The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-01-29
A FAMOUS ENGINE
STILL DOING DUTY
THE Little Tennessee" Has Re-
cord of so Years Service
HAULS PRESIDENTS CAR
Wherever 1t Goes the Private Car of
John w. Thomas of NJ, C. & st.
L., or His Son, Is Sure to
Be Behind Tender.


Along the line of the Nashville Chatta-
nooga and ST. Louis railway waytarer
now and then sees pretty little passen-
ger engine dash by, and if he be unfa-
miliar with the road will wonder at the
extraordinary amount of decoration upon
the miniature locomotive.
Those familiar with the road know by
its peculiar whistle and by the silYery
note of its bell, without seeing it, that
it is the pet of the road, THE Little
Tennessee" and that behind 1t is the pri-
vate car Of the president of the road, or
that of his son, the general manager. A
dwarf almost in size as compared with
the big moguls of the line and gilded
and FURNISHED to the highest degree of or
namentation, the little engine is none the
less capable of high speed and hard
service. With its diminutive load. it reels
off its miles as speedily and as steadily
as the biggest Baldwin on the line, and
this despite the fact that 1t Is turning
fifty years old and has run the gamut
of war, weather and wreck.
Old railroaders in the employ of the
road say that the water in Tennessee is
more conducive to longevity in engines
than in many localities, and the shop men
will point out old tubs about the yards
with thirty years behind them and still
in service They are not there because
they have given out but because of their
Anticipated type and because their capa-
bilities are not adequate to the modern
demands on railroad engine. The de-
mands on the Little Tennessee are not
extraordinary, and even # it were I'M
equal to them, the record 1t has and the
affection that is centered in 1t would
doubtless preserve 1t from mental service
in the yards, to say nothing of the scrap
pile.
Numerically, the engine stands at the
head of the roads locomotive department.,
being No. l, and In the roundhouse its
stall is similarly honored. 1t came from
the locomotive works in Philadelphia in
1855 with two others of the same pattern,
and the three were christened Hugh l..
White ANDY Jackson" and James X.
Polk" in honor of Tennessee statesmen.
The James X. Polk" by reason of
wrecks has long since gone to the scrap
pile. The ANDY Jackson was subse-
Au0nllS CHIlSltltu he A1GDtl dlt dlltl
1t had played its part In Andrews ia
nous raid on the Western and Atlantic
and under that name has been on exhl-
bition at more than one exposition. AS
late as 1886 THE General" was pulling a
train, but at the present time it is on
duty as a historical exhibit In the Chat
tanooga station of the Nashville, Chat
tanooga and st. Louis railway. In the
national cemetery at Chattanooga there
is a monument to Andrews raiders, which
is surmount& by copy of THE Cen
eral," and af6ng the line of the Western
and Atlantic the road has set up monu-
mentSf4 ark the spots where the en-
CINE captured by the raiders, and
where n was bandoned.
The other Of the trio of engines, the
Hugh l.. White" in time became 1.-The
Little Tennessee" and the pet of the line,
not, however, before it had participated
in historical events almost as sensational
as that which made its sister engine.
THE General" an object of national in
terest. 1t is reputed, in fact, to have
played a part in more sensational railroad
happenings than any other engine in the
south. During the civil war while ahead
Of an Arkansas regiment en- route from
Murfreesboro, the scene of the battle of
Stones river, to Nashville, 1t pitched
through the bridge over Stones river,
pulling the train down with it. Colonel
Smith the commander of the regiment
and seven or eight men were killed out
right and several hundred were injured
the wreck being one of the disasters of
the war in a railroad way. The engine
survived the plunge, and In a few months
was back in commission. 1t has since
encountered the accidents that go to
aIya fI., 70 Of, ,,rf,,. nj.