The Circus is in Town

It was like a scene from a bygone era.

I was driving down Winchester Blvd. from Los Gatos and just before Pollard Rd. I saw a pair of diesel electric locomotives on the generally quiet siding that runs along Winchester for a mile or so.

As I drove along, the train behind the three Union Pacific engines came into view, a string of grey passenger cars at rest on the track, yellow steps placed on the ground so the occupants could disembark to walk around.

And on the side of each passenger car was, in big red letters, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.

The circus was in town!

And what a way to find out!

As I drove along, people were getting on and off the train, sitting around in folding chairs, and generally relaxing.

I wish I had had my camera on hand. It was, for no real good reason, one of those moments I wanted to capture. The sheer joy of something as mundane as a train (okay, not so mundane to some... even to me... but to many) resolving itself into the circus.

I did find a picture on the web to illustrate what the cars looked like.



(photo credit to Harvey Henkelman)

It looks like the circus will be here through the last weekend before school starts in our district. Such timing. One last fling this summer.