Eastern Railroad Discussion > Circus Train storage in Hampton/Norfolk, VA

Where to they unload and store the Circus Train cars while they are in Hampton, VA and Norfolk, VA?

Grady McKinley

Im not 100% sure about Norfolk (Scope) but I know that the train for Hampton (Coliseum) is usally either along Pembroke Ave or in the back of the Liebherr Planton Chestnut Ave, where they make the giant dump trucks.! Hope that helps.....

NORFOLK, VA: The entire Circus Train is stored within Lambert's Point Yard, where Norfolk Southern maintains their overseas COAL shipping facility. THIS YARD IS ABSOLUTELY OFF-LIMITS to visitors, except by special arrangement with Norfolk Southern Corporation. Written notices that certain visitors are allowed into the Circus Train storage track areas must be kept on-hand when entering N.S. property. (This is per Norfolk Southern policy, which has been augemented since 09/11/01.) Circus employees keep their show-employment ID cards available at all times for inspection, especially if they WALK to and from town for such purposes as shopping, laundry or sight-seeing, so they are exempt from the paper-work requirement mentioned above.

In Lambert's Point Yard, the Circus Train is split into multiple sections for storage in the old N&W rip-yard, beside the still-active locomotive turn-table, where local NRHS Chapter cars used to be kept. The circus coaches will be spotted into four or five seperate tracks, and the flats are unloaded right beside them on two other tracks. The stocks are unloaded beside main NS office building, which used to be the former Norfolk Amtrak station during the 1970s.

If you go there, know that if you venture beyond the overhead "NO TRESPASSING" signs without official N.S. permission, you will be subject to arrest. This is not just because of 09/11/01-inspired security measures, but because Lambert's Point Yard is an extremely busy coal-train facility where trains may be moving without warning on the dozens of tracks around the Circus Train storage area, as coal trains are switched out for unloading in the rotary dumpers into conveyors which transfer the coal into ocean-going vessels, and empty coal trains for the road are built for later departure. In addition, Norfolk happens to be an eastern home-base for PETA, whos members are closely watched by local authorities. This group will usually stage protests, against the show's use and transport of animals, at the entrance to Lambert's Point Yard. For that extra reason, security here is stepped up above what might occur in other towns.

Upon arrival in Norfolk, the Circus Train will pass through town at reduced speed for several reasons. First, there are two drawbridges that the N.S. mainline passes through in the city (the first is beside Hwy 460 and crosses over the Elizabeth River-South Branch about a mile west of Portlock Yard, and second bridge is over the Elizabeth River-East Branch, adjacent to downtown). There are multiple street crossings throughout the city on the mainline, and about a mile after the second drawbridge there is a long curve to the left (east-bound) which all trains usually take a much slower speeds. Then there is a series of street crossings that are each a block apart on the approach to lambert's Point Yard. Entering the main yard, the Circus Train would make its way around the facility's Balloon Track, which circles most of the loaded coal car storage tracks. (Excursion trains of the 1980s powered by the J-611 and the A-1218 would use this same Balloon Track to turn the train consists, and this track comes in handy for the Circus Train, which is a MILE long.) When the head-end of the Circus Train reaches the end of the Balloon Track - adjacent to the intended storage area - the Circus Trainmaster will disembark and begin to direct N.S. personnel on the break-up of the consist so that it can be spotted into the various storage tracks. This process often takes well over an hour, since electrical connections must also be disconnected when various cuts of coaches are split up for spotting. Flatcars, the last to be spotted, are unloaded (conveniently) alongside the coaches, and the wagons full of equipment for the performance are then driven to the arena, Norfolk Scope. Animals are walked all the way from Lambert's Point Yard to Norfolk Scope, with police escorts in front and behind.

This process is reversed for the tear-down and re-loading when the show gets ready to depart at the end of the week, with the return Animal Walk occuring about five minutes after the final performance is over.


One note to Circus Train chasers into & out of Norfolk: the Circus Train(s) are rated for 60 mph when traveling, track conditions permitting, and since Norfolk Southern's mainline into Norfolk has a 60 mph top speed limit for all trains, the Circus Train usually travels that fast enroute. Parallel Highway 460 - eastward from Windsor to just east of Petersburg - has many speed restrictions in the small towns such as Ivor, Wakefield, Windsor and Disputanta, and local speed traps can be almost anywhere - 24/7. Please don't get a speeding ticket during a chase.....



HAMPTON, VA
The flatcar unloading site is the grade crossing where Settlers Landing Road crosses the CSX Hampton Branch along Pembroke Ave. (This is almost at the current end-of-track, and the former C&O railroad used to go all the way out to Ft. Monroe. Ft. Monroe - beside the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel carrying I-64 under the James River - is where the old C&O Railroad mileposts were measured from, and even to this day they remain the same to Richmond and on CSX's Piedmont Subdivision, and beyond. (That portion of CSX has now been leased by the Buckingham Branch RR).

HAMPTON, VA - Stockcar unloading site:
(The thread above is correct in this second location.)

HAMPTON, VA - Coaches are stored just east of the CSX repair facility along Jefferson Ave., in this, the Circus Train's THIRD storage location while playing Hampton Coliseum. This area is NOT open to the public to visit, except by special invitation or arrangement by the show.

Thanks Rhett....I know about all of the NS policies. I have lived 15 minutes from Lamberts my whole life.