1962 The Great Locomotive Chase Centennial
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1962 Centennial Run of the General

On April 14, 1962, the reconditioned General ran under its own steam from Tilford Yard in Atlanta to Chattanooga. The run was in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Andrews Raid April 12, 1862. Trains magazine (July 1962) estimated that 100,000 people viewed the centennial run of the General.

After the centennial run of the General in 1962, it was returned to Chattanooga for display in Union Depot.

Starting in 1967, a three-year dispute raged between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and (lie State of Georgia/Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) over the ownership of the General. The dispute started in February 1967, when the L&N Railroad agreed to give the General to the State of Georgia. This gesture was probably done to encourage renewal of the lease for the Western & Atlantic Railroad right of way, which was set to expire on December 27, 1969

On April 5, 1967

Governor Lester Maddox signed a resolution calling for the return of the General to Kennesaw. It would be three more years before the ensuing legal battle was resolved and almost two years more after that before the General was ensconced in the museum in Kennesaw.

September 12, 1967

The General is en route to Kennesaw to participate in a three-day festival when it is stopped at 1:30 a.m. by a party led by Chattanooga mayor Ralph Kelly. The three-year court battle begins.

December 16, 1967

The General is moved to the Louisville shops of the L&N (approved by U.S. District judge Frank W. Wilson).

January 4, 1969

U.S. District judge Frank W. Wilson rules that the L&N owns the General

May 21, 1970

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District upholds the lower court ruling.

November 9 1970

The Supreme Court of the United States refuses to overturn a lower court ruling, granting ownership of the General to the L&N Railroad.

On April 12, 1972, the Big Shanty Museum in Kennesaw was opened to the public in the old Frey cotton mill, 110 years after the Andrews Raid.

SOURCE: A History of Georgia Railroads By Robert C. Jones