This black and white photograph shows a number of trailers from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company being loaded on to flat cars. This method of loading is referred to as "circus loading". It is a term used to describe an older method of moving trailers on to flatcars, (TOFC), whereby a truck backs the trailer up to a ramp placed at one end of a cut of cars. Circus loading requires bridge plates at each end of all cars to enable the trailer and tractor to pass from car to car. The location is not identified.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company's "circus" loading - 1