| This is the 1977 Edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus BLUE TRAIN, parked in the Illinois Central Gulf's Poydras Yard for performances in the nearby Louisiana Superdome. This year, the observation car was Ringling 157. (Back then, Ringling cars changed numbers from year to year.) The car was originally New York Central 5-double-bedroom/buffet/lounge-observation HICKORY CREEK, one of two such cars built by Pullman-Standard for service on the TWENTIETH CENTURY LIMITED. It was built in August 1948 and retired in 1968. |