Saturday, January 03, 2009

From Richard Flint


IMG_7105, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.


The History Channel has been airing an eight-part series called
"Extreme Trains" and on Tuesday, December 23 at 10pm ET/9C, featured
the Ringling red unit circus train as it moved last spring (March
23-24, 2008) from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. Here is a shot I took
of their cameraman as he begins to follow Joey Frisco seen here
leaving the arena building to march the elephants to the train yard.
Unfortunately, I missed the broadcast this evening but it will be
re-broadcast in many areas on January 3 at 3pm.; blog readers should
check their local listings. The series website describes the episode
thus: "All board the longest privately owned train in the world, the
circus train from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey! PT Barnum's
circus train started in the 1870s; and the US military used circus
loading techniques in World War I. Host Matt Bown and the circus race
against the clock to dismantle tons of equipment and get it on the
rails. As they travel from Baltimore to the Washington, DC corridor in
the dead of night, Matt discovers the less glamorous side to the
greatest show on earth."

"Less glamorous side" is not a description that applies to everyone,
however! Some train buff blog sites have found some small errors or
lapses in previous episodes that any subject specialist might
recognize but overall they have liked the intent and enthusiasm of the
series.

Dick Flint
Baltimore

Posted by Buckles at 1/03/2009 11:06:00 AM

15 comments:

Buckles said...

I started to watch this program thinking that it was the one that opened with stills of the P.T. Barnum train and continued thru the glory years when the circuses moved and showed overnight and included clips of the Cole Bros. and RBBB trains acquired from the Baraboo archives.
As soon as I realized it was a contemporary piece regarding the monumental jump from Washington to Baltimore I switched back to SpongeBob Squarepants.
This indoor operation is more like playing circus, after a weeks rest they proceed to haul around some aluminum wagons with those lawn mowers and manage to make a drama out of it.

03 January, 2009 11:37
Mike Naughton said...

Last spring I visited the Red Unit on set-up day, there were several tow trucks hired from local garages pulling the wagons, etc from the train yard to the building.

The tow trucks were zipping through the city with their yellow lights flashing.

I haven't seen set-up in several years and I am wondering if this is the new format for unloading.

I was so busy visiting with friends that I forgot all about it until this train info posting.

The following link is from the History Channel Shop and offers the Circus Train dvd, if you are interested.

http://shop.history.com/detail.php?a=75542

I discovered that the next showing is TODAY, Jan 3 at 3 eastern.

03 January, 2009 13:11
Mike Naughton said...

Opps..i just realized that Mr. Flint listed that show time in his comments. Sorry.

03 January, 2009 13:12
Anonymous said...

I also saw that this show was available for download on iTunes.

-Dan McCallum

03 January, 2009 20:41
Anonymous said...

The television show is a good means to connect the circus with an audience that might not otherwise give ten seconds to it, if they ever see it. Yes, there are some minor errors and some hokeyness to the contrived challenge, but the production value is generally very good.

Gordon Potter, a died in the wool railroad show man if there ever was one, quit going to RBBB when they converted from baggage stock to Caterpillar tractors, starting in 1938. Most of you would declare that he missed out on sixteen years of great shows.

The "great days" of the "blood and guts" daily moving railroad circus are behind us, but what will you say when there are no more circus trains?

RBBB still has an elephant car, stock cars, a storage car, wheeled vehicles loaded on flats and "sleepers," and the train is longer than anything in circus history. It also has logistical operations unlike anything else. It's as close as anyone will get to seeing the "old days" in real life, other than on a model railroad or on a screen in two dimensions.

I bet your grandkids would be thrilled if Grandpa took them to see it and explained it to them. They may not have the privilege to do it for their children.

04 January, 2009 16:02
Anonymous said...

Yes it is pretty impressive. especially when it is announced that it is the largest privately owned train in the world and he owns two of them. It is very interesting that none of the Felds, from Irvin and Israel have ever traveled or spent a night on these trains. I often wondered when the Kenneth Feld family was young why he did not have a luxurious private car hooked on, especially those wonderful Fall days going from Northern Cal. up thru Oregan and Wash. What great scenry. It seems all the rINGLING ENJOYED THEIR PRIVATE CARS. and in fact Gen. Mgr. Loyd Morgan had a company owned one and Concello. We know of JOMAR, etc.It seems that this would be the ultimate in big money entrapenuers. Even better than corporate jets, which I also believe the Felds do not have. Wonder what they spend some 700 million on ?.

05 January, 2009 08:46
Anonymous said...

From Wash. to Baltimore is not even a "Dukey" run. They probably spent more time loading and unloading than the did in transit. They could easily run it overland on the highway and streetcar. I always liked those three day runs. CLICK,CLICK,CLICK. I remember it well. Incidentally I had a half a car and was like some oriental Potentate. One of the plus sides.

05 January, 2009 08:55
Anonymous said...

Aong with a privately owned train ,lest one recall I believe he also owns largest herd of privately owned Asian Elephants in the world. Pretty impressive and he also provides health insurance for his employees. Can't beat that. l

05 January, 2009 09:07
Anonymous said...

They lost me when the "host" referred to the working men as "CARNYS"...Gees, History Channel...DO A LITTLE RESEARCH!
:-)
Cindy Potter

05 January, 2009 14:23
Anonymous said...

Yes sir Dr Herriott that car that

Lloyd Morgan Sr passed on to his

son Lloyd Jr and then finally was

used by Super GM Baker Brown who

was brought out of the office to

The Red Show while Tuffy was

still there and then to the Blue

Show in a mighty shuffle was one

of the last of the observation

cars named "Hickory Creek" with

a rear "porch" platform

I last saw it rusting away many

years ago just south of the old

Venice station long before they

restored the site as a park

That car would have made some

elegant "Private Varnish" for

a circus owner who cared

I think at one time it was

also used by Art Concello

Chic

05 January, 2009 19:15
Anonymous said...

Would like to thank Anonymous for the information on Gordon Potter. He had for years all of the information on every wagon and railcar that Ringling had on the road and it just stopped for some reason. He helped answer alot of questions in the early CMB issues about loading orders and wagon information that was great. But he had no information about the later years and I always wondered about that. Maybe he had alot of friends in the baggage stock depts back then.
As to the Hickory Creek that Llyod Morgan had. This was a former New York Central car and had alot of history. I think it came to the Blue Unit which was made from cars from Amtrack in 1968. I remember the 20th Century Limited signage being removed from the end of the car and being replaced with a Greatest Show on Earth badge of some type. It was the best of the best as far as railcars being built after WWII. Not to worry as some railfans purchased the car back in 2000 and it has been restored.
P.J.

05 January, 2009 23:04
Anonymous said...

The car that Lloyd Morgan used was the Hickory Creek, acquired by the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey in 1991. They were able to restore it aided by a Dept of Transportation grant beginning in 1997. After four years, work was completed and it is now leased to Star Trak for private excursion rentals. The car is a 1948 round end Pullman, one of two Twentieth Century Limited observation cars built (its twin was the Sandy Creek). I visited the car last May at Washington’s Union Station and saw its restored bedrooms, kitchen, and serving bar with the original carpeting and lounge chairs. The exterior carries the original New York Central two-tone gray paint scheme with white lettering. A small handout on the car’s history briefly notes its use on the Ringling train.

I've had the privilege and pleasure to ride the train several times including from San Diego to Oakland going through the Tehachapi Loop, a trip that is the envy of any rail buff since passenger traffic has not regularly traveled those rails for 40+ years, only freight. The Ringling train is long enough that the front of the train passes over the end of the train for a bit. Unfortunately, we did it at the stroke of midnight so I only saw the lights on the cars! Oh, well, but the scenery we passed in the daytime was still spectacular!

Dick Flint
Baltimore

05 January, 2009 23:36
Anonymous said...

While living on the Ringling train ('88-'89 Blue Unit) on asking, the RR yardmen ALL of them said that the Ringling train was(and is) the best maintained train in America.
I also had the opportunity of living on the Red show train when I groomed for GGW in '75-'76. Back then the animal guys all lived in the stock cars (on the Red Show, anyway) and consequently had seperate parking from the rest of the living cars,we considered it "living in the suburbs"

06 January, 2009 10:04
Anonymous said...

As many of you might remember

we had descriptive titles for

the different portions of the

train cars some of which aren't

appropriate to put in print

but "Beverly Hills" was the

last few cars including the

"Hickory Creek"

Chic

06 January, 2009 11:36
Anonymous said...

Private tow trucks were used in NYC in 2007, Red Show. Pretty sure in NJ Meadowlands too.

PS to LAD, are you ever getting back to the NE? Miss seeing you.

Paul & Diane G.

06 January, 2009 13:50

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