Eastern Railroad Discussion > RBBB Blue---Feb. 25---Norfolk to Hampton VA

RINGLING BROS. and BARNUM & BAILEY Circus
http://www.Ringling.com
151.625 is the Circus Train Operations radio frequency

Circus Train Yahoo Group:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CircusTrain/
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BLUE UNIT -- 61 CARS -- 138th EDITION (now on the 1st half of its 2-year tour).
SEE: http://ringling.com/explore/138/ )

2008 TRAIN:
---61 cars (20 streamliner-era coach-type cars; 21 TTX-[style] piggyback flats)
---4,415 Tons (when fully loaded)
---5,405 Feet (WITHOUT host RR's power attached; 1 mile = 5,280 feet)

Feb. 25 --- Norfolk to Hampton VA (---on Norfolk Southern) The train is 'expected' to depart Norfolk anywhere between 5-8 a.m. That would likely put them into Collier Yard around 10am, or between 10am and 12 noon. (That is pure speculation at this point; field sightings on Feb. 25 will be necessary to verify that timing.)

MORNING CHASING, this jump:
NOTE to chasers: Route 460 between Suffolk and Petersburg [Collier Yard] has many speed zones east of Petersburg (Winsdor, Zuni, Ivor, Wakefield, Waverly, Disputanta....), and twice as many "speed traps" along the way. Both RBBB trains are rated for 60mph, track conditions permitting (---Blue Unit may absolutely fly through this portion of the jump, just as they did so this past Tuesday enroute TO Norfolk, as NS's mainline here is rated for 60mph travel). So beware of those conditions, if chasing, between Norfolk and Petersburg.

AFTERNOON CHASING, this jump:
THE SAME CONDITIONS EXIST for Providence Forge VA, along CSX's Peninsula Subdivision, and all along the RR from Toano to Williamsburg VA---a stretch which is actually NO place to try chasing any train these days due to the dozens of stoplights on highway 60. BEST places for chasing between Richmond and Hampton [Newport News]? Those would be:
(1) -- on hwy 60 in the Providence Forge area, where the RR and highway parallel each other for about 8 miles, and
(2) -- on hwy 143 a mile east of Williamsburg to [the west-end of] Lee Hall VA (another long stretch, with the RR parallel the road the entire way, opposite Busch Gardens theme park). And LEE HALL itself is a nice place for railfanning.

REMEMBER that this train will have a P900-series I.D. on CSXT (for those listening out with scanners).
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Current RBBB rail-tour Edition Numbers for the two railroad shows, Red and Blue, are measured from the show's first year, 1871. Train-run ["jump"] dates presume each train departs the morning [or day] after the closing preforming date. RBBB Circus Trains can change scheduled routing and departure time without notice.