Brian Does Dalton

May 29 weekend the W&A had a fabulous visit from DC Cebula, Christopher Eldridge and Brian Kammerrer. In this upper view, Brian Kammerrer is sketching a backdrop for the town of Dalton.

He is working on a left over piece of canvas from a prior backdrop.

There have been no pictures of Dalton that I could uncover, even after a visit to the town, local libraries and a couple of local "historians". One source indicated that Dalton was a very up and coming town. A high looking set of structures would have taken a few visits for Brian to complete. We decided to go with a viable version of what was plausible to give the town a larger feel but not fully developed so I pulled photos on Chattanooga and other locations for references. 

Here Brian is beginning to paint in his sketches and bring life to black lined drawings. The third view below is the canvas taped to the backdrop. Along the entire area Brian also connected the ridges from the point of the peninsula, Rocky Face, to the other end where he painted Lookout Mountain.

Dalton's Role

Half way down the line on the W&A between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Dalton was a key location General Joe Johnston chose for the Confederate Army of Tennessee to defend in 1863. It was a small to medium size yard with a Car shed in a similar fashion to Atlanta. There was also a turntable on the north end but in my research to date, no engine house. Most of the information gathered on Dalton was from Craig Angle's book, The Great Locomotive Chase. If you are looking for a thorough journey into the entire story of the chase, not only has Craig researched the Chase but the players and the aftermath. About one half to two thirds of the content is told from the participants of that April 12 day in 1862.