The circus train is in town here in Houston and parked below I-45 near downtown.
Lots of passanger cars and I guess cars for the animals.
But what do they use for there motive power? Do they have there own?
Anyone have any pics? Would love to see them.
Thanks,
Mark
Motive power is supplied by the railroad(s) hauling the train.
So do they have some kind of contract with UP, BNSF, NS depending on which cities they go to?
Would it not be cheaper to just have there own motive power?
Interesting.
Mark
Would love to see some photos if anyone has any.
Besides the maintenance headache, and specialized personnel, the motive power would spend too much time idle. The cars are specialized and also used for accomodation. Motive power is just generic and needed every couple of weeks for a day or so.
I saw the train (I actually think there are two) passing northbound through the King Ranch area on it’s way to either Corpus Christi, San Antonio, or Houston last summer. Neat, and probably for me a once in a lifetime experience.
Regards
Ed
The other Ringling Bros. train is in Anaheim CA. right now.
There are actually three Ringling units which travel. Two trains, the Red and Blue units and the lettering and globes on the car are either red or blue so you know which unit you’re seeing. The third is the new truck show which goes to smaller locations not served by rail or even if there is rail access, not large enough to be served by the train units.
I would love to see a picture. It would be cool to model too.
The Blue unit came through Sacramento a couple of years ago. It stopped on the passing track right across the street from our high school, and the kids were so entranced by it that we actually let classes out for about ten minutes while the train waited for another to come by. 600 Catholic schoolgirls oohing and aahing over a circus train–it was wonderful!
Tom [:D][:D]
Ask and yee shall receive. Here are a couple I shot last summer when the train was going through south Texas. Not great shots, but they’ll give you an idea of the private cars. Click on the photo to enlarge. This train had a UP loco on the head end with a CSX unit helping.
Regards
Ed
Slightly related question.
My planned pike is in Southeast Asia.
Anyone have any ideas where I can get N Scale elephants? (I am serious, they were used for track construction and maintenance)
Robin
You’ll stand a better chance of getting a response if you post this as a stand alone topic titled something like “Looking for HO scale elephants”. Here, it will only be seen by a few people who happen to be looking for info on the circus rain.
Regards
Ed
Robin: Check the big Walther’s N-scale reference catalogue in the ‘figures’ section. There are several European manufacturers listed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you can find elephants there.
Tom