Circus Train In Home Backyard

August 25, 2009

Reader Robert has sent in this story of the day the Circus Train stopped at his house:

“When I lived in Manville N.J. in the Valley section of town. We had a cape cod style home along the Reading Rail Road line. Our home was 35 feet from the tracks. My small yard was 80′ X 60′ with an access driveway on the right side of the house. It went to the small roadway behind the house and allong the tracks. I lived there with My Wife and 2 boys. At that time they were 4 & 8yrs old.

One day the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailies Circus train came by on it’s way to N.Y.City. It had to slow down and even stopped at one point. Rob 8 & Matt 4 were thrilled to see the animal cars go slowly by and all the equipment cars. We watched for what seemed like hours. They were so excited naming the animals. We got a chance to wave to workers and some of the people that preformed the acts. A few miles ahead was a crossing of another line it was the reason for the slow down. We didn’t care it was exciting and interesting to watch. The boys will have that memory forever and so will I.

Another Train we enjoyed counting was the Tropacana train. Hundreds of orange colored cars filled with Orange juice would go by once or twice/year. Not as exciting but a great counting exercize. “