Railroading and the Civil War are certainly related issues. I am sure there are excellent discussions here; the first use of railroads to transport reinforcements at the First battle of Bull Run, the poor use of railroads by the Confederacy, the fighting along the B&O because of it's importance to the Union. I could go on and on, however,
@Lubliner's interest in these machines reminds me of my favorite railroad story. I am from Baltimore so the B&O looms large in my mind. My mother is from Martinsburg WV and there is a large B&O yard there with two roundhouses to work on these amazing machines. (One has unfortunately burned down and the remaining one is being preserved and restored) As a teen, I used to take the train from Baltimore up to Martinsburg to visit my grandparents. So, I have long been interested in the B&O, especially as it relates to Martinsburg.
In the summer of 1861 Col. Thomas J Jackson conceived of the idea to steal trains from the North and transport them south onto the Southern rail line at Strasburg, VA. With the help of railroad engineers Thomas Sharp, Hugh Longust, and father and son, Joseph and Charles Keeler, teams of workers set to work. Special carriages and dollies were designed and built, the locomotives were disassembled and reassembled on the special carriages and theses engines were dragged down the famous Valley Pike by teams of forty horses the thirty-eight miles from Martinsburg through Winchester and on to Strasburg, VA.
What an amazing engineering feat and daring plan. I can't imagine the reactions of the citizens of the towns along the route as they watched giant, powerful steam locomotives traveling down the road built for horse and buggy. I believe some eighty engines made this strange passage.