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Johnnie Gray: The General LbNA #41787

Owner:MrOspital
Plant date:Jul 14, 2008
Location:
City:Santa Fe Springs
County:Los Angeles
State:California
Boxes:1
Found by: JampersandJ
Last found:Jan 2, 2015
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Jul 14, 2008
The General
Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) has two loves in his life: his engine and his girl, Annabelle Lee. The War Between the States begins with an attack on Fort Sumter, and Johnnie is the first in line at the recruitment office. But the enlisting officer rejects him (not telling him the reason: he is more valuable to the South as an engineer). Annabelle believes he didn't even try to enlist, and she refuses to even speak to him until he is in uniform. Time passes and Union spies hatch a plot involving Johnnie's engine, The General. Not only do they steal The General while Johnnie and the passengers are off the train having dinner, but they kidnap Annabelle who was still on board. Johnnie pursues The General in another engine, The Texas. Through various mishaps he becomes the Unionists' sole pursuer. When the Unionists discover the train chasing them has only one man aboard, the long pursuit ends, and Johnnie barely escapes with his life. Johnnie is now behind enemy lines. He wanders the forest during a rainstorm then discovers a house, which he breaks into, grabbing what food he can. It turns out the Unionists who stole The General are using the house as a base of operations. While hiding under the dinner table, Johnnie learns the details of their next plot against the Confederates. More importantly, he discovers they have Annabelle Lee, whom he had never guessed was still on The General when it was taken. Johnnie manages to escape with Annabelle and take back The General. Now the Unionists are pursuing Johnnie, but if he and Annabelle can outrace them they can warn the Confederates of the Union's latest plan.

Based on a true incident during the Civil War. In April 1862, Union agent James J. Andrews led a squad of twenty-one soldiers on a daring secret raid. Dressed in civilian clothes, Andrews and his men traveled by rail into the Southern states. Their mission was to sabotage rail lines and disrupt the Confederate army's supply chain. At the town of Little Shanty, Georgia, the Union raiders stole a locomotive known as "The General." They headed north, tearing up track, burning covered bridges, and cutting telegraph lines along the way. William Fuller and Jeff Cain, the conductor and engineer of "The General," pursued the stolen train by rail and foot. They first used a hand-cart (as Keaton does in the film), then a small work locomotive called "The Yonah," which they borrowed from a railroad work crew, and finally a full-sized Confederate army locomotive called "The Texas," which pursued "The General" for 51 miles running in reverse.

The scene in which The Texas crashes through the bridge was the single most expensive shot of the entire silent movie era. The Texas itself remained in the river until WWII, when it was salvaged for scrap iron.

To find a local locomotive visit the Heritage Park Railroad Exhibit. There you will find Locomotive #870. Coupled to the locomotive is the tender. At the rear of the tender look for a sign warning you not to climb the train (Even though you are allowed to climb all over the locomotive). Have a seat on the wooden bench below the sign. The box is hidden in the compartment under/behind where it says At & SF, LS 877. It is magnetized to the wall inside the compartment at the rear of the tender.

The Railroad Exhibit is open from 12- 4 daily, but closed on holidays.

Please rehide carefully and be discrete. Don't forget to push the noise buttons at the station, we couldn't help but push them a bunch of times.

Happy Hunting!