a belt-driven locomotive assembly line. Casting a New South offers a fascinating glimpse into the turn-of-the-century business technology that contributed to the rebuilding of the South after the Civil War. The Glover Machine Works of Marietta, Georgia, was the South's last builder of steam locomotives. The exhibition showcases this remarkable company and includes an office, pattern shop, factory equipment and two locomotives in various stages of completion. The company manufactured over 200 small steam locomotives in eight different gauges betweem 1902 and 1930. The Southern Museum is the home to the company's complete corporate collection.
James Bolan Glover II bought the Phoenix Foundry and Machine Shop near downtown Marietta in 1892. Three years later, the name was changed to the Glover Machine Works. The company initially repaired locomotives made by other American builders, as well as producing a variety of railroad related equipment such as inspection cars, brake wheels and grate bars. By the early 20th Century, it had begun building steam locomotives for light industrial use. In the 1930's, locomotive production ceased, although the works continued to repair and replace parts for its engines until the 1950's. The bulk of the business was by then producing pipeline components in its Cordele plant.
By the late 1990's, having sat vacant for nearly fifty years, the buildings on the Marietta site were to be demolished. However, they still contained many company records, wood patterns, construction machinery and three Glover-built locomotives. This valuable set of historic material was donated to the museum by the Glover family in 2001. The museum was extended between 2001 and 2003, and much of the floor space is now dedicated to reconstructions of parts of the original works.
To create the component metal parts, patterns were passed to the Foundry where they were pressed into specially prepared casting sand set in open frames called "flasks". The sand was then tamped down firmly and the resulting bottom half of the mould was called the "drag". The drag was turned over and the pattern for the second half of the component was carefully laid in place. Another flask called the "cope" was then set on top of the drag and sand shovelled in and tamped down again.
Small tunnels in the mould allowed molten metal to be poured in and permitted the escape of hot gases. The drag and cope were then carefully separated and the wooden patterns removed. Finally, the mould was reassembled and clamped ready for casting. Molten metal was brought in a ladle, and workmen ensured the pour went smoothly and no impurities made their way into the casting. Once the metal had cooled, the mould was opened, any sand was brushed off and the "nubs" (outcrops left after pouring) cut off.
The Pattern Shop was where skilled craftsmen, pattern makers, created wooden replicas of the various components of locomotives working from blueprints. These were carefully built up from layers of different types of wood depending on the particular part. They were then cut, chiselled and sanded to create quite precise pieces. Most were made in halves, but some parts had to be constructed from several different wooden "patterns", and deciding how to break them into the various blocks in this way was a highly skilled job. Finished patterns were varnished and stored. Re-use allowed for some standardisation and repeatability within and across the company's orders.
The rough cast components passed from the Foundry to the Machine Shop. Here, they would be ground, polished and finished in readiness for the Erecting Shop. Many different tools were used in the Machine Shop, including lathes, shapers, planers, milling machines, presses, punches, boring machines, drills, saws and joiners. During the early part of the 20th Century at the Glover Machine Works, these were driven by belts run off overhead pulleys and shafts powered by a steam engine in a main boiler house. Locomotives were assembled in the Erecting Shop, starting with the frame, to which the cylinders and boiler saddle were fitted first. The brake rigging, valve gear and spring rigging followed, and any other components that would be difficult to fit once the boiler was in place.
The boiler was brought into the Erecting Shop on a cart and lifted by overhead crane onto the frame. Once it was secured in place, the engine was lifted onto its wheels. Steam and lubrication pipes were fitted, the boiler was lagged and the boiler jacket fitted. The saddle tank and cab were next dropped onto the frame and the rods, valve gear, pistons and lubrication lines connected. Finally, the smoke stack, steam and sand domes were riveted to the boiler.
Splint Jellico Coal 0-4-0 3 built by Glover in 1926, damaged and reposessed by Glover because Splint-Jellico could not keep up payments and remained there, progressively deteriorating for more than 70 years. 3 was donated to the museum by the Glover family in 2001 along with most of the other historic material left at the Marietta site and has been nicely restored. A coal burner, 3 was built to a 40" gauge.
We continued to walk through the museum and a few minutes later, I finally saw the reason for our stopover.
Western and Atlantic 5 foot gauage 4-4-0 3 "The General", built by Rogers Ketchum & Grosvenor in 1855. A wood burner, the "General" was the most famous of four locomotives involved in what has come to be known as the "Great Locomotive Chase".
On 12th April 1862, it was commandeered at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw) by Union volunteers who had infiltrated Confederate territory in civilian clothing. Led by James J. Andrews, their goal was to take the train north towards Chattanooga and meet up with the Union's advancing army. Along the way, they would tear up track, sabotage switches, burn bridges and bring down telegraph lines. The train's conductor, William Allen Fuller, and two other men gave chase, first on foot and then by handcar. At Etowah, Fuller commandeered the "Yonah" and continued to Kingston. There, he switched to the "William R. Smith" but, two miles south of Adairsville, the tracks having been lifted by the raiders, Fuller was forced to revert to foot. Arriving at Adairsville, he then took command of the southbound "Texas" and resumed his pursuit.
With the "Catoosa" following, both locomotives travelling tender-first, the chase continued north to Tunnel Hill, GA. Finally, just north of Ringgold, GA, and only a few miles from Chattanooga, with the locomotive out of fuel, Andrews' men abandoned the "General" and scattered. All the raiders were subsequently caught, however, and tried. Eight of those captured were executed as spies, and the remainder imprisoned. Some escaped and made it to the north, and the remainder were eventually paroled in exchange for Confederate prisoners.
After the war, the "General" continued to operate on the Western & Atlantic. When the railroad began numbering engines, as it was the 39th acquired, the "General" was numbered 39. It was completely rebuilt in the 1870s and, in the mid-1880's, converted to standard 4' 8" gauge and leased to the Atlanta & Florida Railroad. It retired from service in 1891 and was stored on a siding in Vinings, Georgia, until restored for display at the 1899 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1901, it went on display in the Chattanooga Union Depot, although it was taken to the 1927 Fair of the Iron Horse in Baltimore, Chicago's "Century of Progress" Exhibition in 1933, the 1939 New York World's Fair and the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948.
In 1959, the locomotive was restored to operating condition for the American Civil War Centennial and went on to appear at venues across the eastern US, including the 1964 New York World's Fair. A legal dispute then arose between the State of Georgia and the City of Chattanooga over custodianship, which was finally settled in 1970. The "General" then returned to Kennesaw where the museum site was being prepared for it.
Two O gauge models of "The General".
Two O gauge models of "The Texas".
Trevor, our excellent tour guide, beside "The General". We thanked him for the excellent tour then visited the gift shop.
The State of Georgia Historical Marker about the General. The two of us returned to the car, both thinking how wonderful and unique this Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History is. Anyone interested in either railroading or the Civil War, or both, must visit this museum.
We drove north up the Interstate towards Chattanooga and I remembered seeing a picture in last month's Railfan and Railroad magazine of the vold tunnel at Tunnel Hill near where the Great Locomotive Chase ended. We exited the Interstate at the Tunnel Hill exit and found the tunnel in question.
The Western and Atlantic Railroad Tunnel. The railroad was founded on December 21, 1836, as a state railroad that connected Atlanta, then known as Terminus, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. At 137 miles long, the W&A railroad line took a total of thirteen years to construct and cost more than four million dollars at the time. The W&A Tunnel in Whitfield County played a significant role in making the W&A line possible by connecting Atlanta with Chattanooga.
In 1848, the Tunnel Hill community developed as a result of the construction of the W&A Tunnel. The tunnel, completed in 1850, is 1,447 feet long and runs through Chetoogeta Mountain connecting Dalton to Ringgold. It was the first railroad tunnel completed south of the Mason-Dixon line. Nearly a decade after the tunnel's completion, it became part of the infamous Andrews Raid, also known as the Great Locomotive Chase. On April 12, 1862, US civilian scout James J. Andrews, along with about two dozen volunteers from the US Army known as Andrews’ Raiders, stole a train named the General and drove the locomotive 87 miles from Big Shanty to Chattanooga. The goal of the raid was to destroy as much of the W&A railroad line as possible and prevent the Confederates from shipping supplies to the Confederate Army in Chattanooga. Andrews and his men were chased by Confederates on foot and by locomotives, and during the chase, the General raced through the W&A Tunnel. It was the only locomotive chase to occur during the Civil War.
A few years later, in May 1864, Tunnel Hill saw additional action as US General William Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign began along the W&A railroad route. After pushing the Confederate Army out of Tunnel Hill, Sherman established headquarters at the Clisby Austin House. The W&A Tunnel remained in use after the Civil War, until 1928, when a larger tunnel became necessary for larger locomotives. Currently, the W&A railroad line is still owned by the state of Georgia and is leased by CSX Transportation.
With all reds on the CSX signals and it still being the hottest and humid day yet of the trip, we returned to Chattanooga but we found the freight house I had seen yesterday on the way to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Musem.
Southern Railway freighthouse whichstarted as an iron foundry in 1871. By 1894, the building was converted into a freight depot by the old Eastern Kentucky and Georgia Railroad, which became part of Southern in 1901. As the railroad industry went into decline, this depot fell into disuse. John's Railroad Salvage was located here in the 1970's. In 1983, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. By the late 1980s, Chattanooga decided to have urban revitalization here and at Warehouse Row next door, with the ultimate goal of having upscale stores at both places. Since then, historic renovation has been completed with modern additions removed, bringing back the 19th century facade.
We turned into our home for the last five days, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, where we would have a great downpouring of rain before we had "Dinner in the Diner" at 7:30 PM then turned in for last night here.
