Strates: Last carnival train still hopes to roll again

James E. Strates Shows parked its train after the 2019 season, skipped 2020 due to the pandemic, and since then hasn’t been able to reach a contract agreement with CSX
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Strates and CSX have been unable to reach a contract agreement, which has kept the train parked since the end of the 2019 season. CSX’s rates are now more expensive than trucking, Strates says, which makes it increasingly unlikely that the last carnival train will roll again.
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CSX’s contract rate quotes for the Strates train have gone up more than 25% overall since the pandemic. Strates asked for tariff rates. They were more expensive than contract rates, which is not uncommon. The deal killer, though, was for the final two legs of the trip back to Orlando. The rate for moving from Augusta, Ga., to Tallahassee, Fla., via CSX and jumping from there to Orlando via a combination of Florida Gulf & Atlantic and CSX, more than doubled, making rail four times more expensive than trucking. Considering that, Strates has not bothered to seek rates from Norfolk Southern for its portion of the train’s traditional route.
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“CSX has a long history of working with the James E. Strates Shows and we appreciate the nostalgia of the carnival train in American culture. We have worked diligently to accommodate their transportation needs and we have offered them fair pricing for the dedicated, special train service they requested,” railroad spokeswoman Sheriee Bowman says.
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Country’s Last ‘Fair Train’ Returns to the Rails After Five-Year Hiatus


The country’s last “fair train” is returning to the main line after a five-year hiatus. The James E. Strates Fair Train is being prepared by Strates Shows in Florida this month and will run via CSX to Hamburg, N.Y., near Buffalo, in August. It will be the first time the historic train has run since 2019.

Since 2017, when the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus stopped running its circus train, the Strates Show has been the only operator of fair trains. It has been the only remaining carnival train since the 1980s. The train is 50 cars long and carries rides, tents, games, generators and employees from town to town. Following the pandemic in 2020, and various fair closures, Strates began using more trucks to haul its shows around. But this year, management decided to bring back the historic train.

“We have found ways to modify our business model to include over-the-road trucks, just like we were back in the early 1930s,” Strates spokesperson Marty Biniasz said. “But the train is invaluable to Strates Shows heritage and brand. It means so much to our fair partners and to the generations of fairgoers who have waited by the train tracks to see the carnival come to town.”
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