Hardy Menagh   1/18/26

For this past Christmas, I decided to set up a condensed reenactment of the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862, AKA, the Andrews Raid. This would take the place of the usual generic train under the tree.

For the locomotives, I had a Lionel 1862 General and a Lionel 8701 General. The 8701 is the closest in appearance to the current existing incarnation of the General on display in Kennesaw (formerly Big Shanty), Georgia. Unfortunately, it's not a good representation of the original Rogers locomotive but it could serve. The 1862 General could stand in for the Texas, running in reverse, of course. I had purchased these Generals in broken and non-working condition and repaired them, adding detail in some places.

Lionel offered a limited edition 150th anniversary Great Locomotive Chase 2-locomotive set but they are scarce, beyond my budget and not any more accurate than the ones I have. Besides, this was far more satisfying to put together.

Since these Lionel engines couldn't be controled on the same track, I set up two tracks under the Christmas tree, one running closely inside the other. The outside track would carry the General. The inside one would be for the Texas.

A directional signpost with the words "Big Shanty" and "Chattanooga" would be a giveaway, as to the setting.

During the actual chase, the General pulled from 3 to 0 boxcars. Given the space I had to work with, I settled on the 2 MTH 19th century boxcars I had.

I wanted to have most of the important elements of the original chase so I constructed a model of a period hand car. Some paper tents would serve as an encampment. I had two Lionel Western & Atlantic passenger cars, which I put uncoupled on a siding, next to the encampment. I positioned a Lionel whistle tender on the same siding, out of sight behind the tree.

This completed a greatly compressed recreation of Andrews' failed railroad campaign of 1862, under our tree, complete with a locomotive whistle.

For more information about the raid, read: Daring and Suffering a History of the Andrews Railroad Raid by William Pittenger. You might find a PDF of the book with a search.

There is also a Disney movie: The Great Locomotive Chase. This includes some dialog between adversaries which never took place and doesn't cover the hellish aftermath of the chase. Like my reenactment, the locomotives aren't quite right but the depiction of the chase itself is fairly close to what Pittenger described.

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