What happened to the train from The General?

The Demise of the Locomotive from “The General”

After captivating audiences in the iconic 1926 silent film “The General,” the locomotive that played the titular role met an unfortunate end. Once a symbol of cinematic grandeur, its legacy concluded in a mundane and rather unceremonious fashion.

Upon the completion of filming, the locomotive, known as the “Texas,” was left to languish in a riverbed, abandoned after its cinematic exploits. For a brief period, the engine became a curious attraction for tourists, its once-shining exterior now bearing the scars of time and neglect.

However, the Texas’s cinematic fame proved to be fleeting. As the world plunged into the throes of World War II, the engine’s fate took a tragic turn. In the mid-1940s, it was dismantled and repurposed as wartime scrap metal, its once-iconic whistle silenced forever.

The scrapping of the Texas marked a bittersweet end to the cinematic journey of “The General.” While the film itself has endured as a masterpiece of silent cinema, the tangible embodiment of its star, the locomotive, faded into obscurity. Its demise serves as a poignant reminder of the ephemeral nature of fame and the passage of time.

Despite its unceremonious end, the legacy of the Texas lives on through the enduring popularity of “The General.” Film enthusiasts and history buffs alike continue to marvel at the audacity of the stuntmen who rode the locomotive in the film’s heart-stopping chase scenes. And though the original engine may be gone, the memory of its cinematic exploits will forever remain etched in the annals of film history.