Publisher's Synopsis
This book brings back the days when the popular Great Circus Train ran from the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, through Wisconsin and Illinois, delighting thousands of trackside spectators. In detailed text and 335 photographs, this volume captures the colour and excitement of the Great Circus Train, its origins, contents, loading and unloading of wagons, rail routes and planning, and finally, how it faded away. "Railfans, circus enthusiasts, former spectators at the Great Circus Parades and children of all ages will appreciate the detailed documentation this volume presents", says Don Heimburger, publisher. The train was the source of the historic circus wagons used in the Milwaukee and Chicago circus parades that drew millions of spectators between 1965 and 2003. Over the years, the train consisted of as many as 29 vintage cars and nearly 90 historic horse-drawn wagons. Pulled by restored steam locomotives or by modern diesels, the train operated over six railroads including the Milwaukee Road, the Chicago & North Western, the Wisconsin Central, the Canadian Pacific, the Canadian National and the Wisconsin & Southern. The book contains a foreword by Fred Dahlinger Jr, one-time director of collections and facilities at the Circus World Museum, and a well-known circus historian.
