Nostalgia & History > Circus Train on SP's San Ramon Branch?

Okay, this seems a bit far fetched for me, but the person mentioning it seems to believe it as true.

Some time in the 1960's, this person recalls seeing the Barnum & Bailey circus train heading south along the SP's San Ramon branch. He was living in a house on Las Juntas Way in Walnut Creek. He also believes the circus was headed toward the Alameda County Fairgrounds to play dates at that location. Claims to have seen giraffes? Was young enough to have been on way to 5 am swim practice.

So, anyone care to take crack at proving or disproving this recollection?

Seems odd to me that the train would travel the branch. Both the SP and WP routes to Pleasanton would have been easier out of Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Stockton or Tracy.

Updated: Checked the Barnum & Bailey Circus routings for the 50's and 60's and noted no venue in Pleasanton. Could have been another circus? Also noted, last tent show of Barnum & Bailey was 7/16/56 playing Pittsburgh, PA.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/13 11:25 by Pullman.

Man, that is a mystery. I shot a train ONCE on the San Ramon branch and was lucky enough to have it published in one of Jose Strapac's SP Annuals back in the early 1980s. While I'm not sure where the branch came off the SP it could have gone by the fairgrounds. Now if your friend claimed to see this in the mid-1960s I'd say he might have been "trippin'" :-)

On the north end the San Ramon Branch connects to the Mococco line at Avon, or at least what is left of it. On the south end it connected to the Altamont Pass line at Radum. There were wyes at both ends of the branch. Part of the SP yard at East Pleasanton remain in use by the UP as a siding today. All the rest of the branch remains at the south end have been gone a while now.

I suppose the operation of a circus or carnival train over the branch could have happened in the 50's or 60's but it would have been a rare move even then.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/13 14:36 by Pullman.

The branch was pulled up in middle in about 1979

Pullman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some time in the 1960's, this person recalls
> seeing the Barnum & Bailey circus train heading
> south along the SP's San Ramon branch. He was
> living in a house on Las Juntas Way in Walnut
> Creek. He also believes the circus was headed
> toward the Alameda County Fairgrounds to play
> dates at that location. Claims to have seen
> giraffes? Was young enough to have been on way to
> 5 am swim practice.

And, of course, no photo documentation. He probably saw Bigfoot last year and Elvis and a UFO last month.

Pretty unlikely. SP's San Ramon Branch ran south and was nearly 2 miles to the east of the Alameda County Fairgrounds. The wye at Radum connected with the mainline that then ran west, but was still some 3 city blocks south at its closest point. But the Western Pacific mainline ran just across the street from the fairgrounds. Perhaps WP had a spur into it? Even if it did, I can't recall any SP / WP interchange at Radum where the SP wye bisected the WP main.

Yup, it's true. Hookston is named after my family and I saw most trains there. I remember seeing the circus train and wondering what the heck. I was used to Alco switchers and a few cars. Don't remember the year, but I'm guessing 66. Before or after this the only other "big" train I saw was 3 GP9's and about 30 cars headed towards Avon.

My dad had a super 8 movie camera while vacationing at my grand parents in the summer of 1960 something and there was a circus train coming off the west valley line pulled by a Geep 9, or an SD 9 we have the movie of this train and I think my sister had it transferred to DVD. this would have been in the mid to late 60's. by the way the unit was in black widow.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/13 16:58 by czuleget.

Westbound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pretty unlikely. SP's San Ramon Branch ran south
> and was nearly 2 miles to the east of the Alameda
> County Fairgrounds. The wye at Radum connected
> with the mainline that then ran west, but was
> still some 3 city blocks south at its closest
> point. But the Western Pacific mainline ran just
> across the street from the fairgrounds. Perhaps WP
> had a spur into it? Even if it did, I can't recall
> any SP / WP interchange at Radum where the SP wye
> bisected the WP main.


Yes, the wye at Radum crossed the WP on both legs, hence the SP Tower.

I recall seeing some flat cars for a carnival or circus spotted in the East Pleasanton yard, parallels Stanley Blvd, at the west end of the yard, back about the mid 1960's. They were there for a few days and then gone. I was 10 or 12 at the time, so no camera or photos.

The annual Alameda County Fair features a carnival and midway when the fair is operating in late June and early July. It is possible that the carnival at that time traveled by rail following the fair circuit. The current company supplying the rides for the fair moves by trucks.

As a separate item, a spur into the Alameda County Fairgrounds was mentioned in an earlier post. No railroad spur into the fairgrounds from the WP or espee, other industries or businesses in the Tri-Valley, yes, but not the fairgrounds.

Bob



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/13 22:50 by up421.

There were 2 other big trains on the branch, Ribbon Rail train that had 2 GP-9's 3625 was one on the units number and 40 cars when they dumped rail in Walnut Creek for the track relocation, and the longest train I saw was a SW-1500 and 69 cars, these were the stored cars between San Ramon and Dublin and they pulled them off the line via Danville, Walnut Creek, to Avon, Al Williams was the engineer can't remember the unit number but it sure raised eye brows from people at all the crossings, train was traveling 5-10 mph and created a few traffic jams, it went through Concord around 5:00 pm. I was stuck at Willow Pass Rd crossing.

Ah the memories!

Mococo Bob