A fire on March 20, 2022, heavily damaged four former circus train cars that the N.C. Department of Transportation was storing in the woods in Nash County.

The state was asking $45,000 for each of the circus train cars, except for the baggage car, which was filled with various hand and shop tools. The opening bid for it was $55,000.

NCDOT later received federal grants to buy new rail cars and tried to sell the old circus train in late 2020. But after setting a minimum bid of $45,000 per car, NCDOT got no offers.

When Circus World announced last month that it would be the new home of Ringling’s former Blue Unit clown car no. 189, stock car no. 63006 and a flat car with four wagons, the co-owner of the Al.

VAHS, which has donated the Circus Train Car Museum to Sarasota County, maintains and operates the museum, which sits on tracks put in place when the Historic Venice Train Depot was restored in 2003.

While 17-car coal trains could manage the steep mountainside with just one locomotive, many of the 17 cars on the Walter L. Main circus train were twice as long as the average coal car.

The state was asking $45,000 for each of the circus train cars, except for the baggage car, which was filled with various hand and shop tools. The opening bid for it was $55,000.

The state was asking $45,000 for each of the circus train cars, except for the baggage car, which was filled with various hand and shop tools. The opening bid for it was $55,000.

NCDOT later received federal grants to buy new rail cars and tried to sell the old circus train in late 2020. But after setting a minimum bid of $45,000 per car, NCDOT got no offers.

The state was asking $45,000 for each of the circus train cars, except for the baggage car, which was filled with various hand and shop tools. The opening bid for it was $55,000.