The Great Locomotive Chase Overview:

The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) was a Action - Adventure Film directed by Francis D. Lyon and produced by Walt Disney and Lawrence Edward Watkin.

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History, Hollywood, and a Famous Train: THE GENERAL and THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE

By Jennifer Garlen on Sep 29, 2014 From Virtual Virago

In The General (1926), Buster Keaton plays a Confederate train engineer who doggedly pursues his beloved locomotive when Yankees make off with it. Thirty years later, The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) tells basically the same story, this time with Jeffrey Hunter as the Southern engineer and Fess Par... Read full article


History, Hollywood, and a Famous Train: THE GENERAL and THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE

By Jennifer Garlen on Sep 29, 2014 From Virtual Virago

In The General (1926), Buster Keaton plays a Confederate train engineer who doggedly pursues his beloved locomotive when Yankees make off with it. Thirty years later, The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) tells basically the same story, this time with Jeffrey Hunter as the Southern engineer and Fess Par... Read full article


History, Hollywood, and a Famous Train: THE GENERAL and THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE

By Jennifer Garlen on Sep 29, 2014 From Virtual Virago

In The General (1926), Buster Keaton plays a Confederate train engineer who doggedly pursues his beloved locomotive when Yankees make off with it. Thirty years later, The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) tells basically the same story, this time with Jeffrey Hunter as the Southern engineer and Fess Par... Read full article


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Quotes from

William Campbell: What do we tell the Johnny Rebs when they ask who we are and where we're from?
James J. Andrews: Tell them you're Kentuckians escaping the rule of the Yankees to join a Southern Regiment. If they press you closely, tell 'em you hail from Fleming County, Kentucky. I'm from Flemingsburg myself. No man from that county has ever joined the Southern army... As for you, Mr. Buffum, it might be wiser if you didn't speak at all. I never met a Kentuckian so plainly from Massachusetts.


James J. Andrews: [shows Fuller a letter] You don't get a letter like that from Brigadier General Beauregard just for running Quinine.
William A. Fuller: No, I reckon you don't. I'd give my right arm just to serve under that man.
James J. Andrews: *You are*! This railroad is the artery that pumps fresh blood into the army of Mississippi on the left land, and to the army of Northern Virginia on the right. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee would *perish* without men like you!


William Campbell: Do we have to be better Southerners than the Johnny Rebs themselves?
James J. Andrews: I went through pretty far tonight. Let me tell you this: If you can't drink their toasts and sing their songs, love Jeff Davis and hate Abe Lincoln by next Friday, you'll never reach Marietta.


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Facts about

It was raining on the day of the real chase (this is simply a deviation from the source material and a fact the filmmakers were likely aware of, which is why this is not listed as a goof).
William Campbell is depicted in the film as a Union soldier. In real history, Campbell was the only civilian beside Andrews to participate in the raid; his character in the film is also quite different than his real life character.
Only thirteen pieces of equipment were actually used: two full-sized locomotives, one yard engine, three passenger cars, two iron box cars, and five wooden box cars that were built specifically to be destroyed in the film. The various pieces of equipment wore different numbers on different trains throughout the movie.
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Also directed by Francis D. Lyon




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Also produced by Walt Disney




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Also released in 1956




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