# Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus



## Southern

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus


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## Ranger

Nice catch. I got some video of it when it was leaving Raleigh a few weeks ago. It was being pulled by 2 CSX engines then.


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## Gansett

It's really a amazing operation moving all the people, equipment and animals and it's planed down to a science and done almost effortlessly.
FWIW to you old guys, Remember Uncle Sam on stilts? That was my great uncle! I remember going to the circus in Providence under the big top for a couple of years before they moved indoors. Harvey and his brother John worked for the circus all their lives.
You might say I come from a line of clowns!:laugh:
My grandmother was a "flyer", a trapeze artist until she fell. Met my grandfather and the rest is history.


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## Big Ed

Nice Southern, did you take that?
They are headed up north I guess, I saw an advertisement the other day.

I wondered if they still moved by train, I guess there is really no other way. I wonder if there are some more cars waiting to be added somewhere?

Schedule, http://www.ringling.com/TourSchedule.aspx


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## raleets

My all-time favorite part of the circus was watching the clowns get out of the iddy-biddy little teenie-tiny car! :appl:

Amazing!! :dunno:


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## mopac

I counted 39 passenger cars. Most I have ever seen on a train. I counted 21 long flat cars. 60 cars total. When they come to St Louis there is a crowd to watch them walk the animals from the track a few blocks to the arena they are appearing at.


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## Big Ed

big ed said:


> Nice Southern, did you take that?


:dunno:



mopac said:


> I counted 39 passenger cars. Most I have ever seen on a train. I counted 21 long flat cars. 60 cars total. When they come to St Louis there is a crowd to watch them walk the animals from the track a few blocks to the arena they are appearing at.


I would guess that some of those passenger cars haul the animals?
I wonder how they get the elephants in them?


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## Ray Haddad

big ed said:


> I wonder how they get the elephants in them?


The instruction manual says they have to fold them twice first and slip them in on their side.


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## Locodub

That is a pretty impressive sight to watch roll by, I've seen it twice rolling through town, probably on it's way to the Giant center in Hershey. I've been to the circus twice too, now that I think about it. Can't remember if seeing the train was around the times I went to the show.


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## LuRcH

According to Heritage units dot com there are two of these trains.


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## Gansett

There is, or was, two separate circus's, Red and Blue, touring at the same time. Been like that for many years.


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## hoscale37

The circus train was here in Cincinnati the past couple of days. RRBX passenger cars were on the siding near Lunken Airport while the animal cars were closer to downtown near US Bank Arena. Large set of cars. Was cool to see that they have Direct TV installed on the train. I know they travel for a large amount of time during the year. 

I have a few pictures on my cellphone, but they are not of great quality. I will see if I can upload those pictures to my computer.


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## hoscale37

Here are the photos I took with my cellphone of the Red Train when it was here in Cincinnati...


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## FRED On Board

So, Jack and others,

Would this be the red train that I briefly saw heading north from Houston on the UP mainline tracks just south of the UP Lloyd classification yard on the afternoon of July 26th in year 2010?

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/Keyop/CircusTrainUPRR_20100726.jpg

I had not noticed the train immediately but when I saw it, many cars had already passed my position at the time of image capture made with my cell phone camera from the driveway leading to my workshop.

Some interesting experiences as posted earlier in this thread...Thanks for sharing. 

Bruce /FRED On Board
ATSF. BN, SP, UP


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## Big Ed

Old poster showing the train.
Can anyone figure out what year it is from?









Yep the elephants do ride in the passenger cars.








Video of the train and some unloading and loading of trailers and animals.


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## hoscale37

If you see the animal cars up close, those passenger cars have been modified, and have the some of the windows boarded up. At least, the red train animal cars were like this that we saw when the circus was packing up last Sunday. The Animal passenger cars were also kept closer to the arena and near downtown rather then having them out with the passenger cars. If you look at a map of Cincinnati, Lunken Airport is out on the east side of town and is roughly about
7 miles from downtown.


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