Retired, not abandoned, Barnum and Bailey Cars Catch Fire

Sad to see a piece of history go like that.

A sad situation. Fires inside old abandoned stainless steel passenger cars don’t just happen by themselves nor are they accidental. Obviously an act of vandalism and it’s too bad we’ll never know who did it.

Doubtful that this was accidental unless someone was working on the cars and let's say a torch ignited something that smoldered, this sounds more like vandalism and arson. As far as retired or abandoned, it really doesn't matter, in both cases it is an attractive nuisance to idiots. The people who reported where this was are not Urban Explorers, they are idiots, the people who do sincere urban exploration generally don't say where something is for specifically this reason, there are far too many people out there who get joy our of destroying things. There is a guy I follow on You Tube (a fellow train/3 rail gauge O enthusiast) who recently did a video on some GG1's that are currently on a remote siding in Pennsylvania and he said outright he wouldn't say where they are, that he wants them left alone. Urban explorers care about the things they visit, knuckleheads are the bored idiots.

"Officials said it is too early to determine if the fire was accidental or started on purpose."

I suspect we could help them with that determination.

The links to various featured articles and videos after the fire story are worth a look--the wreck site from the filming of "The Fugitve," an old Seaboard Air Line turntable and roundhouse ruin, etc.--all pretty interesting.

According to information posted on Trainorders.com, the state of North Carolina purchased 9 of the Ringling Brothers cars for possible use on their "Piedmont Service". Such never happened and the cars were deemed "surplus". Not really the best use of taxpayer funds. They really have been abandoned.

What a bummer! They used to park this train on a siding right behind our shop in Orlando when the circus came to town. Had a good time chatting up the performers and crew that would essentially live at the back of our building for a week every year.

I found a couple photos that I took 5 years ago.

Curious if the state found a buyer when they put it up for auction. Surprised that they bought it for renovation.

I saw that train when it stopped in Greensboro on its last season. Somewhere on my hard drive are pictures of it on the siding. 

***hole vandals no doubt! :-(

Here are some of the cars at the last stop for the RBBBC at the Nassau Coliseum, LI NY in May 2017.