Circus Train in Dallas

[MikeInPlano]

I read in today's Dallas Morning News (Arts & Leisure section) that the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey circus is in town, and (of course) so is the circus train. The article was talking about the Pie Car, but mentioned that the train is parked in "an undisclosed location in south Dallas" to protect the privacy of the occupants and help keep it secure.

OK, that's certainly reasonable. But nonetheless, does anybody know where it is? A an exterior photo seem to show downtown Dallas in the far background. If it's a current photo and the story is accurate, it looks like it's a few miles south of downtown.

 

[KMCCLA]

While I have no idea where in Dallas it is, I know here in Kansas City, it is still fairly close to the venue. Here, they park the runcars and the varnish in the west bottoms, in an old siding. Here, they take up about three tracks. When they where using Kemper Arena, a lot of them would even walk (across the street). Now that they are using the new Sprint Center, the animal cars are parked across from Union Station, and the rest at the normal location.

I would look for an area that is a little used rail yard, or siding that still has good access. I would say about a couple of miles away. But, beware that they do get testy if you get close. I have never had any problems, but I have stayed close the runcars, and not gotten close to the passenger cars. Also, they are considered to be private property, and most of the time are on "private" property. Best thing is to leave them alone, and look from a distance. My guess is look in the rail yard east of I-35E/ I-30 on the ERL Thornton FRW, or in the DART Yard. But that is just a guess.

 

[setxrailfan]

The latest question in regards to the train posted on railspot. No answer posted yet.


"When I was near CPT216, DGNO 2001 was getting permission to take the circus
train "east", but I could not learn from where. I did not see it. There were
three RBB&B cars (old baggage cars?) at the north end of CJ Yard.

Is the train stored near Fair Park this year?"
--
Lee B Shell
Dallas

 

[Tower 55]

South of CJ is Tower 19. Tower 19 is where the old ATSF line crossed the SP and headed west to Venus, Cleburne, etc. The tower is gone, the diamonds are gone, replaced by DART LRV overpass. The connector is still in place. DGNO takes the circus train down the old SP, and onto the connector to head east. The train is either in Fair Park, or the little known DGNO railyard south of Fair Park.

 

[KMCCLA]

South of CJ is Tower 19. Tower 19 is where the old ATSF line crossed the SP and headed west to Venus, Cleburne, etc. The tower is gone, the diamonds are gone, replaced by DART LRV overpass. The connector is still in place. DGNO takes the circus train down the old SP, and onto the connector to head east. The train is either in Fair Park, or the little known DGNO railyard south of Fair Park.

Just wonderin (since I am in Kansas City) how far from where I guessed it might be?

Here is where they park the main part of the RBBX here in Kansas City. http://wikimapia.org/#lat=39.0972806&lon=-94.6005383&z=19&l=0&m=s
This small "yard" is where the run cars (flat cars) are set out, in two lines. The rest of the cars (with exception of the animal cars, now, but in the past they where here as well) are where the bare table cars on the outer tracks are, and about that entire distance. I have in the past gone done a shot pictures of the train sitting down there.

 

[Tower 55]

Actually I made a mistake. I forgot that DART tore up part of the line that is east on the connector at Tower 19. Its been a while since I was down there. That line only goes as far as Big John's museum.

What DGNO did was hop on the SP, and take the train east to whats known as "Mop Jct". 30 years ago The ATSF, TP/MP, and SP met here. This is Mop Jct: http://maps.google.com/?ll=32.776532,-96.734474&spn=0.003153,0.003723&t=h&z=18

At Mop Jct you can see a track going up the middle. Thats the current KCS, ex- ATSF which back in that day went into what is now DART's big yard. DGNO runs this line now, even though its owned by KCS.

The track going to the right is UP's Mineola Sub. This is how the SP got onto to the TP/MP.

The RoW that is no longer intact is the original TP/MP line that went straight through the guts of Downtown Dallas, which DART does now with LRV. The SP line was used as a detour instead of going right through downtown.

Anyways, the track to the left is also former TP/MP. Its that trackage that DGNO uses to get to East Dallas, and they call it the East Dallas Lead. They have a train out there almost daily running the "East Dallas Turn" or "East Dallas Drill". If you follow that trackage you will come across a small yard. Blink and you miss it. I have heard it called Tiger Yard. That is where the circus train is, or its in Fair Park. The same trackage is how DGNO gets to Age of Steam