Ed has just sent down to me some great shots of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train in a siding in Houston. A very unique train - reminds me of the fascinating article in Trains Mag a while ago. [;)]
Has anyone else ‘upover’ seen the Circus Train on it’s travels? [:)]
Dave
In 1994, the same train came through my hometown’s neighbor, Akron, on the "Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway"in Ohio and unloaded the animals, leading them up to the “prepared circus tent”.
in March we passed some of the cars of that train between Philly and Balimore on the Cardinal. Not the whole train - we saw maybe 20 cars.
dd
Hey DD - you may not have seen the whole train, but 20 cars is pretty good! One does wonder what is the total number of cars - maybe Ed can tell us how many are at Houston…
Dave
I saw it in Feather River canyon several years ago.
Have seen the Blue Train and the Red Train over the years. Have also walked the Ringling Branch at Ardmore, OK (All but gone now) and surveyed in the Barnum Subdivision/Townsite in Denver (established by PTBarnum as a winter home for his circus)…
Have also seen an elephant “borrow” a guy’s straw hat off the passenger platform as the train crawled through town[:D]
if I remember the trains article - there are about 20 -25 passenger cars, about 10 - 15 animal cars ( always just behind the engines) and as many as 30 equipment flats following the passenger cars. It is a big train. If it were me, I would want the animal cars and the passenger cars stored in different locations in show towns (me upwind of the animals).
dd
Several years ago the blue train went east over the Modoc line. It was the first passenger train over the line in more than 50 years, and was the last.
Hi Kozzie et al,
Thanks for the kind words about the Trains Magazine piece.
Here are some Circus Train factoids:
When fully constituted, the train is 56 cars long. With locomotives attached, it stretches over a mile. The first four cars are the “stocks”, where most (but not all) the Circus animals travel. The ride is the smoothest behind the engines. Those animals not riding the train include the lions and the horses, all of which are owned by the performers who present them and those performers provide their transport.
Behind the stocks are the coaches and behind the coaches are the cars that carry everything the Circus needs, from the lighting grid to the sound system to the machines that make cotton candy.
When the Circus train reaches the “next town”, the stocks are dropped as near the new venue as possible. The flats, with all that gear, are dropped nearby as well. The coaches are spotted in a yard. Sometimes that yard is right near the arena. Sometimes it is a dozen or more miles away. The quality of life for the Circus people is a direct function of that distance and whether the yard is a dust ( mud) bowl, has stores anywhere nearby, and whether the coaches are strung out in one line or are cut into two or more lines. This picture, taken in the New Orleans yard, shows a near-perfect situation: clean ashphalt between two lines of coaches.
This photo shows the Galewood yard in Chicago. Quite the opposite, with track sections in the way of most everything.
The Blue Unit of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is in Houston for a couple of weeks. Opening night is tomorrow (Wednesday). After Houston it moves on to Corpus Christi, Austin, Kansas City and points east.
Speaking of the Feather River Canyon, it is,indeed, a spectacular trip.
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The cars, about 25, are in the old SP Coach Yard, where the SP had its Grand Central.
Grand Central was torn down in the 60s to make room for a Main Federal Post office, the coach yard and two of the covered tracks still serve Amtrak and their Amshack…
The animal cars and the flats were cut off out on the Glidden sub, and run into the Clombia Tap, to be closer to the circus site, the Astro Arena if I remember correctly, about 5 miles from the coach yard, a ten or fifteen minute drive on I45.
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The coach yard is on the north west side of town, on Washington Ave, and is visible from the I45 overpass, withing walking distance of downtown.
If they chose, the performers can walk to several of Houstons classier eatries, or any number of fast food joints.
They brough several personal autos along with them, and the RBBB “escort” auto, a beat up Ford Tarus station wagon.
Got a tour of a few cars this afternoon, pretty self contained, down to a school and a laundry car.
If you ever went camping in a bus or large RV, its about the same.
They even have Di***V!
Word of warning, these folks take their privacy very seriously, they politely asked me not to take any photos inside, these cars are truly their homes, and if you go to look at the train, please respect their privacy.
Just because its a train dosnt give us the right to look in the windows or enter the cars.
You wouldnt want people walking up and looking in your homes windows, or just walking in the front door, would you?
They feel the same way.
If you go there, and they are sitting outside doing barbque like today, they are really nice people, very friendly and polite, and will probaly be willing to chat.
For those of you who got the photos from today, notice how all the “camping stuff”, the lawn chairs, grills and the kids toys, are to the “inside” of the consist, to protect their privacy.
Still, if I was sing
Lane-Also liked your article in Trains. Thanks for the additional piece here. Maybe your son could find someone that Ed B could adopt (or someone who would adopt Ed), a few weeks living on the train would probably be cause for second thoughts about running away with the circus.[:D][:D]
Ed-Am I now out of a chance of geting the photos?
Jay
On their way…
And included a shot or two of the old SP Office building…now a “Loft” apartment building, called “Pacific Lofts”
Makes you almost weep…
Ed
…Enjoyed all the pic’s including the ones from Ed and on the above post. Kozzie, yes they have passed through our area here in Muncie several years ago on Conrail double track west…and yes, it was a very long train…Don’t remember how many cars but the number 35 sticks in my mind of what may have been coupled as the train…
Wow! What a huge train! The Feather River Canyon shot gives us an idea of the sheer size. From everyone’s comments, the circus trains sure get around…
Thanks to all for the details.
Hey Mudchicken - your last comment is a real laugh - one can just picture it - the astonished look on the passenger’s face! [:D]
Dave
Kozzie: Elephant could not pull the hat all the way back into the railcar so he strategically dropped it off the end of the platform and into the fueling pans!
Hey Mudchicken - tardy reply due to the time zone difference - I’ve just read your latest installment about the Hat Snatching Elephant, and I just start laughing all over again! [:)][:D] A great fini***o that little anecdote! [;)] I love it! [:)]
Dave