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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 8:29 pm 

Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2013 7:20 pm
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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 8:49 am 

Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 11:06 am
Posts: 26
I wonder if Strates will try and pick up some of the equipment.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:04 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11481
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
Strates abandoned the use of passenger equipment several years ago in favor of buses and carnies' own trailers/campers, and has been reduced to a colorful set of TOFC (Trailer On Flat Car) flat cars for perhaps a decade. Although anything could happen, I suspect they won't return to passenger cars, nor would there be much incentive to buy RBBB's TOFC stock over any other TOFC stock......

............ although, come to think of it, the RBBB and Strates TOFC cars are RORO (roll-on, roll-off) TOFC, which is increasingly scarcer in the modern articulated double-stack container and crane-placed TOFC world. I'm certain that I haven't seen RORO in use domestically other than RBBB and Strates for two decades now...........


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:12 pm 

Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:48 pm
Posts: 181
The state of Wisconsin can barely keep CWM open let alone maintain the train they already have.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:18 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm
Posts: 2875
I really hope that a representative portion of it gets preserved somehow. Whether that be at Ringling's Museum, Circus World, or someplace else, it's an important piece of history.

I also hope that at least one of the elephant cars gets saved, even though they're basically just baggage cars and probably not much to look at. The car could be used for display space, along with a portion of it showing how they traveled.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 8:43 am 

Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2016 11:06 am
Posts: 26
yeah, I was aware the Strates train had dropped their coaches, etc a few years back, I try to photo it when it rolls through Richmond (they used to have an on board GPS when they had coaches that let you track it). I was wondering if Strates would say "hey, heres some really nice passenger equipment RBX is going to get rid of, maybe we should look at moving our folks back in coaches again". I know their old passenger equipment was pretty much shot.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 9:28 am 

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:35 pm
Posts: 101
Strates currently has the generator car, the family's private car, one ex-Long Island coach, at least 3 (maybe 4) Budd coaches from the Battenkill Rambler, and perhaps one additional passenger car on the property. If they aren't using the stuff they already have, I'm not sure what they would do with the circus train.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 1:04 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11481
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
hotbox wrote:
Strates currently has the generator car, the family's private car, one ex-Long Island coach, at least 3 (maybe 4) Budd coaches from the Battenkill Rambler, and perhaps one additional passenger car on the property. If they aren't using the stuff they already have, I'm not sure what they would do with the circus train.

There were allegations made elsewhere that Strates' passenger equipment was simply becoming too costly to maintain and/or wearing out, and/or condemned by inspectors. If Strates felt any desire to put passenger cars back on their train--which would be doubtful at best--it may be cheaper to pick up a dozen or so RBBX cars along with the associated spares.

As an aside, there were more Strates cars in the past than the 7-8 mentioned above, including a couple heavyweights apparently retired in the 2000s. Anyone know the fates of the "missing" cars?

http://passcarphotos.info/Indices/Show3.htm

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsList.aspx?id=JESX


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 2:48 pm 

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:35 pm
Posts: 101
The Battenkill cars were purchased after the very tired heavyweights were disposed of. The Long Island car had been a very recent addition to the train before the heavyweight were sold off and scrapped. The former PRR #8427 "William Wallace Atterbury" (JESX #7) was sold. I do not have car numbers but at least two heavyweights were cut up and at least 2-3 were sold to Iowa Pacific.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:13 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm
Posts: 2875
Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:
If Strates felt any desire to put passenger cars back on their train--which would be doubtful at best--it may be cheaper to pick up a dozen or so RBBX cars along with the associated spares.


I agree it's doubtful at best. Give me one good reason why they'd switch back. Why would the crew want them to change back for that matter. Wouldn't you rather stay in your own RV or camper instead of a cramped train car? The only downside I can see is that they have to drive from site to site but I suspect it's worth it to most of them.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 9:18 pm 

Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 7:28 pm
Posts: 545
Location: Northern WV
In todays (1/20) TRAINS Newswire, there was an article describing their cars and the alterations that have been made to them. The paywall has been removed for this week, so everyone should be able to view the article before next Monday.

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... ng-rebuild

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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 9:38 pm 

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:35 pm
Posts: 101
Also... for the crowd here that wonders what Strates will do in the near future relating to its train and the closure of Ringling.

[url]http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/01/19-strates-carnival#.WIE2B1vQF48.twitter
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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:43 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 2:28 pm
Posts: 444
A gutted shell/tube could be a good piece of equipment to house a genset for an excursion consist (vs. an HEP approach).


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 6:45 pm 

Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:02 pm
Posts: 1742
Location: Back in NE Ohio
John D wrote:
A gutted shell/tube could be a good piece of equipment to house a genset for an excursion consist (vs. an HEP approach).


Each of the train sets RBBB has has a power car with not one, but two full-sized Diesel generators, each capable of powering all of the people-carrying cars by itself. They have two so that one will always be available to power the train so one can be down for maintenance. I could see those cars being highly desirable for a modern excursion operation.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 7:05 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:49 pm
Posts: 520
I am sure the circus will be willing to sell their surplus equipment. And, it will be coming up for sale in an already crowded market, and with low scrap prices (at the moment, anyway). So it will be a good chance to pick up some cars for low prices that could be a good starting point for PV owners and dinner train operators. Few people in those groups retain original interiors anyways.

The main reason the circus has not usually sold equipment in the past is because no one approaches them. I kept after them for years before they finally retired the Hickory Creek and sold it to me. I bought it knowing that sadly, they had gutted the interior so there was really nothing left of it but a very rusty shell. I shopped around for quite awhile before I found a group (the URHS) who was willing to take the car in trade for a couple of Budd coaches in order that the car might be preserved, as there was way more work to restore the car than I was prepared to tackle. It's a minor miracle that the Hickory Creek was brought back to life through the efforts of the URHS and especially Ray Claus.


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