Enthusiasts line up to watch circus train--David Orr Paper

Wendy Calhoun would do well to check for sawdust in her 3-year-old son Evan's sneakers.

Sawdust in shoes is code for love of the circus.

Evan loves trains, and he was excited Monday to see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus train roll past Station Medical Center.

It wasn't even scary, like the trains he saw earlier at the Horseshoe Curve National Historic Site, he said.

David Orr of Hollidaysburg was also excited, and he hung a banner on the trackside fence and checked repeatedly by cell phone on the progress of the train as it approached.

He got sawdust in his shoes in 1946 in Ohio, when he saw Ringling workers set up a show.

The 7-year-old he was then remains alive. As the train rolled by, he shouted repeatedly, "Greatest show on earth. Greatest show on earth."

Circus workers waved back and aimed cameras at the 60 or so fans who were doing the same.

Evan's family lives in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., where the Wright Brothers made the first airplane flight, so you'd expect him to be a plane nut.

But planes are common around there, so it's trains - the heritage transportation here in Wendy's native Altoona - that thrills the youngster.

"I still get goose bumps," said Orr, the perpetual youngster."I see each circus like it's my first show."

He just can't "shake the sawdust," he said.

Joe Oricko, local architect and, like Orr, a member of the Circus Fans Association of America, stole time to see the train go by before heading to Juniata to work on a restaurant project.

He loves trains and animals.

He was about 10 when the sawdust sifted into his shoes.

He photographed every car that passed.

None of the viewers seemed to mind that the train didn't stop or even slow.

The steady pace actually emphasized the enormity of the enterprise - it took several minutes to pass, and included a score of cars with containers, wheeled trailers and autos, trucks and buses.

Decades ago, before arenas became the exclusive venue for Ringling, there were even more cars to accommodate tent paraphernalia, Oricko said.

The connection is firm on both sides, said Bill Troxell of Altoona, who chairs the circus committee for the Jaffa Shrine Center.

Even in distant states, performers recognize and greet him, he said.

"Just like family," he said. "They don't forget."