Richard Stradling
The News & Observer
Tribune News Service
RALEIGH â Three years ago, the state Department of Transportation bought nine railroad cars from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, thinking it would one day refurbish them and use them on the Piedmont passenger train between Raleigh and Charlotte.
Now NCDOT has put the cars up for sale, along with seven other old rail cars it has decided it no longer needs. All 16 cars are listed on an auction page on the State Surplus Property website, which will accept bids until 10 a.m. Jan. 4.
NCDOT paid $383,000 for the Ringling Bros. cars shortly after the circus gave its final performance in New York in 2017. The source of the cars might have been unusual but not the purchase itself, said Jason Orthner, director of NCDOT s Rail Division.