Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Circus Trains #11


Circus Trains-11, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.


TO BE CONTINUED!

5 comments:

JIM ELLIOTT said...

Another EXCELLENT set of photos! Thanks for sharing Buckles!

Richard Reynolds said...

This is a dandy photo. Chappie was an excellent photographer with a real sense of composition.

This is 1938 and was taken on the Al G. Barnes-Sells Floto Circus presenting features from RBBB. The elephant car in the background is a dead give-away - -Al G Barnes.

The flat in the foreground is a RBBB Warren 70-footer, serviced, as stated, in Sarasota.

After the Scranton, PA strike ended RBBB’s 1938 season, it sent some 20 cars to augment Barnes-Sells Floto.

Incidentally, the Sells Floto name was just an add-on to the Barnes title for 1937 and 1938. Sells-Floto had been taken off the road for good at the end of 1932, and its equipment parked at the Peru, IN quarters.

Ole Whitey said...

Richard: What was or were the last wooden-spoked, steel-tired- wheel wagon or wagons used on RBBB and when?

Anonymous said...

Hello Dave,
The garage wagons were the last wagons changed over as they never left the railroad yards and didn't go out on the public streets. The beef over the steel rimmed wooden wheels was that they would tear up the new asphalt streets cities were installing at the time. Of course Ringling had figured out that heavy wagons with pneumatic tires rolled easlier on the lot back in the mid 30's. They had already changed over some of the light plant wagons,the hippo wagon,etc. I think the reason they didn't change over more of them was the lack of funds during these years.
These photos from this book also show us the last show to be completely on steel rimmed wood wheels, and that was the Al G. Barnes show of 1938.
p.j.

Ole Whitey said...

Many thanks- very interesting.