Kennesaw , Georgia ( CNN ) -- It was the most famous high-speed chase of its day . The pursuers did n't have flashing blue lights . They could n't swing around and cut off the hijacked vehicle . But they did n't have to . The locomotive General weighed more than 20 tons and was confined to a single iron track between Atlanta , Georgia , and Chattanooga , Tennessee . Its top speed was about 70 miles per hour , it had no brakes , and it eventually ran out of fuel . However , `` The Great Locomotive Chase , '' which occurred 150 years ago Thursday , made heroes of Union soldiers and civilians -- who tried to put a critical railroad line out of commission during the Civil War -- and the Southern train crews and troops who pursued them . Several members of the raiding party were the first to receive the new Medal of Honor . The suburban Atlanta town where the chase began and other Georgia communities along the 80-mile route this week are commemorating the wild , failed escapade immortalized in two movies . `` It 's the greatest war story ever told , '' said Jere Martin , 60 , of Atlanta , as he prepared Thursday to enter Kennesaw 's Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History , which houses the General . `` It 's a classic tale of daring versus persistence . '' Civilian leader James J. Andrews and his band of raiders boarded the General in nearby Marietta , bent on damaging the Western & Atlantic Railroad line as well as Confederate communications as they rushed northward to Chattanooga . `` The whole thing was snake-bit from the start , '' said Russell S. Bonds , author of the 2006 book `` Stealing the General : The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor . '' `` Two raiders overslept and missed the train , and there was bad ( rail ) traffic and weather , '' Bonds said . On the morning of April 12 , 1862 , as the General made a breakfast stop in Big Shanty ( present-day Kennesaw ) , Andrews ' men unhooked passenger cars and sped away . Stunned conductor William A. Fuller , thinking Confederate draftees at a camp in Big Shanty might have commandeered the General , literally ran after his train . He came across a handcar and cranked it until he found a train that could follow the General . Confederate horsemen eventually joined the madcap pursuit . As Fuller kept the heat on and changed trains , Andrews ' colleagues made two small breaks in the track and cut telegraph wires . Andrews , who thought any pursuit had been stalled , was nearly caught in the town of Kingston , but continued on to a spot near Ringgold , where the General ran out of wood and water as the Texas closed in -- about seven hours after the caper began . That is when he is reported to have said , `` Every man for himself ! '' The raiders jumped off , but were rounded up . The cost for taking part in the sabotage attempt was high . Andrews and seven other captured participants were subsequently hanged as spies . A dozen others escaped or were exchanged . Besides the General , the dogged chase involved , in order , pursuing locomotives Yonah , William R. Smith and the Texas . Remarkably , the Texas also survives . Its role often is overlooked . The locomotive , which operated in reverse during its portion of the chase , is housed at the Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum . `` When the Texas got in the race , it was a duel between evenly matched locomotives , '' Bonds told CNN . Some consider the hijacking of the General as the Doolittle Raid of its time : An attempt to boost morale and throw a little scare into the enemy . `` It 's not a military battle , '' said Richard Banz , executive director of the Kennesaw museum . `` This is an ingenious concept of 'let 's go 200 miles behind enemy lines . ' `` In the end , however , Andrews and his saboteurs did little damage and failed to burn a vital bridge . Kennesaw , Marietta and other cities along the chase route , which now parallels Interstate 75 in northern Georgia , are sponsoring a range of events through the weekend , including tours , music , living histories and the screenings of two movies about the Andrews raid : Buster Keaton 's silent comedy `` The General '' ( 1927 ) and Walt Disney 's `` The Great Locomotive Chase '' ( 1956 ) , starring Fess Parker . On Thursday , the General was festooned with red , white and blue bunting as museum visitors took photos and learned more about regional railroad history . It saw service until the early 1960s . Most of its parts , including the smokestack , have been replaced or modified . The wheels and axle are believed to be original . The episode proved the importance of railroads in the war and society , Bonds said . The line is still in operation today , serving as a busy CSX Transportation freight artery . And the chase continues to capture the imagination . `` It is like the Dirty Dozen , the Great Train Robbery and the Great Escape all rolled into one , '' Bonds said .
Thursday 150 years ago , the Kennesaw museum raiders stole a train in Kingston . They were chased by conductor , other crew members . The incident became known as `` The Great Locomotive Chase Towns along the chase route are commemorating the event .