Passenger Trains > breakin news Circus Train history after May

BREAKING: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to close in May after putting on "The Greatest Show on Earth" for the last 146 years -AP

greatest show on earth

will see how sea world does without whales

once the elephants were gone , i wondered if they would stick with rail.  Bet they looked at the alternatives.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/17 00:08 by dan.

Fox News Channel just said closing after 146 years. Nothing about this years tours.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will end "The Greatest Show on Earth" in May, following a 146-year run.

Kenneth Feld, the chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, which owns the circus, told The Associated Press declining attendance combined with high operating costs are among the reasons for closing.

Feld said when the company removed the elephants from the shows in May of 2016, ticket sales declined more dramatically than expected.

The company broke the news to circus employees Saturday night after shows in Orlando and Miami.

Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season and will perform 30 shows between now and May. The final shows will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7 and in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21.

Posted from Android

More details here:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/APNewsBreak-Ringling-Bros-circus-to-close-after-10858441.php

 

Thanks PETA.

How many Railroaders out of work; More than a few rail cars for sale...

watching the elephants get dragged  here in denver, around by big crowbars in their  mouths and i think stun guns wasn't the most idealistic I have seen.    On the flip side animal numbers are helped when they are disbursed, should stuff happen in their natural habitats.  Big game ranches in america also helps  species, while killing them as well...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/17 21:08 by dan.

Too stunned to formulate a reply, although I was concerned this would happen after the elephants were put out to pasture.

Posted from Android

dan Wrote:
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> greatest show on earth
>
> will see how sea world does without whales


No and no. . .

Also stunned. I wonder if they will keep the museum and property in Florida. I guess you he only way to show the grandkids the greatest show on earth is the movie....

Posted from iPhone

Ladies and Gentlemen, they call it "PROGRESS". I have my own name for the demise.

Jim
Hatboro, PA

In related news, company officials confirmed that all of the former circus elephants are doing well at their Florida retirement home. 

No such facility has been identified for the tigers and other large cats. They will be released into the wild at the next national PETA convention. PETA has been highly critical of the circus' feeding arrangements for the cats; consequently, they will not be fed for several days before release. 

Lark Wrote:
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> How many Railroaders out of work; More than a few
> rail cars for sale...

Other than the folks at Ringling's facility in Florida, you won't see any railroaders losing their jobs. Most places are lucky to see the circus train in their area once or twice per year. One less extra train a year isn't enough to trigger furloughs in any location.

Posted from Android

What's next, all of the zoos? Some of us don't have the money to fly to Africa. Maybe PETA will offer discounted flights.

Cupolau Wrote:
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> What's next, all of the zoos? Some of us don't
> have the money to fly to Africa. Maybe PETA will
> offer discounted flights.

Zoo properties are under siege by many animal activists, too.

A bigger problem for some places is folks who are high on various substances or their own bravado and climb over the fences. One guy jumped off the sky ride at NYC's Bronx Zoo into a large forested enclosure.  Fortunately no animals were hurt as he was removed.

Heard the news about this last night. I got to see the circus train one time, when they ran it through Ottumwa last year. Guess that will be my first and last time seeing it.

I, too, am curious to see what will happen to the equipment. From what I've heard Ringling Brothers has done a great job keeping the cars in tip top shape. Hopefully a private owner or maybe a tourist railroad or something can get a hold of some of them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/17 09:51 by RutledgeRadio.

RutledgeRadio Wrote:
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> Heard the news about this last night. I got to see
> the circus train one time, when they ran it
> through Ottumwa last year. Guess that will be my
> first and last time seeing it.
>
> I, too, am curious to see what will happen to the
> equipment. From what I've heard Ringling Brothers
> has done a great job keeping the cars in tip top
> shape. Hopefully a private owner or maybe a
> tourist railroad or something can get a hold of
> some of them.
​Please go to the Easter Railroads Board on T.O. as this has been discussed by many people.

If you're working on the circus train as the trainmaster, maintenance man, electrician, train service- like porters and other jobs, then you are a railroader.  It's a big operation.  Unfortunately those railroaders will be out of a job.  

dan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> watching the elephants get dragged  here in
> denver, around by big crowbars in their  mouths
> and i think stun guns wasn't the most idealistic I
> have seen.    On the flip side animal numbers
> are helped when they are disbursed, should stuff
> happen in their natural habitats.  Big game
> ranches in america also helps  species, while
> killing them as well...

In their natural habitat and without the attention brought by the Circus and Zoos to these animal's existence, they would all be exitinct now because they would have been eaten into non-existence.