circustrain-littlerock-060407

On Monday, June 4, 2007 the Ringling Brothers - Barnum & Bailey Circus Train left North Little Rock, Arkansas, heading south to Louisiana. They had been here on a mid-season vacation since May 17 (they did not perform here, however. This was just a rest and relaxation stop). The train had been parked in UP's yards near 4th Street in North Little Rock.
   Included on this webpage are many scenes of switching moves; elephants, horses and other animals being paraded to the train to load; a few high resolution sound MPEG movies of various train and animal moves; Little Rock & Western passing the circus train; and photos of every car of the 59-car train as it passed Union Station in Little Rock southbound.
   Although I tried to get the numbers of all the cars, I may have missed some, so let me know. The train was headed by UP 8388 and all the markings on the train started with RBBX (I've included the numbers along with the photos of each car).
   Do NOT put any of my movies or photos on any other site, including YouTube, Trainorders, Photobucket, or any other site period. I'll do that myself if I want to. Feel free to share the link to this page, however. There will be a thumb-size image webpage of this site put online in a day or so, where you can click on any image to enlarge. However, I wanted to get this up as soon as I could. Be advised that the site contains about 80 photos and if you have dialup, it'll take awhile to load. If you have a high speed internet connection, it'll take about 20 seconds to load. (Ken Ziegenbein)

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Beginning to switch the circus cars near UP's Jenks Shops in North Little Rock at 10:23 a.m. Monday, June 4, 2007. UP 8388 was the lead unit with UP 8553 following. The train was parked here since May 17 for rest and relaxation. The animals were housed at Little Rock's Barton Coliseum, where the Arkansas State Fair is held. No preformance of the circus was scheduled here this year. (All photos by Ken Ziegenbein)

To see a sound MPEG movie of this scene, click on the link below (WARNING-17 MB SIZE):
http://www.trainweather.com/circustrain060407-littlerock-yardback-2.mpg

You can see the Arkansas State Capitol in the background. The bridge to the left crosses the Arkansas River into Little Rock. The Arkansas River begins in Colorado and ends on the Mississippi River in southeast Arkansas.

This was a short move of the animal cars to go pick up the elephants, horeses, and other animals near the state fairgrounds. The train is nearing Union Station in Little Rock after crossing the Arkansas River from UP's yards in North Little Rock. It's 12:15 p.m. June 4.

To view a sound MPEG movie of this train passing, click on the link below (7 MB SIZE):
http://www.trainweather.com/circustrain060407-littlerock-anicarsmove-3.mpg

The animal train parked behind Central High in Little Rock at 16th Street. The elephants and other animals would be marched here from Barton Coliseum. The train is on the main UP line to Biddle and Pine Bluff (the former Rock Island).

The police escort.

The 'parade' beings. They are on Jones Street moving north.

There were no spectators except me and a handful of railroad people. To see a sound MPEG movie of this elephant march, click the link below (8 MB SIZE):
http://www.trainweather.com/circustrain060407-littlerockelephantwalk-4.mpg

Do NOT put this, or any other of my movies, on any site, including YouTube. Do NOT put any of my photos on another other site, inlcuding Trainorders.com, Photobucket, or any other. I'll do that myself if I want to. Feel free to share the link to this site, however. (Ken Ziegenbein)

To view a sound MPEG movie of this scene, click on the link below:
http://www.trainweather.com/circustrain060407-littlerockhorseparade-5.mpg

To see a sound MPEG movie of the elephants walking toward the train, click on this link:
http://www.trainweather.com/circustrain060407-littlerockeleToTrain-6.mpg

Back in North Little Rock at the Jenks complex. It's now 2:40 p.m. June 4.

Little Rock & Western 7736 passes UP 8388 of the circus train coming into the UP yard complex in North Little Rock at 2:42 p.m. June 4.

LRWN 7736 passes part of the circus train.

Taken from the UP offices on 4th Street in North Little Rock June 4.

4:28 p.m. - The circus train was still being put together. It had to cross the river and pull up to the Amtrak siding, then back into the yard again to pick up a few more cars.

The train pulled onto the Amtrak siding up to the platform before backing to pick up more circus cars. They had to use the Amtrak siding since the turnouts between Main 1 and Main 2 were set for a northbound freight to cross over.

Relatively rare site of a SD70ACe locomotive on on the Amtrak siding.

Starting to back up.

It's now 4:47 p.m. and the circus train is waiting for clearance to head south to Louisiana. In the meantime, Little Rock & Western has finished it's job in the UP yards in North Little Rock and is heading back to Perry, Arkansas on it's own tracks (these turn into the former Rock Island tracks).

A northbound freight passes.

I took advantage of a burst of sunlight to get this shot at 5:06 p.m. The Amtrak siding is the closest track.

Waiting for one more train to pass before leaving. UP 7239 is heading a loaded coal train. I assume the UP 8388 is having a crew change.

At 5:33 p.m. the train leaves, headed by UP 8388.

I took a photo of all the cars and got most of the car numbers as it passed, for those who keep track of consists. The train was back-lit but I opened the shutter so you can view the train better. I counted 59 cars, but could easily have missed one of the trailing flats. (All photos by Ken Ziegenbein, ken@trainweather.com)