Short answers, pulled from the story.
The General earned only $474,264 in the United States against a final budget of $750,000, resulting in a loss that critics and audiences reinforced with poor reviews. Reviewers called it "far from funny" and "a flop," and the New York Times found the film's comedy "not exactly plentiful."
Principal photography took place in Cottage Grove, Oregon, beginning on the 8th of June 1926. Location manager Burt Jackson chose the area because its old-fashioned railroads provided a more authentic period setting than alternatives closer to Los Angeles.
The production left the wrecked locomotive in the riverbed after filming the bridge collapse on the 23rd of July 1926. It became a minor tourist attraction for nearly twenty years before being salvaged for scrap metal in 1944-45 during World War II.
Because the film's $750,000 budget was provided by producer Joseph Schenck and the picture failed to turn a significant profit, Keaton lost his independence as a filmmaker. He was forced into a restrictive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The General was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1989, the Registry's inaugural year. It was recognized as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
Orson Welles called The General "the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made." He featured it in his 1971 documentary television series The Silent Years.