Eastern Railroad Discussion > Ohio says good bye to the Circus Train

I only caught the circus train a few times before being here on trainorders.com. With the threads for the circus trains it made it easy but I still did not go out and get as many as I could have. Monday March 20th 2017 would be different as it would be my last chance to see the Circus train here in my beautiful state of Ohio. Not only would it be the last circus train but it would be going through so many places that I have railfanned my entire life. I picked up my friend Robert and this was the results. The whole reason for taking Robert is he suggested taking a shot with the former Barry Yard Branch, soon to be Wasson Trail bridge in the shot. We drove up the other end at Woodland but there were already eight or more railfan cars there and it was pouring down rain. I suggested we stand under Columbia Parkway and get the going away shot at Red Bank as seen here. I also ran video but it is too long to post here. We drove up to Dayton, my hometown. My sister met us at Sand Cut. An NS local came into Moraine Yard at Sand Cut and we found out that the circus train was still  around Middletown. Robert's brother Tony who was following us and I needed to top off fuel, we also could use some food and everyone needed to hit the toilets so we all dispersed to return to get the train in twenty minutes or so. Unfortunately it took too long for us and the train made better time than normal from Middletown. I got the text form my sister "It's Here! It's Here!" while we were still in the McDonald's. It was an upset to miss the circus train in my hometown of Dayton but it just pushed me to do better the rest of the day. I was also more upset I did not get to see the circus train with my sister. My sister stayed in Dayton while the rest of us drove to Enon Ohio where around a dozen fans were waiting. Nothing worth posting here though. I thought about driving straight across to Columbus from there but said we should attempt to get the train that the Rt 41 crossing east of Springfield which ended up being our best light of the day. 
1) Cincinnati OH at Red Bank. 
2) NS 099 east of Springfield crossing Ohio State Rt 41.

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From Springfield we drove to Greenlawn Ave in Columbus. We arrived first, a Columbus railfan showed up and then right before the train a large group of railfans showed up. I picked Greenlawn as it has a nice view of downtown Columbus. From Greenlawn Ave it was to one of my favorite places Chillicothe Ohio
3) Around a dozen railfans on the Greenlawn Ave bridge waiting for NS 099 to come under on the Western Branch.
4) NS 099 coming south of downtown Columbus.
5) This is my favorite shot from the day, taken in Chillicothe Ohio. When we first arrived there were a few cars on Redd Street. We left to see the CSX local and in ten minutes the street had filled up. The signal at Renick / CH&D was lit for advance approach and NS 099 was close enough to hear on the radio. From Eastern Ave all the way to where the depot used to be there were people out to see the last circus train come through Chillicothe. 

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I asked a woman if it had been in the paper or something and here a Facebook Group had been updating everyone on where the circus train was and a bunch of people decided to go out ans see it.
6) Of course in the vestibules were a few people waving back, including this guy.
7) There were also a couple people in the train taking pictures of the people who came to see them.
8) Tony had to break away but Robert and I continued to Waverly Ohio.

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By the time the end of the train was passing a thunderstorm had rolled in. We took our shots and video there and then decided to call it a day, well, stopping to see 234 at Piketon.

VIDEO ns 099 at Waverly as thunderstorm begins.

Thank you for looking!

Jim

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Hi,
 In the first pic....was that coming off the line from  OASIS ?   Are those PRR signals still used?

Steve

Yes, they are coming off the line to Oasis and no the signals were turn off sometime in early 2015 I would guess. Surprised I could not find a good date here.

Jim

Still in disbelief that the show is ending.

Posted from Android

P Wrote:
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> Still in disbelief that the show is ending.
>
> Posted from Android

You are not the only one; I am having night-fits during sleep over this..... and so are others on both tours.