People & Places of the Western & Atlantic: The intro remarks never given

These are adapted from my March 9, 2024, presentation that Kennesaw’s Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History canceled.

I’m excited to highlight the people and places that made the Western & Atlantic Railroad the truly historic road that it is.

When we think of the Western & Atlantic, it’s only natural to think of the “big names” in the railroad’s history — people like William A. Fuller.

William A. Fuller, born in 1836 in Morrow Station, south of Atlanta, was the conductor of the northbound passenger train that morning. Much to the humor of those in Big Shanty, Fuller led a pursuing party, first on foot, then on a “pole” car and finally by commandeering a number of locomotives.

His dogged pursuit of the “engine thieves,” as the Southern press called the Raiders, helped save the railroad from total destruction.

While he was certainly important in the railroad’s history, he was just one of hundreds of people who worked in some capacity for the state-owned railroad between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Atlanta.