Nostalgia & History > A circus train from days past

As many of you probably know, Baraboo, Wisconsin was the home of the Ringling brothers circus.  The circus started in Baraboo in 1884 and called Baraboo home until 1918 when Ringling merged with Barnum and Bailey. In 1954 the Circus World Museum was founded and began to build a mighty collection of antique circus wagons, flat cars and passenger cars.  Since 1963 the equipment was gathered and went by train to Milwaukee for the great circus parade. While the train did not operate every year, it did run to Milwaukee for 30 years. I was fortunate to be able to see the train a few times and actually saw it en route to Madison from Baraboo in 2003  Image one shows the train climbing Dane hill.  Image two shows the antique cars and wagons crossing lake Wisconsin at Merrimac, WI and Image three is a stop in Lodi, WI.  The last time the train ran was 2008.  Elderly equipment that doesn't meet off line standards and lack of funding were the main reasons the train was discontinued.  What a colorful train it was and so exciting for young and old alike.  RIP circus trains. 

Dave

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That was a beautiful and colorful train.  I have some video from the 1990's.

Notice the class act by the WC------shiny, freshly washed (or freshly repainted) locomotives to pull this train! I guess the regional railroads care about their image------certainly the Class One's don't.........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/17 14:39 by CSX_ENG.