CIRCUSES, RAILROADS HAVE LONG TRADITION OF COOPERATION

A link between railroads and circuses goes back to the early 1800s, says a "History of Railroads and Circuses" provided by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus transportation department.

By the 1830s, both circuses and railroads began to appear in the Eastern United States. In the 1840s, circuses began to use box and stock cars for limited movement. Horse-drawn wagons were still used as the major mode of transportation between towns. As the railroads began to expand westward so did the opportunities to move the circus by rail.

By the 1860s, flat cars were being used to move circus wagons and tents. Circus personnel, however, rode on passenger trains.

On April 18, 1872, the P.T. Barnum Circus was loaded on flat car "piggyback" on the Pennsylvania Railroad, using end ramps and bridge plates.

Through the late 1800s and early 1900s, the number of circus trains grew as the number of circuses increased. The high point for railroad circuses was 1911, when 32 circuses traveled throughout the U.S. by rail.

In 1919, the Ringling Brothers Circus combined with the Barnum and Bailey Circus. The combined circus train had up to 95 cars.

The Great Depression took a heavy toll on circuses. By the late 1930s, only three railroad circuses remained. In 1957, the number dropped to two when the Clyde Beatty Circus abandoned the rails for trucks.

One year earlier, the Ringling Brothers circus folded its canvas "Big Top" for the last time and began showing in arenas. In 1957, the circus went to a combination of rail-truck transportation.

Today, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, with two trains, is the only circus in the United States that travels exclusively by rail.