Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus train flats

Very nice. The circus train would stop in Bridgeport, when I was a kid, to unload, and the train would extend into my town, Stratford, CT. I could see the cars from my house.

I always thought the Circus Train was magical as a kid. Hate to see it gone forever. Guess I'll just have to use mine to bring back memories of seeing it here in DC

WOW !! Nice job.. Make me want to try this. thanks for the pictures.. Bob

I wonder if Menards would consider making circus cars! A whole set! Saw a big display once at the fall Syracuse train show! Never forgot it! And as many things are, the circus days appear to be over! Sad!

Very nice work. You are a master craftsman.

I would love to see Menard's get into building Circus Cars. So many possibilities. 

Hello, the circus days are not over. There are several small circuses still traveling the country by trucks.

Wow.  Very impressive train.

NH Joe

WOW....what great work!!! LOVE to see things folks BUILD!!!! EXCELLENT!!!!

Now that's modeling. This keeps your interest flowing. More need to try it instead of out of the box, drop on the rails and run.

Rod Miller

Great craftsmanship. It's all about circus and trains not trucks.

Those look great!  Very nice work.

Hi, I know this post is 5 yrs old, but do you still have this train?

Yes I do Thomas.  I built it for myself and my grandkids but they have grown up and lost interest.  I still have it all set up to play with.

The circus theme would be a great thing for Menards to get into. With their soon to be built stock cars, flats with loads and their die cast vehicles they could have a real Mid-way.

Mark that is some great modelling you've done and a really neat topic.  I've the K-Line RB&B&B set with some extra flat cars and a couple of flat cars I bashed into circus flats.  Never thought when I bought it that "The Greatest Show on Earth" would be just a memory in my lifetime.

Growing up in New York I remember The Circus coming to Madison Square Garden for a month.  Rangers and Knicks schedules that time of year always had to make room for The Circus.  In later years with all the different arenas in and around NYC The Circus was still "in town" for about the same amount of time just spread out at the different venues.  The elephants marching through the Lincoln Tunnel to get to MSG was a hoot.  As an adult I remember seeing the train parked the yard near Mitchel Field in Garden City/Uniondale when The Circus played the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Very nicely done.  Too bad the circus is gone - such a shame.

I have very similar memories only here in Washington DC at the old U-Line Arena.  Great Circus train memories and I watch my old 8mm movies occasionally to refresh them.

Mark K, I live close to you in Silver Spring and I am looking to do much the same thing - more a display to go with my vintage circus posters. I am using the K-line aluminum RBBX cars (not perfect, but I have no modeling skills) but I was  wondering if you would trade a flat car with a couple of those perfect wagons for a 1961 authentic RBB poster 21”x28” (technically an advertising broadsheet for glass store windows)  in great condition?  Both our circus manias would benefit

PS your work on the flat cars and wagons is superb and I would love to see the entire train! Tom

I agree - really nice work.  How long are your flatcars?

Tom,

Thank you for your complements on my train and your offer to trade.  I have thought about it but I really only have 5 flats  and they are all different.  I just don't think I can part with one to trade with.  Sorry.  But you said you have some K-line cars which can be made to look really nice.  My train board is only 5x9 so I have to be careful on the length of cars I use. The 18" style cars will not run on any of my tracks except the out track because of the turn radius.  These cars go with my modern RBBB train and I have another train made from K-line and other 13"  long cars that I call my vintage circus train. Let me gather some of them up to send you here on the forum so you can see what can be done.

Tom,

You can see what I have done to upgrade a bunch of K-line flats here and passenger cars.

Tom,

Here is how I modify K-line and Lionel train cars to be Circus cars on my train

Again, your workmanship is superb! I wish I had your skill set. I also understand about the trade.

I have been toying with the idea of using a  TTX 89’ flat car to mimic the RBB flat, they have the correct curved sides, but will require some work to look more authentic. Where I run into problems is the trailers that go on the flats. I don’t have the skills (or the confidence) to build them. Could you be convinced to build three for a flat car that I make out of the TTX flat? The poster would be the price, or I could offer a monetary solution…

Thanks for sharing the pictures and please consider resuming your career as an RBB wagon builder. Tom

Mark,

just saw this thread. Great craftsmanship. Especially nice that you are keeping those wonderful circus train memories alive. Thanks for posting.

Tom

Mark great work on bashing existing K-Line and Lionel cars into proper RB&B&B circus train equipment.

A fairly little known member of the RBB&B consist is that the train contains a five-unit spine car, RBBX 88802. You can see it in this video of the train's final run on the LIRR (jump to 6:30 to see the relevant portion of the train, ):

Assuming one could get hold of a five unit spine car, it would be a fairly easy repaint, as are the other RBBX flats.

The circus wagons themselves are an ideal size to be 3D printed.

---PCJ

The wagons are very similar in design to the ones on the AFT.  I could use a few of those.

When I heard the circus was shutting down, I knew I had to snatch this up.

Saw these at the local train shop today. Grabbed some pics just for this thread.