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 Post subject: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 12:04 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11482
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
This just crossing the newswires as I type:

From the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus homepage from Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, the producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey:

Quote:
After much evaluation and deliberation, my family and I have made the difficult business decision that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® will hold its final performances in May of this year. Ringling Bros. ticket sales have been declining, but following the transition of the elephants off the road, we saw an even more dramatic drop. This, coupled with high operating costs, made the circus an unsustainable business for the company.

Nearly 50 years ago, my father founded our company with the acquisition of Ringling Bros. The circus and its people have continually been a source of inspiration and joy to my family and me, which is why this was such a tough business decision to make. The decision was even more difficult because of the amazing fans that have become part of our extended circus family over the years, and we are extremely grateful to the millions of families who have made Ringling Bros. part of their lives for generations. We know Ringling Bros. isn’t only our family business, but also your family tradition.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Presents Circus XTREME will conclude its tour at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., on May 7, 2017, and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Presents Out Of This World will conclude its tour at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., on May 21, 2017. We hope you will come to celebrate this American icon for one last time before our tours conclude.


In rail preservation circles, this removes from the scene probably the largest commercial operator of vintage rail equipment, and a staunch ally of private rail car operators in the past. Their departure would leave only the much smaller James Strates carnival/fair rides operation as a "circus train" in North America.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 12:16 am 

Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:32 pm
Posts: 199
I was going to post this here too, but had to stop and check to see if it was real. Sad news, it's very real for now.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 12:26 am 

Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:02 pm
Posts: 1742
Location: Back in NE Ohio
RBB&B never seemed to make old equipment available for resale much (although they did own former 20th Cen. obs car Hickory Creek that was preserved, rebuilt, and AFAIK still operates in private service). Perhaps they will now that they will be trying to recover whatever they can from the assets of the show. Everything they have has been heavily modified. They do have just about every former PRR/MARC "Heritage" coach that didn't go to places like the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic. Maybe those shells have a future in tourist service.

The Strates Show's train was truly a rolling museum when I was called to be conductor on it over 15 years ago out of Gaithersburg, MD. Someone from the CSX car department was out there beating on it for several hours to make it road worthy, so we could take it up the road towards it's next stop. It's mostly really old heavyweight equipment that doesn't receive nearly the maintenance the Ringling Bros. trains did.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 12:53 am 

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm
Posts: 2875
PaulWWoodring wrote:
RBB&B never seemed to make old equipment available for resale much (although they did own former 20th Cen. obs car Hickory Creek that was preserved, rebuilt, and AFAIK still operates in private service). Perhaps they will now that they will be trying to recover whatever they can from the assets of the show. Everything they have has been heavily modified.


Hard to say what they'll do or when. As you mentioned, the stuff has been heavily modified, much of it in what seems to be a "1970's RV/Trailer with real wood paneling" design motif. I'm not sure what use it would have in preservation, but this the largest collection of road-worthy equipment to become surplus (though uncertain if/when it goes up for sale) in a very long time.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:13 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 12:07 pm
Posts: 32
When Ringling did away with the elephants, despite PETA's interference, I saw the handwriting on the wall.

What would be next: the big cats and horses?

RIP Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:32 am 

Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2005 2:27 am
Posts: 569
Location: Winters, TX
Sure would be nice if one of the train sets or parts of it could be preserved as is. Wonder if the folks in Baraboo have a bag of cash stashed somewhere?


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:50 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11482
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
Charlie wrote:
Sure would be nice if one of the train sets or parts of it could be preserved as is. Wonder if the folks in Baraboo have a bag of cash stashed somewhere?


The trainsets, including flat cars, are approximately a mile long, last I heard. Further, all of the cars have been heavily bastardized with new interiors, owing more to Home Depot, Winnebago and modular-home makers than Budd or Pullman, and I'm not sure the "real life" of "carnies" is something even Circus World is eager to show off to the public.


Last edited by Alexander D. Mitchell IV on Mon Jan 16, 2017 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:55 am 

Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:34 pm
Posts: 2758
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Here is the news release I saw

https://www.yahoo.com/news/apnewsbreak-ringling-bros-circus-close-031022225.html

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Steven Harrod
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Danmarks Tekniske Universitet


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 10:05 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 11:07 am
Posts: 630
The real issue is whether they will preserve any of their equipment at their own museum or secondly sell off any of the equipment for parts such as trucks.

Bob H


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 12:35 pm 

Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:11 pm
Posts: 287
Sad to hear amazing that the big show stay on the rails the whole time (except for then period of conversion between the big top and arena format). Circus was my dad's passion. he would take me out of school to see the train arrive and unload. Dad knew most of the GMs and train masters over the years and got a chance to ride from Atlanta to Augusta a few years ago.

The operating equip is all mainline worthy but of course is configured as sleeper apartments as discussed. The old Stock cars sidelined when they quit traveling the elephants used 3 axle trucks and can handle a load. They also have generator cars which might be of interest for snow teams or some other specialized operation.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:05 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11482
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
Hey.........

Didn't we have someone who wanted to put together an entire luxury trainset with rebuilt passenger cars? Didn't he and his partners axctually set up a shop and start gathering cars for rebuild?

Maybe he can get started again! After all, the economy has rebounded SO much according to government-supplied figures! Maybe the time is right, and here's a whole couple trains of historic equipment that has already had a lot of the prep work done!


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:28 pm 

Joined: Wed Jun 26, 2013 7:20 pm
Posts: 211
I sure hope the clowns can find good homes, you know, a mime is a terrible thing to waste.
I hear Pennywise already has a few offers....


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:20 pm 

Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm
Posts: 2226
perhaps something can work up in Peru Indiana with the Circus Museum there, they have a yearly circus festival.
The circus may have evolutionized vs how Ringling etc do it, such as Cirque de Solei.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:29 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11482
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
train guy wrote:
I sure hope the clowns can find good homes


There's this Capitol in D.C. that---

Okay, sorry. I'll go sit in the corner now.


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 Post subject: Re: Two VERY LONG Circus Trains Available(?) In May
PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 5:50 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:51 pm
Posts: 11482
Location: Somewhere east of Prescott, AZ along the old Santa Fe "Prescott & Eastern"
Tally from Trains Newswire at www.trains.com:

Quote:
a final disposition for the trains and associated equipment has yet to be determined.

The Red unit consists of 54 cars: 34 coaches and 20 flat cars. The Blue unit includes 35 coaches and 21 equipment flat cars. Each unit travels independently across North America.

In addition, the company has five equipment flat cars and three passenger coaches in storage, while six stock cars previously used to haul elephants and other animals are also in storage near the company’s headquarters in Palmetto, Fla.


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