Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train

The following Monday, the boss had more knee therapy, so I happened out to a nearby location.  I also had been following a website which provided information regarding the departure of the circus train from San Diego and passage of certain locations along the line.  My easiest and closest location to see the train was Katella Avenue between Glassell and Batavia in the City of Orange.  At first I parked in the parking lot of a home improvement store.  Once I noticed the train round the curve, I ran across Katella in the belief I would get better photographs.  Down the right of way were several Metrolink trucks.

   
The northbound cirucs train was now pulled by BNSF power.
   

   

   

   

Now I was almost sure I would not see this train again since it was heading to northern California.  I had a long anticipated plan to ride the California Zephyr from Emeryville to Sparks in late August and fugured the odds of seeing the circus train to be very low.  Having learned to stay at a location an extra night after riding the western third of a long distance train, I had most of a day in the Bay Area to recover form the Sparks trip.  Oh yes, the Sparks trip became a California Zephyr reroute through the Feather River Canyon, a nice bonus.  I had contacted a TrainOrders.com member Ryan Martin (aka espeeboy) before the trip to possibly visit and perhaps do some railfanning.  Well, to make a long story short, he was kind enough to pick me up at Oakland Airport and drive around for several hours during which we viewed the recently refurbished and repainted Antrak Superliner car in Surfliner paint.  We also found a Union Pacific local train which offered a ride.  But who cares about that?  I went to Sparks, Portola, Winnemucca and Feather River Canyon aboard the Trains Unlimited, Tours original California Zephyr dome cars.  After an exhausting weekend, I had part of a day to do something.  I contacted Ryan to return some items he lent me and he told me that the circus train was still south of Oakland.  So what are two railfans to do?  We drove towards the circus train and found it in Newark.  Ryan knew some great locations to photograph this train.

   

   

   

   

   

Circus Train Page 4