Winterquarters/Car Shops for circus and showtrains

[enjineerbill]

Still smell the paint....

 

[Midnught Special]

nice work, love your pictures, they look so great!

 

[NYSW F45]

Hi Steve,

Watching the Ringlings 2 (red and blue) trains is impressive. Quite an operation. Years ago, while I was still in radio, I rode an elephant in the animal walk. It was quite a distance from the train to the coliseum and a day I'll never forget.

Those Ringling wagons on the flat were built by me. I used the Athearn smaller trailers for starting points. There will be lots more to come.

Here is a very early shot of the build. Lots of things changed before going to paint, mainly lowering the wagons as were the prototypes.

that one looks a little bigger then what i htink is used now. Does anyone make the carts used now or what was used?

 

[enjineerbill]

that one looks a little bigger then what i htink is used now. Does anyone make the carts used now or what was used?

Hi Steve, I'm thinking you may be talking about these? Like the ones used currently on Ringling? If so, these wagons are the size of an average 20ft shipping container. Bodies are constructed of aluminum and they ride on special wheel sets, very close to the ground.

I've made quit a few in the past. Undergear must be built for each unit. These were designed by the show to originally fir inside of the 'tunnel' cars and had rounded roof sides for clearance. They evolved into the boxed shaped ones used today as the tunnel cars proved to be somewhat problematic.

Here are some shots of the constructions I have done....Hope this answers your question.

 

[Rico]

Toot, great video!
Johnny what did you do with the ribs, cover them or chisel them off?
Great looking wagons!!

 

[enjineerbill]

Toot, great video!
Johnny what did you do with the ribs, cover them or chisel them off?
Great looking wagons!!

Thanks Rico,

For the most part I like to use the smooth sided containers, but those with ribs were chiseled and sanded....

 

[NYSW F45]

Hi Steve, I'm thinking you may be talking about these? Like the ones used currently on Ringling? If so, these wagons are the size of an average 20ft shipping container. Bodies are constructed of aluminum and they ride on special wheel sets, very close to the ground.

I've made quit a few in the past. Undergear must be built for each unit. These were designed by the show to originally fir inside of the 'tunnel' cars and had rounded roof sides for clearance. They evolved into the boxed shaped ones used today as the tunnel cars proved to be somewhat problematic.

Here are some shots of the constructions I have done....Hope this answers your question.

Yup, those are the ones. I saw a guy on ebay who has the decals for the modern trailors and thought it would be interesting to make a small set of flats maybe.

 

[enjineerbill]

Yup, those are the ones. I saw a guy on ebay who has the decals for the modern trailors and thought it would be interesting to make a small set of flats maybe.

Cool Steve, if the decals are from the guy in Baraboo, WI, I have seen some of his circus world train decals and they look great! I have heard through other circus modelers that his work and decals are very good. If you do any, be sure to post them here for us! Good luck.

 

[enjineerbill]

 

[enjineerbill]

 

[eric2448]

The new decals look great on the Centennial and Im looking forward to seeing whats next with your Ringling train. I just finished up a second coat on all but 2 of my flats and stocks. Silver is a tricky color. It came out ok, a little grainy due to the primer but it gives it a good look that I can live with. Ill see if I can grab a pic or two tomorrow. The Worlds Greatest Hobby Show is in town next week, hoping to score something good for my project and enjoy the layouts. Have a great weekend!

 

[enjineerbill]

The new decals look great on the Centennial and Im looking forward to seeing whats next with your Ringling train. I just finished up a second coat on all but 2 of my flats and stocks. Silver is a tricky color. It came out ok, a little grainy due to the primer but it gives it a good look that I can live with. Ill see if I can grab a pic or two tomorrow. The Worlds Greatest Hobby Show is in town next week, hoping to score something good for my project and enjoy the layouts. Have a great weekend!

Cool Eric, the Ringling train will have a 3 car advance dept. and will be silver, so I know exactly what you are talking about! The 3 cars will be crew and stock, a baggage converted to storage/generator and an animal car from a heavy weight RPO. Have fun and good luck at the show, share what you score!

 

[enjineerbill]

Blast from the past....

While surfing the net, I found this photograph from a photographer who
brought back my earliest memories of the Baraboo Great Circus Train. It
was originally sponsored by(they purchased and refurbished the train among
other financial contributions) the Schlitz Brewing Company of Milwaukee.

The very first time I saw this train at the age of 5, this was the loco pulling it. Ex- CB&Q 4960 was a heavy mikado and now resides on the Grand Canyon Railway.

What a sight this annual event was!

 

[Midnught Special]

very cool picture(s) love the steam trains a lot!

 

[eric2448]

The show yesterday was good. Some neat layouts that dont normally come to the annual train show. It was good to see a strong crowd in Southern California on a weekend. I was a little bummed that I came home empty handed. The guy who always has some of the Walthers equipment didnt really have anything I was looking for. None of the various vendors had any of the other various items I needed either. I did come home and order what I was hoping to find at the show, waiting on the mail now. I was able to catch a peek of the Lowell Smith N Scale Freedom Train that is being released. I think its produced by Micro Trains, quite up there in price but they look nice. He also has done a decent circus line as well. Here a link to both:

http://lowellsmith.net/freedom.html

http://lowellsmith.net/american%20circus.html

 

[enjineerbill]

Thanks Eric, there's always other shows, keep digging...

Thanks for the links, I had not seen them before.

I should have pictures later this week of my new 3 car advance
dept. for the fantasy RBBB show. I'll explain the thought behind the large advertising dept., when I post the pictures.

 

[enjineerbill]

Being that the fantasy show I'm building is post-war, it will have acquired a number of former military vehicles as some of the real shows did. Here, at the bottom, you can see the truck frames and bodies I'm using as a starting point. The center truck has a Prieser model baggage wagon body. The top truck has been fitted with a Walthers stake and chain body. The white ribs are ones I replaced with styrene due to the lack of full detail on the original castings. Still a lot of work to do on these but figured I'd stop and take some construction pics....

 

[enjineerbill]

NOT MY PICTURE

Credit to original photographer.

This is what the Ringlings used that was the inspiration for my trucks.
This particular truck is a Mack.

 

[eric2448]

Heres an update for all you circus thread followers, not the best of pictures, but Im making some progress with my flats. The decals Matt made look and work great! Anything new with you Johnny?

 

[tootnkumin]

Gee! You guys will have to get all your gear together on 1 layout when done. You really WILL have "The Greatest Show on Earth"