 | |
 Map of the W&A from its 1849 completion until its lease to the NC&StL, with locations of different events in theGreat Locomotive Chase marked. | |
 One of the W&A's famous locomotives,The General, on display in the railroad'sUnion Depot in Chattanooga | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Reporting mark | W&A |
| Locale | Tennessee,Georgia |
| Dates of operation | 1836–present |
| Successor | Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
| Previous gauge | 5 ft (1,524 mm) and4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm)[1] |
| Length | 138 miles (222 km) |
TheWestern & Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia (reporting markW&A) is a railroad owned by theState of Georgia and currently leased byCSX, which CSX operates in theSoutheastern United States fromAtlanta,Georgia, toChattanooga,Tennessee.
It was founded on December 21, 1836. The city of Atlanta was founded as the terminus of the W&A, with the terminus marked with theAtlanta Zero Mile Post. The line is still owned by the State of Georgia from Atlanta toCT Tower in Chattanooga; it is leased byCSX Transportation.
TheW&A Subdivision is a railroad line leased by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Tennessee and Georgia. The line runs from Chattanooga toMarietta, Georgia for a total of 119.1 miles (191.7 km). At its north end, it continues south from theChattanooga Subdivision of theNashville Division and at its south end it continues south as theAtlanta Terminal Subdivision (Chart A).[2][3]
This line, originally built to5 ft (1,524 mm)gauge,[4] is famous because of theGreat Locomotive Chase, also referred to as Andrews' raid, which took place on the W&A during theAmerican Civil War on the morning of April 12, 1862.
In 1836, theGeorgia General Assembly voted to build the Western & Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia to provide a link between the port ofSavannah and theMidwest.[5] The initial route of that state-sponsored project was to run from Chattanooga to a spot east of the Chattahoochee River, in present-day Fulton County. The plan was to eventually link up with theGeorgia Railroad from Augusta and theMacon and Western Railroad, which ran from Macon to Savannah. An engineer was chosen to recommend the location where the Western & Atlantic line would terminate. Once he surveyed various possible routes, he drove a stake into the ground near what is now Forsyth and Magnolia Streets. The zero milepost was later placed at that spot. In 1842, the zero milepost was moved to a spot immediately adjacent to the current southern entrance toUnderground Atlanta.[6] The area developed into a settlement, known as "Terminus", literally meaning "end of the line". In 1843, the small settlement of Terminus was incorporated as the city ofMarthasville. Two years later, by act of Georgia's General Assembly, the city was renamed "Atlanta".[7] The railroad made significant contributions to the development of north Georgia.[8]
In 1857,Joseph E. Brown was electedGovernor of Georgia. He supported free public education for poor white children, believing that it was key to the development of the state. He asked the state legislature to divert a portion of the profits from the state-owned Western & Atlantic, to help fund the schools.[9] Most planters did not support public education and paid for private tutors and academies for their children. That resistance, and inadequate railroad income, initially thwarted governor Brown's education reform efforts. The Western and Atlantic Railroad was mismanaged at the time, and unable to produce the income Brown required to fund his public education proposal. In 1858, Governor Brown appointedJohn W. Lewis to the position of Superintendent of the state-owned railroad. Lewis had the skills of a successful businessman, and immediately undertook reforms to turn around the failing enterprise. The railroad, said to be in "dire financial straits", required the same strict economic controls Lewis had practiced in his private businesses. In the three years that Lewis ran the railroad, he was able to turn the business into a money making enterprise, paying $400,000 per year into the state treasury.[10]
In 1861, Brown was up for re-election to a third term. It was at this time, during the re-election campaign, thatWestern & Atlantic Railroad Superintendent John Woods Lewis, an old friend of the governor, decided to resign from the railroad. The timing could not have been worse. Fearing that Lewis' resignation would be interpreted negatively, the governor requested that Lewis keep the resignation a secret. But the resignation letter was leaked to the press, causing a rift between the two old friends. Brown wrote to Lewis saying "I did not deserve this at your hands, and I confess I felt it keenly...I do not attribute improper motives, but only say the coincidence was an unfortunate one for me".[11]
From its establishment until 1870, theState Road, as the W&A was commonly known, was operated directly by the state under asuperintendent appointed by and reporting to thegovernor of Georgia. On December 27 of that year, operations were transferred to theWestern & Atlantic Railroad Company, a group of 23investors including Georgia's wartime governorJoseph E. Brown, who leased it (both tracks androlling stock) from the state for $25,000 per month. This expired 20 years later, when theNashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis (NC&StL) leased it for 29 years.
The railroad that was handed over to the NC&StL was in very poor condition. The locomotives that were transferred consisted only of those listed on the 1870 lease as property of the State, with all of the more modern engines purchased under Gov. Brown's Western & Atlantic Railroad Company having been sold to other railroads. While most of the passenger equipment was usable, almost all of the locomotives were condemnable and all of the freight cars were scrapped. The value of the locomotives was disputed for some 20 years.
A major change in the new lease in 1890 stipulated that all improvements made to the road by the lessee would become property of the state at the termination of the lease. Included in the definition of improvements were modifications to the facilities, right of way and new equipment purchased for use over that line, including passenger cars, freight cars, and locomotives. As it turned out, the NC&StL continued to hold the lease to the Western & Atlantic Railroad until it was absorbed by its parent company, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which was itself owned by the Atlantic Coast Line-one of the principal railroads in the Family Lines System and later CSX Transportation, which continues to operate the line as the Western & Atlantic Subdivision. CSXT signed the current lease on the W&A from the State of Georgia in May 1986, set to expire on December 31, 2019.[12] On Sept 7th, 2018, the owner and CSX announced they had reached an agreement to renew the lease for 50 more years, starting in 2020 at $1 million a month, and rising annually thereafter.
After being captured by the Union in mid-1864 and until the end of the war in 1865, the line was briefly operated by theUnited States Military Railroad.
| # | Name | Milepost (1867) | Milepost (2008) | Notes |
| 1 | Marietta, Georgia | 20 | 20 | begun in 1838, completed 1842 |
| 2 | Big Shanty-renamed Kennesaw, Georgia approx. 1870 | 28 | 28 | Chase starts in front of the Lacy Hotel |
| 3 | Acworth, Georgia | 35 | 35 | |
| 4 | Allatoona, Georgia | 40 | 40 | NearLake Allatoona |
| 5 | Emerson, Georgia | 45 | 45 | |
| 6 | Cartersville, Georgia | 47 | 47 | |
| 7 | Cass Station-unincorporated Cassville, Georgia | 52 | 52 | |
| 8 | Kingston, Georgia | 59 | 59 | |
| 9 | Adairsville, Georgia | 69 | 69 | |
| 10 | Calhoun, Georgia | 79 | 79 | |
| 11 | Resaca, Georgia | 84 | 84 | |
| 12 | Tilton-unincorporated Dalton, Georgia | 90 | 90 | |
| 13 | Dalton, Georgia | 99 | 99 | |
| 14 | Tunnel Hill, Georgia | 107 | 108 | Chetoogeta Mountain Tunnel completed May 7, 1850; tunnel dug from both ends, bores met on October 31, 1849; first through passenger train passed through May 7, 1850 |
| 15 | Ringgold, Georgia | 115 | 114 | Chase ends at 116.4 |
| 16 | Graysville, Georgia | 121 | 121 | |
| 17 | Chickamauga, Georgia | 126 | 126 | |
| 18 | Chattanooga, Tennessee | 138 | OWA 137.3/OOJ 149.4 | End W&A Sub, End Chattanooga SD (at Wheland, completed Dec. 1849 |
Trains departed from Atlanta at 8:50 a.m. and 7 p.m. and arrived there at 1:35 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Not much has happened in between 1867 and now, track realignments in some areas resulted in height clearances and track improvements.
On the morning of April 12, 1862, thelocomotiveGeneral was stopped atBig Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw) so that the crew and passengers could havebreakfast. During this time,James J. Andrews and hisUnion raiders (Andrews Raiders), stole theGeneral. The only damage the raiders did involved cutting telegraph lines and raising rails, although an attempt to burn acovered bridge failed. The train's conductor,William A. Fuller, chased theGeneral by foot andhandcar. AtEmerson, Georgia, Fuller commandeered theYonah and rode it north toKingston, Georgia. At Kingston, conductor Fuller got theWilliam R. Smith and headed north toAdairsville. The tracks were broken by the raiders two miles (3.2 km) south of Adairsville and Fuller had to run the two miles on foot.
At Adairsville, Fuller got the locomotiveTexas and chased theGeneral. While all of this was happening, Andrews' Raiders were cutting thetelegraph wires so no transmissions could go through to Chattanooga. With theTexas chasing theGeneral in reverse, the chase went throughDalton, Georgia, andTunnel Hill, Georgia.
Atmilepost 116.3 (north ofRinggold, Georgia), Andrews' Raiders abandoned theGeneral and scattered from the locomotive just a few miles from Chattanooga. After the chase, Andrews and most of his raiders were caught. After they were found guilty, Andrews and seven members of his party wereexecuted byhanging. Of the remaining 14 raiders, several escaped and made it back to US Army lines and the remainder were exchanged as prisoners of war. These men were the first soldiers to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
_(14738102966).jpg)
When the chase was over, both engines returned to service. After the "General"'s service with the W&A was over, she retired to theNashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis RailwayUnion Depot in Chattanooga. In 1890, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway overhauled the General and provided the locomotive for public events and to promote the line's Civil War history (to drum up the tourism trade) up through the 1930s. In 1962, 100 years after the chase, the L&N performed work necessary to allow the locomotive to operate under her own power for a series of appearances marking the 100th anniversary of the Andrews Raid. The premier appearance was her run from Atlanta to Chattanooga over the Western & Atlantic Railroad. After this run, the General would make excursion trips on various rail lines across the eastern US through most of the 1960s. In the late 60s, the General was to go to Kennesaw for another appearance when the City of Chattanooga officials halted it. The engine was put in storage in Louisville while a legal battle for its custody ensued. In 1971 the United States District Court confirmed the right of the railroad to dispose of the locomotive as it saw fit and it was moved to Kennesaw, Georgia (via a route bypassing Chattanooga) in 1972 where it was placed in theBig Shanty Museum. TheTexas was renamedCincinnati and was retired shortly after the turn of the century, and was stored on a siding. In 1911, it was moved to Grant Park and later placed in theAtlanta Cyclorama.
Prior to the Civil War, therail gauge of most railroads in the South were5 ft (1,524 mm)broad gauge. In 1886, the change to the Northern standard gauge of4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) was mandated on June 1, and the W&A accomplished this along all 138 miles (222 km) in less than 24 hours, beginning at 1:30 p.m. on May 31 and finishing at 10 a.m. the next morning.[13] This was done by over 400 men, prying up one rail and moving it closer to the other by exactly 3 inches (76 mm), leaving a compatible gauge of4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm). TheGeneral and many other locomotives were also re-gauged at this time.
Aside from a few track realignments by theNashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, the W&A has changed little since 1862. The most significant changes were realignment during the creation ofLake Allatoona, with the tracks through Allatoona Pass removed. TheEtowah River bridge has also been replaced. The famedChetoogeta Mountain Tunnel inTunnel Hill, Georgia, was abandoned in 1928; it was too small to accommodate the larger trains of the era, and a new tunnel was built nearby.
A marker indicating where the chase began is near the Big Shanty Museum inKennesaw, Georgia. A marker for where the chase ended is at Milepost 116.3, north ofRinggold, Georgia, which is not far from the recently restored depot at Milepost 114.5. Amonument dedicated to Andrew's Raiders is located at theChattanooga National Cemetery; it has theGeneral on top of the monument and a brief history of the great locomotive chase.
While under construction the road was led by the Chief Engineer and when construction was completed by the Superintendent.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
33°49′52.6″N84°27′51.7″W / 33.831278°N 84.464361°W /33.831278; -84.464361
