Eastern Railroad Discussion > Ringling Bros F59PH

Ever wonder what Ringling Bros locomotives would look like on the circus train?

Well, there is an animation on their web site featuring the circus train.

www.ringling.com

The schedule is quite different from last year for the Virginia area. If you plan to see the train check the schedule before selecting vacation days.

Enjoy!
Michael

Looks like the Blue Unit is not scheduled to play Worcester, MA at the same time as the Red Unit is in Providence, RI this year. The move of them west to their next shows from those was one of the very few, if the only, chance to catch both trains on the same route in the same day.

emd_mrs1 Wrote:
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> Ever wonder what Ringling Bros locomotives would
> look like on the circus train?
>
> Well, there is an animation on their web site
> featuring the circus train.
>
> www.ringling.com
>
> The schedule is quite different from last year for
> the Virginia area. If you plan to see the train
> check the schedule before selecting vacation
> days.
>
> Enjoy!
> Michael

Anyone who is adept at PHOTOSHOP technology might conjure up some interesting images - perhaps more "realistic" even than, IMHO, the animated locomotive on the Ringling.com webwsite. As for units of their own, the costs of acquiring and maintaining such units would detract from the far more important work of maintaining the cars on which the 300+ people of each show live and travel. In most cases I am aware of, RBBB pays a "Unit Train" charge to host railroads - which is far less than what it would ever cost to move such a tremendous amount of material in semis (the wagons on the flatcars carry a LOT of weight). The other major factor to consider are the personnel: the added expense of putting up 300+ people PER SHOW in hotels every night for 11 months out of the year. THAT added to trucking the two big shows make that lower [Unit Train] cost/rate, or whatever each host RRs charge for hauling/storing each RBBB train, far more attractive. Thus, RBBB's trains are the most cost-effective way to move such a massive live show from city to city. Locomotives would be, simply put, too costly and time-consuming for the show to maintain - thus their choice to just pay a RR company to haul them around and store them when not traveling. RBBB won't pay what isn't absolutely necessary for their transportation needs when the host railroads do well enough. And besides, from spectator's perspective, that brings the happy opportunity to photograph/film a multitude of railroad paint schemes and locomotive types on the head end of the Red Unit and Blue Unit, during any particular train-run.

Now, what about a Circus CABOOSE? There is a saying at RBBB: "Nothing's there that doesn't need to be there." PERIOD. One time, near the end of Spring 1987, Red Unit's managers did in fact seriously consider adding a caboose - but this particular instance was unique. We had blue caboose RF&P 923 on our train for nearly the entire Second Quarter of that year, ever since leaving Richmond VA. Upon arriving in Philadelphia, our next stand would be in El Paso TX - a 4-day train-run in the middle of June of that year. The show's managers stated that if the car was still on our train when we got to our western destinations, they would have re-painted it silver and put Circus banners & reporting marks on it (presuming the RF&P Railroad had just forgotten about the car). Alas, it was not to be: the caboose disappeared in Philly - and, in a rather nice end, wound up preserved by the Walkersville & Southern RR group which now uses the nicely-restored car, to my knowledge, on their excursion trains. (Can anyone confirm that?)

That car ALMOST became the first-ever Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey CABOOSE!

Post Script: We were told by RR employees that, YES: RF&P forgot about caboose 923 being on our train. In the future, I certainly hope to transfer [to a more modern viewing medium] the Super-8mm Sound movie film I took on our trips with that car: including lots of footage of it sitting with our train under the Purple-7 elevated rail line at Harold Tower/Queens NY. RF&P 923 was used as a "party car" by some Circus folk, and some of Red show's 117th Edition employees rode the car during those trips all over the Northeast during Spring 1987. 'Quite a history for such a "forgotten" little car, eh?

TheOssman Wrote:
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> Looks like the Blue Unit is not scheduled to play
> Worcester, MA at the same time as the Red Unit is
> in Providence, RI this year. The move of them west
> to their next shows from those was one of the very
> few, if the only, chance to catch both trains on
> the same route in the same day.

One of Red show's venues this year, a NEW arena in the Northeast (I forgot which one), is only available for RBBB during a particular time of year: thus the juggling (so to speak!) of this year's tour.

any way to get a schedule of the train?

j0371 Wrote:
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> any way to get a schedule of the train?

Red Unit: http://www.ringling.com/TourSchedule.aspx?action=showschedule&show=rd&parentID=512&assetFolderID=524
Blue Unit: http://www.ringling.com/TourSchedule.aspx?action=showschedule&show=bl&parentID=236&assetFolderID=264