TECHNIQUES LEARNED FROM THE ITINERANT CIRCUS.

Seven score and ten years ago, W. C. Coup put the Ringling Brothers on the rails.  The circus train was a part of the summer entertainment until about ten years ago.

Logisticians for the militaries of the day studied what Ringling were doing, and adapted the loading techniques (wagon and team, poler and runs, cross-over plates between the cars) to their caissons, cannon, and all the elements of the logistics train.

These days, troops of the Transportation Corps drive the tanks and trucks onto the flat-cars.  They still rely on hand signals and take care to stay on the cross-over plates.

That evolution was preparing the move to the Federal Capital for the Army's semiquincentennial parade.

Make of the symbolism or the politics of the event what you will.  The two railroads participating in the MAIN movement, BNSF on the former Frisco and CSX on the former Atlantic Coast Line, played the event straight and assigned suitable motive power.

The parade takes place Saturday.  The tanks, half-tracks, and trucks will be moved elsewhere.  Military movements are common on the rails for a variety of reasons, none of them half as frightening as what you'll see claimed on social media.

That was summer 2004 in Sturtevant, Wisconsin.  Conventional trucks and smaller armored vehicles ride on interchange piggyback flatcars.  You'll note in the videos that the Department of Defense operate a fleet of beefier flat cars fitted with roller bearing Buckeye trucks.