personnel are becoming suspicious of the unscheduled northbound “gunpowder” train. Further south, Fuller’s pole-cart runs into the broken rail section north of Acworth. It derails, dumping the crew and car down an embankment. Uninjured, they carry the car back up and resume the chase. After a pole-cart journey of 20 miles, Fuller and crew arrive at the Etowah River ... and commandeer the Yonah. At Kingston, and after a wait of more than an hour, the General pulls out to continue its northbound journey. Eight minutes after the General leaves, the Yonah arrives. Andrews is now aware that pursuit is close behind; he can hear the Yonah’s frantic whistle as it approaches Kingston. Fuller cannot get past the southbound trains, so he abandons the Yonah and once again they take to foot, running across the Kingston railroad yards. Aware that a chase is now on, the Raiders stop to cut wires and pile railroad ties across the track as delaying tactics. Several miles further, the Raiders again stop to remove a section of rail. By brute strength, the men bend and snap it, throwing it into the bushes. Feeling safe again, the Raiders pull into Adairsville Station where they find a long southbound train pulled halfway into the siding. The train is pulled by the Texas. Andrews hails the driver. “We have gunpowder on board desperately needed in Chattanooga. Please pull ahead and clear the north switch.” The suspicious engineer refuses to move his train. Finally, Andrews convinces him and encourages the engineer to head south at full speed to pick up more gunpowder as his patriotic duty. Andrews has knowingly put the Texas on a collision course with the broken rail track south of Adairsville. Still on foot, Fuller and company are continuing up the track when they see the southbound Texas coming towards them; they manage to flag it down. Fuller quickly explains the situation to the Texas engineer who agrees to turn over the Texas to Fuller’s crew. Now with a powerful south-heading locomotive at his command, Fuller chases the General in reverse. As they pass through Adairsville, Fuller, without stopping the train, uncouples the boxcars, runs ahead, turns the switch to a siding diverting the cars into it, returns the switch for mainline traffic and jumps back on board the Texas. The pursuit continues unencumbered by the weight of the cars. Andrews hears the whistle of the Texas to the south and knows that the chase is close. His crew creates as high a head of steam as possible by burning more oil-soaked wood. The General careens up the railroad at top speed, leaning out and almost toppling on the curves. Andrews must stop his pursuers and, just south of Resaca, his men are able to bend a small section of rail out of shape. One of the workers looks down the track and sees – for the first time – the reversed Texas with a full head of steam charging in their direction. Horrified, he yells, “They’re in sight!” They quickly scramble back on board. Seeing the bent rail, the Texas slows down to a crawl and miraculously rides over the damaged rail section. Andrews must do something drastic to stop the pursuers, or his mission is over. Around a curve and out of sight, they uncouple a boxcar and let it run down a steep grade towards the Texas. Fuller, sitting on the rear of the tender, watches the track ahead. Suddenly he yells, “Reverse ... reverse!” With loud squeals, the large driving wheels reverse direction and the Texas slows down to “catch” the boxcar. It crashes into the tender’s couplings; Fuller inserts the coupling pin and the Texas resumes the chase in reverse with the boxcar leading. As they pass over the Oostanaula River Bridge, Andrews tries this tactic with his second boxcar by dropping it in the bridge’s centre span and locking its brake. As before, the Texas “catches” the boxcar; he drops the boxcars off at a siding near Resaca Station. A mile north of Resaca, Andrews cuts the Calhoun-Dalton telegraph wire and piles railroad ties across the track. This tactic seems to work by delaying the Texas. Each time, the engineer must throw the locomotive into full reverse and skid to a halt while Fuller and his men jump down, clear the track and start on their way again. Seeing this, Andrews orders his men to punch a hole through the rear wall of the remaining boxcar and, while moving, they drop a succession of ties with satisfying crashes onto the track behind them. Thinking that the ties will have stopped the pursuit, a mile north of Tifton, Andrews’ Raiders stop to take on much-needed wood and water but have to cut this short when they hear the whistle from the fast-approaching Texas again. For the second time that day, the Texas has managed to clear the piled ties without damage. The Raiders speed through Dalton drawing much attention from the station workers. It’s a major Confederate camp with telegraph service so, a mile north of Dalton, they stop to cut the telegraph wire to stop messages from getting through to Chattanooga. A few miles ahead is the Tunnel Hill railroad tunnel. The Raiders discuss whether to ambush the Texas or perhaps travel through the dark tunnel and then reverse the General to collide with the pursuing Texas. They decide to continue speeding northward. The Texas approaches the smoke-filled tunnel. They cannot see ahead, but Fuller decides to plunge into the darkness at full speed, regardless of safety. To their horror, Andrews looks back and sees the Texas emerge from the tunnel’s mouth hard on their heels. The General is The mouth of Tunnel Hill. The Tunnel is open for guided tours. 22 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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