By Henry Bryant
For years, the famous engine that was involved in the great train race from Big Shanty (Kennesaw) through North Georgia early in the Civil War was located in Grant Park. It stood first in the basement under the Cyclorama painting before it was moved upstairs to the lobby of the Cyclorama building in the 1980s redo of the facility. The location in Grant Park was fitting both because one of the engineers involved in the train theft and recapture was buried in Oakland Cemetery. Also, the Yankee locomotive thieves were tried and hung as spies on what has become Memorial Drive in Grant Park. There is a historic marker about that incident near Doc Chey’s restaurant.
Before the painting was removed this past February, a hole was made in the side of the building and the historic old train was rolled out and put on a truck to be taken away and restored. After 17 months of conservation in North Carolina, locomotive the Texas is scheduled to return to Atlanta in early May. The Texas will rest on tracks relocated from its former location in Grant Park. It will be in the hall leading from the main Atlanta History Center museum to the new cyclorama building. A glass wall will make the Texas visible from West Paces Ferry Road, and it will be illuminated at night.
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