The 1926 film The General was inspired by an 1862 incident where eight Union spies stole a Confederate locomotive named the General during the American Civil War. William Pittenger documented this real-life Great Locomotive Chase in his 1889 memoir of the same name.
Production began on the 8th of June 1926 in Cottage Grove, Oregon using vintage railroads found there to match the period setting. Set construction started on May 31 with materials brought from California while one thousand five hundred locals were hired to work on the set.
The film made $474,264 domestically against a final budget of $750,000 resulting in significant financial losses. Critics largely failed to appreciate its humor leading producer Joseph Schenck to become angry about the poor returns and high costs.
The Library of Congress selected The General for preservation within the United States National Film Registry in 1989 because it was culturally historically or aesthetically significant. It entered public domain status in 1954 after its claimant did not renew copyright registration twenty-eight years after publication.
Buster Keaton performed stunts involving jumping between moving engines and running along roofs of railcars including sitting on coupling rods connecting drivers while the locomotive picked up speed. Had wheelspin occurred he could have been thrown off and injured or killed during these sequences.