Here are some images of AMT's 1/25 scale 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive .
I realize these trains were probably a medium dark green in colour but flat black just looks so cool.
From Wikipedia"
The General is a type 4-4-0 steam locomotive that was the subject of the Great Locomotive Chase of the American Civil War. The locomotive is preserved at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was arguably the first train ever hijacked.
Built in 1855 by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor in Paterson, New Jersey, The General provided freight and passenger service between Atlanta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, before the Civil War on the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia and later, the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company.
During the Civil War on April 12, 1862, The General was commandeered by Northerners led by James J. Andrews at Big Shanty (now Kennesaw, Georgia), and abandoned north of Ringgold, after being pursued by William Allen Fuller and the Texas. Low on water and wood, the General
eventually lost steam pressure and speed, and slowed to a halt two
miles north of Ringgold, where Andrews and his raiders abandoned the
locomotive and tried to flee.
Later, the General narrowly escaped destruction when General John Bell Hood
ordered the ordnance depot destroyed as he left Atlanta on September 1,
1864. However, the engine was severely damaged by being run into
boxcars of ammunition and the Missouri locomotive. This was done
deliberately so as to render the engine unusable for the approaching
Union forces.
It had been speculated by some that, after the General had been
damaged, the invading Union army restored the engine and operated it.
However, many historians believe that the engine was left untouched for
the remainder of the war. The Union army had based its repair shops in
Nashville, and there is no evidence to suggest the engine was moved
there. The United States Military Railroad Service had many new or like-new engines, so they had no need to restore captured ones such as the General. The USMRR had often left the damaged equipment of a captured railroad undisturbed, and its records, having listed the General as "captured and returned," further suggest such was the case of the General.
After the war ended, the General was repaired and continued service on the Western and Atlantic. In the 1870s, the General
was completely rebuilt, it had received a new pilot, boiler, and other
components. Most notably, its three dome configuration was reduced to
two domes, and its Radley-Hunter style balloon stack was replaced with a
diamond stack, as the engine had been converted to burn coal. Indeed,
the rebuilt engine had little resemblance to its original form.
Before the Civil War, most railways in the south, including the
W&A, did not give their engines numbers. Rather, they were simply
named, such as the General. When the railroad began numbering engines after the war, the General
was the 39th engine to be acquired by the road, and was numbered
accordingly. Locomotives came and went as years progressed, and by 1880,
a renumbering was necessary. At this time, the General was given
the number "3," being the third oldest engine that the railroad had at
the time. The engine continues to carry this number today.
In the mid-1880s, the Atlanta and Florida Railroad
began construction. During this time, the W&A had a locomotive
surplus after buying several more modern engines, so they leased the General to the A&F from 1887 to 1888 to assist in construction.
The locomotive was originally built to the southern states standard rail gauge of 5 ft (1,524 mm). After a change to the northern states gauge was mandated by June 1, 1886, The General was converted to be compatible with the U.S. Standard Gauge of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm).
The General was retired from service in 1891 and stored on a
siding in Vinings, GA where it awaited its final fate. Early the next
year, E. Warren Clark, a professional photographer, discovered the
engine in Vinings, and approached John W. Thomas, president of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway
(which had won the lease on the Western and Atlantic Railroad of the
State of Georgia in 1890), with the proposal of restoring the General for exhibition at the upcoming World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Thomas accepted, and the General
was soon taken to the NC&StL Ry Shops at West Nashville to be
restored. At this time, the engine was given a Radley-Hunter style
balloon stack similar to the engine's original, and was reverted to a
wood burner. The engine soon encountered problems involved with burning
wood, so it was restored back to a coal burner. The engine was given a
unique new stack at this time, one that, while designed for coal
burning, was styled like the original so as to give the appearance of a
wood burner.
While the engine's display in Chicago was costly, and left Warren Clark broke afterward, it had insured the General's preservation. In 1901, the General was placed on display in the Chattanooga Union Depot.
There, it remained on display for nearly fifty years, only being
removed for short periods for exhibitions. In particular, the engine was
taken to Baltimore in 1927 to participate in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's "Fair of the Iron Horse," then in 1933 to Chicago's "Century of Progress" Exhibition, the 1939 New York World's Fair, and finally, the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948.
In 1959, The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, removed the General from the Chattanooga Union Depot and began to restore the engine to operating condition at its South Louisville Shops, for the American Civil War Centennial. As part of the restoration, the General
was given modern air brakes, a modern coupler (only on the tender, the
older style coupler on the engine's front pilot remained), and was
converted to burn oil. Throughout the 1960s, the engine pulled Louisville and Nashville Combine Car Number 665 as travelled to various places across the eastern US, including the 1964 New York World's Fair under its own power.
In the mid-1960s, the state of Georgia began to express interest in reclaiming the engine. Indeed, many proposals about the General had arisen since the 1930s, while it was still on display at Chattanooga, including plans to have the General be displayed in Underground Atlanta, Kennesaw Mountain, or at Stone Mountain Park,
among others, some of which even included removing the Texas from the
Cyclorama to be displayed with the engine. While much press coverage was
given about these proposals, none of them had ever materialized. Even
the city of Paterson, New Jersey,
where the locomotive was built, expressed interest, since many engines
had been built by Rogers and other firms in the city, but had none to
display. Paterson eventually withdrew their proposal and sought other
engines to display.
The state of Georgia's interest in the General soon raised tensions with the city of Chattanooga, where the General
was displayed. In 1967, the city of Kennesaw, where the engine had been
stolen in 1862, requested to have the engine visit and give rides
during a fundraiser. The General was on its way there, when it was stopped by a group led by Chattanooga's mayor, Ralph H. Kelley.
He believed the engine belonged to the city, and a lawsuit had been
filed against the L&N concerning custody of the engine.
Thus began a long legal battle, eventually going to the US Supreme
Court. This dispute lasted until 1970, when the Supreme Court ruled in
favor of the railroad. The General was stored in Louisville
during this time, only being publicly displayed over a weekend in
November 1971, when it was displayed in the city's Union Station alongside the road's newer diesel engine no. 1776.
After the L&N won the legal dispute concerning the engine's custody
in 1970, they brought the engine to Atlanta via Knoxville and
Cartersville, bypassing Chattanooga. In February 1972, a ceremony was
held in Atlanta where L&N president Kendall formally presented the
General to then state governor (and later President of the United
States) Jimmy Carter.
Afterwards, the engine was moved to Kennesaw where a museum site was
prepared. On April 12, 1972, the Big Shanty Museum (later known as the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History) opened, and the General remained on display there since.
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, 4-4-0 represents the arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, usually in a leading bogie, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels. Almost every major railroad that operated in North America
in the first half of the 19th century owned and operated locomotives of
this type. Due to the large number of the type that were produced and
used there, the 4-4-0 is most commonly known as the American type, but the type subsequently became popular in the United Kingdom, where large numbers were produced.
Beautiful....I love trains and as i am getting older steam brings back many memories.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shayne - Glad I could take you back to your childhood of the 1860's ;-)
ReplyDeleteWell i do look good for my age i have to admit.. :-)
ReplyDelete