The General

The Early Days

The General was built by the firm of Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor of Paterson, N.J., for the Western & Atlantic Railroad at a cost of $8,850.

Her construction number is 631, and she was completed in December 1855. She was built as an eight wheel, wood-burning locomotive of the American type, with a 4-4-0 wheel arrangement, weighing about 50,300 pounds, with a gauge of five feet and cylinders 15 inches in diameter and a stroke of 22 inches. The four driving wheels, each 60 inches in diameter, were made of cast iron. The weight on the drivers is 32,000 pounds, and the weight on the leading truck wheels is 18,000 pounds. The boiler was a type known as Wagon Top and was covered with felt and Russia iron. The engine carried a working steam pressure of 140 pounds. The boiler contains 130 flues each eleven feet long and two inches in diameter. The leading truck, with four wheels, was built with a rigid center. The tender has two trucks of four wheels each, 30 inches in diameter and with inside bearings. The smoke stack of the old engine was of the balloon type known as a Radley and Hunter stack, designed for burning wood as fuel. The engine had no live steam injectors but instead took water from the tender by a pair of ram type pumps which were activated by the crossheads. Therefore, the boiler could not be supplied with water unless the engine was moving. There was no brake on the engine, and the hand brake on the tender was probably used when the engine was idle during terminal layovers. The way to stop the engine was for the engineer to pull back on the Johnson reverse bar and put the engine in reverse. Such a feature is unheard of today and has been for years.

General Line Art

When the General was ready for shipment from the Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor plant, she was placed on a heavy flat car and drawn by mules along Market Street in Paterson to the tracks of the Erie Railroad a mile away. The Rogers plant and its successors built over 6,000 steam locomotives, and the company always worked under the handicap of being far away from a main railroad track. The General was moved over the rails of the Erie Railroad to Philadelphia where she was loaded aboard a sailing ship for the thousand mile journey to Savannah. There she was placed on the rails of the Central Railroad of Georgia for the 191-mile run to Macon and then the 103-mile run to Atlanta over the rails of the Macon & Western Railroad.

The Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works were located on the southeast corner of Spruce and Market streets, Paterson, NJ. The firm was formerly known as the Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor, and started in 1832. They also occupied the buildings across the street, by the side of the raceway, where Thomas Rogers built the Jefferson Mill in 1831. This firm was engaged in the manufacturing of cotton, wool and flax machinery and had large iron and brass foundries. The brown stone, two-story building at the left was erected in 1835 with the intention of going in the business of making locomotives. When Thomas Rogers died in April 1856, the company reorganized and the name was changed to Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works; the old name of the firm is still shown when this photo was taken. The locomotive in the center was built for the Nashville and North Western, a four wheeler. In front of the stone building can be seen a number of cannons. The government experimented here on a new process for casting bronze cannons during the Civil War.

– Great Falls Development Corp, Paterson, NJ

The Annual Report of the W&A RR for 1856 reflects the fact that the General was placed in service on the Road in January 1856 for use in freight service. With five foot driving wheels, the General was equally capable of handling passenger trains.

Soon after the General arrived on the W&ARR, she was moved to the State Road Shops in Atlanta where the distinctive strap iron pilot was installed. All W&ARR locomotives were equipped with pilots of this type. This new pilot was made by Tom Haney, blacksmith in the Shops and father of young Henry Haney who later performed so well as fireman for Pete Bracken on the Texas during The Great Locomotive Chase.