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I did not work any circus trains prior to 1971. But Davenport was a regular stop. There were several circus trains, I think besides the Ringling Bros there was Cole Bros and the most recent was Royal American shows. I remember that the trains had there own train master and a mechanical car equipped with replacement drawbars and bearings. One of these companies had 2 trains, 1 was called red and the other blue. I remember putting the trains together was a real pain. The elephants had to be next to the engines to offset leaning weight on the curves. In some trains the occupied coaches were on the rear end and on others the animals were there. Some trains left Davenport went to Barstow and went to Minneapolis. Another went to Galesburg and went to Omaha. One trip we had to double the train out of about 4 tracks at Peoria Edmund Street yard. One trip we got a circus train at Galesburg and headed up the p-vine towards Minneapolis-St. Paul. I was on the rear end and when I reached for the orders from the order stand there was none. We found them in the Elephant car. One other trip after doubling the train out of Moline we were short of time and went into emergency at Lynn Center heading for Galesburg. I found a uncoupled air hose on the third rear car and saw a forklift on the rear flatcar (conductor only no W/C). I got on the forklift, put the seat belt on and rode to Galesburg. We made it with 5 minutes to spare. By the time we crossed Henderson St. there was a lot of traffic looking at the clown riding on the forklift. Bud Linroth From: "LZadnichek@aol.com [CBQ]" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: cbq@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 3:23 PM Subject: [CBQ] Circus Trains [1 Attachment]
[Attachment(s) from LZadnichek@aol.com included below]
August 18, 2015
Group - Does anyone recognize where the attached Q circus train powered
by FT 105D was taken? And, can any one identify what circus it
was from the paint schemes on the trailers?
This is the first Q circus train photograph I've come across, excepting for
when 4960 was used for powering the Schlitz historic circus train in Wisconsin,
but that was off-line.
Leo, you or others in our Group. any stories out there on Q circus
train movements and how they were handled? I don't remember this subject being
covered before. Best Regards - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
__._,_.___ Posted by: ralph linroth <wcman8@yahoo.com> __,_._,___ |