Engine 4501 pulled the circus train, on its ninth annual run, over Chicago and North Western tracks between Baraboo and Madison and over The Milwaukee Road from there to Milwaukee.
Loaded aboard the flat cars, these wagons once bounced along the cobblestone streets of America. Many of them were built before the turn of the century. They were once owned by famous circuses such as Hagenbeck-Wallace, AI G. Barnes and the two circuses that were born in Baraboo- Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey and Gollmar Brothers.
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Steam engine 4501 wasn't just clowning around in Milwaukee. She was there because the circus was in town. And the circus was in town because the huffing and puffing lady took it there.
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She pulled the "Old Milwaukee special." a circus train loaded with 68 historical parade wagons, from Baraboo, Wis., to the lakefront show grounds in Milwaukee. The event opened a six-day patriotic salute called Old Milwaukee Days. A circus parade on the Fourth of July climaxed the fun. Old Milwaukee Days is sponsored annually by the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Company in cooperation with Circus World Museum, which is owned and operated by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The Circus World Museum at Baraboo collects, preserves, displays and disseminates circus history. The museum stages live performances each day between mid May and mid December. At the very spot where Ringling Brothers Circus began in a 45 by 90 foot tent in 1884, fans now gather in the morning to see old-time circus wagons loaded onto a circus train. Teams of powerful Persheron horses do the job.
Ornately carved and lavishly decorated, the wagons are valued at more than $1.5 million. They have been restored to look exactly as they did when they rolled down America's main streets to celebrate the arrival of the greatest show on earth.
Once a year, just before the Fourth of July, the circus train is loaded for real. This year the 4501, on its first visit to Wisconsin, pulled the train: two double-length stock cars for horses and The circus train had a magical effect on those who lined the sides of the tracks to see it. All smiles, they waved it onward. Crew members of 4501 (above) after arriving in Milwaukee are (from bottom) Bill Purdie, master mechanic-steam, Atlanta; Paul Brock, a railfan from Chattanooga who took his vacation to be on board; Ray Mauney, general road foreman of engines, Atlanta; Donald Purdie, Mr. Purdie's 17-year-old son; and H. C. "Bully" Jackson, road foreman of engines, Macon.
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Sixty-eight wagons were loaded by sturdy Percheron "pull-up" teams (left) in the old big-top tradition.