Columbus's Steam Locomotive The National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning has on display a 2-ft gauge 2-6-2T steam locomotive on outdoor display. The little engine, built by the Davenport Locomotive Works of Davenport, Iowa, was one of twenty such locomotives used by the Army Quartermasters Corps to move supplies and soldiers around Fort Benning between 1919 and 1944. Different sources give various figures for the length of the narrow-gauge line, from 15 miles to 27 miles. Considering that an old film made on the fort shows dozens of soldiers quickly laying a section of track, so it is likely that the total length varied over time as the rails were extended or taken up depending on the particular need. Sometime in the 1940s, the locomotives were given the nickname "Chattahoochee Choo-Choo" for the river that runs through Fort Benning's west side and for the popular song "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." The line was abandoned in 1944; the tracks were taken up in 1946. 16mm film of Fort Benning locomotives in the early 1940s. 1943 map of the line.   Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage. Copyright, Steve Storey. Railroad History | The Depot List | Locomotives On Display | Odds & Ends | Sources & References | Home