Circus train red unit 2013

anyone got pics of the 2004 circus train? Like to see them

Thanks for the heads up freightguy

How's this for reporting? The Long Island Press is reporting that the elephants will be marched from Hempstead Station down Hempstead Turnpike to the Coliseum, and through the Midtown Tunnel to Madison Square Garden!

http://www.longislandpress.com/2013/03/07/17406/

Norton wrote:How's this for reporting? The Long Island Press is reporting that the elephants will be marched from Hempstead Station down Hempstead Turnpike to the Coliseum, and through the Midtown Tunnel to Madison Square Garden!

http://www.longislandpress.com/2013/03/07/17406/

I have doubts as to the accuracy of the LI Press article - The LI Childrens' Museum is having a circus program and the elephants are scheduled to walk past the museum. The normal route is from the train via Quentin Roosevelt Bvd - Charles Lindburgh Bvd (past the museum) - to the coliseum. I can't see any way that they could unload the elephants at the Hempstead Train Station.
The train usually arrives late morning - noonish on Monday.
Ray

LIengineerBob wrote:Believe me........the circus train is NOT going to VD yard in Brooklyn......to speculate such a thing is totally absurd and makes me think a lot of you don't have any idea of the physical characteristics of the LIRR in that area. There are so many close clearances there the MU cars barely fit.....no way heavyweight passenger cars with 6 wheel trucks and 86 foot flat cars are going to make it.

Do any of you have any idea what a process it is just to get a 6 cat MU train in there??

Forget about a 40 car circus train......the yard wouldn't even hold all the cars!!!

On a similar note, there is no way in hell it will sit at Fremont. There's 3 tracks in there, which barely meets the needs of the current freight operations (which is why they're putting in a 4th track up there). Fresh pond (downstairs) is also usually packed.

Bushwick branch is an MSW trash transfer. It's not sanitary. I don't think the circus folk want their elephants stepping on used needles and other crap.

LIC is too far. They've been using the coach yard there in recent years since Yard A is gone.

There really isn't anywhere else for this train to go other than Bay Ridge. There's space there to unload & store it. It's the only option that makes even a tiny bit of sense. It's either that or they're going back into NJ somewhere and walking elephants through 2 tunnels. I'd bet on Bay Ridge.

The next question will be how does it leave the area? Floating it out would require floating more cars across the harbor in one day than has been done in decades. There are what, maybe 5 guys at NYNJRR that even know how to do this now (compared to a whole lot more when carfloating was common). I'm not saying it can't be done but I'm not sure they float anything these days if the tides are a bit off, and if I was in charge of such a move, I don't think I'd try it since they have a schedule to keep.

Pretty straight shot to Ohio via hell gate & up the hudson to selkirk - though this hasn't been done by CSX before, or even Conrail before it so far as I recall. I could be wrong...

Bay Ridge is a is a 4.3 mile walk to the Barclays Center. Freemont/Fresh Pond is just over 5 miles. Long Island City is 5.5 miles and Sunnyside is 6.2 miles. So in reality, short of VD Yard, Bay Ridge is the closest place to the Barclays Center (at just over 4 miles).

And I have a question: does the marching of the elephants and such trough the tunnels actually happen? I mean unless the elephant is super tame I think it would be inclined to play with the overhead wire or smack around a couple signals (The overhead wire would definitely be denergized (I hope) so I'm just talking about them taking their trunk and batting the wire off it's supports).

Does anyone know what time of day the circus will be arriving to Barclay Center? (It's walking distance from my office).

A few years ago I caught the march from LIC to MSG. They do in fact walk, and they are eerily quiet for something that size, and they move at a good clip. The horses make more noise from their shod hooves. They have plenty of escorts, along with NYC Sanitation following up behind. The Circus like to do things late at night/early in the morning, the tractors with the wagons in multiple. They are a well rehearsed and mobile group. Quite a sight to behold.

When the last they performed at MSG, the animal cars and flat were kept near Hunterspoint Avenue and the passenger cars went back to New Jersey. The performers used the bus they transport with them to get back and forth to between MSG and their passenger cars.

I'd like to catch the train as it goes through Penn Station on its way to the Nassau Coliseum or on its departure from the New York Area.

Thanks all for the observations, I guess we will find out for sure when they set up for Barclay's

lirr42 wrote: And I have a question: does the marching of the elephants and such trough the tunnels actually happen? I mean unless the elephant is super tame I think it would be inclined to play with the overhead wire or smack around a couple signals (The overhead wire would definitely be denergized (I hope) so I'm just talking about them taking their trunk and batting the wire off it's supports).

They walk the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.

I'm thinking Bay Ridge. Although it has been said that elephants will walk through DUMBO...

The "march thru the tunnel" would be via the Queens-Midtown Tunnel if they were going to MSG,not any of Amtrak's tunnels.
It's amazing how the local news media keeps getting it wrong.

The DUMBO thing is probably just some separate promo photo shoot. There's absolutely no other reason for them to be over there.

I thought they just left the coaches at the LIC coach yard last time? There's often a few work cars laid up there, and I believe there's at least 2 or 3 tracks free during weekdays.

What time tomorrow will the train enter the LIRR turf? I plan to photograph it somewhere on the Hempstead Line. Is it really true that the train is going to be parked in Hempstead?

Figure the train is handed over to LIRR and will travel east after the commission hour. They're not going to run the circus train during the rush hour.

The train will be layed up in on the Garden Mitchell Secondary. Not Hempstead yard. NEVER get your news from the news media!

Thanks for the info. There are the best places to photograph the train along the Garden Mitchell Secondary as well as the animals. It probably wouldn't be a good idea for the animals to be walking in Hempstead since obviously it's a dangerous city.

Nah not Hempstead! The GCS ends right near the Meadowbrook Parkway parallel to Stewart Avenue in Garden City, and the elephants and others basically walk straight down one of the local streets to the Coliseum which is a mile or so away! Yes the train runs along the Hempstead Branch, but spurs off of it at Garden Interlocking right at Franklin Avenue, and then continues east down the Secondary in which the train will be broken up at the respective grade crossings which includes Nassau Community College to name the few!