I guess we get to add RBBX to the list of fallen flags. The circus has been running their own trains since the late 1800's.
They pioneered roll-on/roll-off loading in the 1800's. The railroads later copied it to "invent" piggy-back service.
When Barnum & Bailey toured Europe from December of 1897 through October of 1902 the High Command of the German Imperial Army studied how the circus traveled by train so that they could copy the circus as they remade their armies into a mobile force.
After WW I the US Army also studied the circus to learn how to move men and their support structure as efficiently as possible,
The circus was not perfect especially some of the smaller shows. There were instances of animal cruelty from time to time, the animal trainer/tamer Clyde Beaty was one of the worst using a whip and a gun that he fired in the animals faces, he was called the fighting animal tamer. Gunther Gebel-Williams was one of the best using only kindness, patience, rewards and persuasion.
Animal trainers like the circus came out of the era before self propelled vehicles. An animal either worked to help you make a living or you ate it. Even a house cat earned it's food by killing mice.
There were even more times when the laborers were miss-treated. It was not until after WW II when John Ringling North bought a fleet of surplus army hospital coaches and converted them to dorms that the common laborer on the circus had a bunk (2 men to a bunk) to sleep in. Prior to that they slept under the wagons on the open flats. Even the animals were treated better.
Modern veterinary medicine was pioneered on the Ringling show by Dr. J. Y. Henderson. He was the first to successfully treat exotic animals.
The circus will now fade into the past like steam and passenger trains. But for a while I will have my memories of it's glory days.
With Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus calling it quits after
their May show, are there any desirable Burlington cars in their fleet which Q
preservationists might be interested in?
Bob Arthur
Princeton, NC
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Posted by: Kirby Lambert <kirby@prospectortech.com>
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