The line is still owned by the State of Georgia from Atlanta to CT Tower in Chattanooga; it is leased by CSX Transportation.

[2][3] This line, originally built to 5 ft (1,524 mm) gauge,[4] is famous because of the Great Locomotive Chase, also referred to as Andrews' raid, which took place on the W&A during the American Civil War on the morning of April 12, 1862.

[5] The initial route of that state-sponsored project was to run from Chattanooga to a spot east of the Chattahoochee River, in present-day Fulton County.

He supported free public education for poor white children, believing that it was key to the development of the state.

He asked the state legislature to divert a portion of the profits from the state-owned Western & Atlantic, to help fund the schools.

The Western and Atlantic Railroad was mismanaged at the time, and unable to produce the income Brown required to fund his public education proposal.

The railroad, said to be in "dire financial straits", required the same strict economic controls Lewis had practiced in his private businesses.

Brown wrote to Lewis saying "I did not deserve this at your hands, and I confess I felt it keenly...I do not attribute improper motives, but only say the coincidence was an unfortunate one for me".

On December 27 of that year, operations were transferred to the Western & Atlantic Railroad Company, a group of 23 investors including Georgia's wartime governor Joseph E. Brown, who leased it (both tracks and rolling stock) from the state for $25,000 per month.

[12] On Sept 7th, 2018, the owner and CSX announced they had reached an agreement to renew the lease for 50 more years, starting in 2020 at $1 million a month, and rising annually thereafter.

On the morning of April 12, 1862, the locomotive General was stopped at Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw) so that the crew and passengers could have breakfast.

The only damage the raiders did involved cutting telegraph lines and raising rails, although an attempt to burn a covered bridge failed.

At milepost 116.3 (north of Ringgold, Georgia), Andrews' Raiders abandoned the General and scattered from the locomotive just a few miles from Chattanooga.

In 1890, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway overhauled the General and provided the locomotive for public events and to promote the line's Civil War history (to drum up the tourism trade) up through the 1930s.

In 1962, 100 years after the chase, the L&N performed work necessary to allow the locomotive to operate under her own power for a series of appearances marking the 100th anniversary of the Andrews Raid.

In 1971 the United States District Court confirmed the right of the railroad to dispose of the locomotive as it saw fit and it was moved to Kennesaw, Georgia (via a route bypassing Chattanooga) in 1972 where it was placed in the Big Shanty Museum.

In 1886, the change to the Northern standard gauge of 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) was mandated on June 1, and the W&A accomplished this along all 138 miles (222 km) in less than 24 hours, beginning at 1:30 p.m. on May 31 and finishing at 10 a.m. the next morning.