page_title: Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad
section_title: Locomotives
hierarchical_section_title: Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad / Locomotives
caption_attribution_description: English: The General II, currently at the Southeastern Railway Museum, Duluth, GA.
context_page_description: The Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad is a standard gauge railroad that circles the perimeter of Stone Mountain Park in a loop, and provides views of the mountain en route.
context_section_description: Stone Mountain originally had three steam locomotives, the "General II," "Texas II," and "Yonah II."  The SMRR named the engines after the famous engines of The Great Locomotive Chase, and were given nineteenth century style smokestacks and headlights.  Despite these modifications, the engines, having been built between 1919 and 1927, still have noticeably modern appearances, with larger proportions than their ancestors and have more advanced cylinders, valve gear, and other modern applications.  While steam engines ceased running in the 1980s, they continued to "pull" trains for some time.  In these instances, one of the steam engines was coupled in front of a diesel which, while disguised as a baggage car or auxiliary tender, would push the engine.  The diesel's controls were placed in the cab of the engine and air piped from the diesel's main reservoir to allow the steam engine's whistle to sound.  Aside from the whistle, the steam locomotive remained inactive, with the diesel being the train's sole motive power.
  In the late 1980s and early 90s, the railroad supplemented its GP7 and GP9 diesels with ones inherited from the recently dissolved New Georgia Railway, which have pulled trains regularly since.  At that time, the steam engines would only be pushed on special occasions, and no attempt was made to disguise the diesel behind it.  The practice of pushing the steam engines ended in 2002, and they remained within the yard until being donated to other tourist railroads or museums, the first leaving the railroad in 2008, followed by the remaining two in 2013.
  The Stone Mountain Railroad currently has the following locomotives:
  6143 and 6147 - Two FP7A diesel locomotives built by EMD in 1950 for Southern Railway's Chicago, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific subsidiary.  SOU successor Norfolk Southern sold these diesels to the New Georgia Railway, and were turned over to Stone Mountain upon the New Georgia's demise.  One of these locomotives can normally be found pulling the train on a daily basis. In 2011, both locomotives underwent a major rebuild. When finished the two will have new diesel prime movers (the old 567BC engines replaced with 645E prime movers), new main and auxiliary generators, new air compressors, a full 26L air brake system installed, rebuilt trucks with D87 traction motors, rewired with Dash-2 control mechanisms, air conditioned cabs, and upgraded cab layout, repainted in a Central of Georgia style paint scheme, and power generators installed in the rear of the locomotives to supply power for the passenger cars. this upgrades the formerly 1500 horsepower locomotives to 2000 horsepower and extends their life by at least 15 to 20 years.
  #5896 - A former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad GP7 diesel built by EMD in 1953.  This engine is occasionally used to pull the train, when the other diesels are not available.  At the end of 2010, 5896 was rewired, a rebuilt main generator and auxiliary generator installed, 16 all new power assemblies installed in the 567 diesel engine, a full 26L brake system installed and repainted in a Central of Georgia style paint scheme.
caption: The General II, currently at the Southeastern Railway Museum, Duluth, GA.
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