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| The Texas has been soda blasted to remove rust, old paint (Picket photo) |
For Nathaniel Watts and Max Sigler, a warm summer
afternoon in the massive Back Shop of the North Carolina Transportation Museum
just got a whole lot hotter. Plucking rivets from a super-heated oven, the team
drives them into a water tank that fed a Civil War steam locomotive.
The locomotive, largely stripped of bright colors
and almost drab in appearance, sits on tracks just 20 yards away. The effects of
soda blasting give the visitor a real sense of the craftsmanship that joined
wood and iron to create a mighty machine of commerce. This is the Texas, the
engine that many call the hero of the Great Locomotive Chase in 1862.
The Atlanta History Center, which is paying Steam
Operations Corp. to remove rot and rust and restore the locomotive at this shop
in Spencer, must make an important decision: What will the Texas look like at
its new home in Atlanta?
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| Max Sigler has worked months on the Texas (Picket photos) |
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| Several years ago at old Cyclorama location |
It’s not a process that’s being taken lightly –
the AHC has a committee that will help determine the paint scheme. Rail company
orders are being studied and the center is reaching out to experts and
performing paint analysis.
“How can this
engine best educate folks? What story do we want to tell with this engine?”
asks Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties at the AHC.
The
locomotive, which sat in the former Atlanta Cyclorama building for nearly 90
years, is being moved (along with the painting of the Battle of Atlanta) to the
AHC campus in the Buckhead neighborhood.
The story of
the Texas, which was built in 1856, makes the color scheme choice a bit
complicated.
Should the
locomotive have a Civil War appearance? Companies such as the Western &
Atlantic Railroad at that time had a livery of colors that might include bright
red, blue, brown, gold and green wheels and accents.
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| (Picket photo) |
“With the burst of railroad expansion and
competition, the bright colors were (part of) an arms race in which builders
muscled into the market,” said Jim Wilke, a railroad historian in California
who has done extensive research on locomotive and tender paint schemes. “The
more dazzling the locomotive, the better chance you had of getting a purchase.”
The bright-color fad lasted only a few decades.
Like thousands of other locomotives, the Texas was converted from burning wood
to coal. They didn’t look so fancy when covered in black soot.
But there was much more at play. Railroad
companies were scaling up. They poured money into infrastructure, more powerful
trains and extensive rail lines. Locomotives took on a plainer appearance as uniformity
took hold.
The Texas was black by 1880, said Wilke, and it
stayed that way until it ended service in 1907.
Will the restored Texas have that paint scheme? Wilke
said he believes that’s an appropriate choice.
“The only period possible for this locomotive is
1886 to 1907,” he recently told the Picket. “The lettering was a deep yellow
ochre to imitate gold. In the 1880s, it was shaded a drab color.”
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| Rivets are heated to join iron plates on tender water tank |
But there’s more. The Atlanta History Center also
is figuring in work done by Atlanta artist-historian Wilbur Kurtz, who saved
the Texas from the salvage yard and in the mid-1930s restored it to more
closely resemble what was believed to be its original appearance.
It’s here
where the plot thickens.
While Kurtz
spoke with Civil War veterans and was married to the daughter of the conductor
on the General (the locomotive that was seized by Union raiders and chased by
the Texas and other engines), historians have not been able to locate paint
schemes for Danforth, Cooke and
Company, which manufactured the Texas.
“It is a great mystery,” said Wilke.
Locomotives were rolling attention getters
The AHC’s McQuigg points out that the two
locomotives present at the 1869 joining of Union and Central Pacific rails at
Promontory Summit in Utah territory also were decorative.
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| Historic meeting of the railroads in 1869 |
Richard Carroll is an engineer at Golden Spike National Historic Site. His small team gives demonstrations three times a day
(May 1 through Columbus Day) with replicas of the Jupiter and No. 119.
“We do
believe our colors are accurate, as close as we know,” said Carroll, adding the
park has consulted with Wilke.
“Locomotives were considered
advertising pieces for the railroad as well as modes of power,” said the
engineer. “For almost all of the engines of that era, it was very common for
them to be decorative and ornate, with brass and gold leaf.”
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| Replicas of the Jupiter and 119 (NPS photos) |
He said the Jupiter’s blue
features are particularly popular with visitors.
When the Western & Atlantic had the Texas built, railroads had “highly individualistic designs,”
said Wilke. Bright color accents grabbed the public’s attention and were a form
of advertising before logos came along. Locomotives were kept cleaned and
polished. “This was a capital investment.”
Wilke, who has been contacted by the AHC, said the Texas’ small
wheels up front provided more traction. They reflect the struggle “of keeping freight going on an antiquated system.”
AHC officials said the tender being restored was
not with the Texas during the Civil War. Much of the locomotive itself was
replaced over the decades, including its large boiler, wheels, parts of the cab
and more.
Within two decades after the Civil War, changes
in the nation’s rail system made it possible for “a (rail) car from Georgia … to
roll all the way into Portland, Ore,” said Wilke.
'Wilbur got it right for his time'
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| The Texas with a different number in 1907 (Atlanta History Center photo) |
The Texas finally ran out of steam in 1907, and
it was bound for scrap, like the locomotives at Golden Spike.
But Kurtz stepped in and raised money for its
eventual placement in the Cyclorama building at Grant Park in 1927.
He oversaw the locomotive and tender restoration
in 1936. Regarding the colors, “Wilbur got it right for his time,” said
McQuigg.
The balloon stack and cab, which still has some of its original wood,
were painted brown. The wheels and cowcatcher became a bright red. The bands,
or belts, around the boiler, the sand dome, some pipes and the valve chests were
a dull gold.
Before he did
that, Kurtz had the Texas partially sand blasted and looked at paint scheme
orders the Western & Atlantic placed for other locomotives. He was, like
restorers today, fighting rust and rot on the locomotive and tender.
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| The General on display in Kennesaw, Ga. (Picket photo) |
Kurtz was
consumed with the appearance of the General and how the Texas would compare.
“We have this
group of Yankees who saved the Yankee engine,” McQuigg said. “Kurtz is trying
to rescue the hero of the chase. He is not only trying to preserve it, but
present it in an equally positive light as the General.” (The General is housed
at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, northwest
of Atlanta)
Wilke said he, too, believes Kurtz did the best
he could. The artist-historian spoke with people who had memories of the
engine, Wilke said. But nuances and precise details may have become lost.
“It is like asking them what color is the car
your grandmother drove?”
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| Color scheme used by Kurtz on tender tank |
Several factors will lead to decision
It’s possible the Texas had some bronze-green
features before it was painted black by about 1880.
“Black was a new color coming into acceptance”
and was considered a sign of progress. It reflected an emphasis on “putting your
money into the road rather than frivolous trifles like a wine-colored
locomotive," said Wilke.
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| (Picket photos) |
The locomotive also underwent changes when the gauge, the distance
between rails, was narrowed. That,
too, would suggest a restoration to mimic its 1880s appearance, said Wilke.
Locomotives might have planished iron with a blue/gray tint. "It was very bright in terms of the glittering metal."
The historian said whatever its choice, the AHC will do a good job with
the restoration. “It has a very high standard of display and
organization. I am certain it will do just fine.”
AHC officials said discoveries about the Texas,
including an 1874 date for the boiler, will inform decisions on the appearance
of the engine.
McQuigg said
painting the Texas black would be keeping with its appearance for much of its
life. “The Civil War is important … but there are other stories as well.” And,
he said, paint can be reversible.
The AHC does
not look at the paint scheme deliberations as a dilemma, but an opportunity, he
said. And it is not bound by Kurtz’ interpretation or the appearance of the
General.
“We are going to try to determine how it best
tells the story,” McQuigg said. “We may surprise folks with how it appears. We
may not.”
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| Sigler cleans portion of water tank that fits on tender. |
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| View from the boiler (Picket photos) |
