RBB&B Heavyweight Advertising Car No.1, 1938-1946

[bbussey]

Does anyone know where a photo can be found of the last Ringling Brothers heavyweight advertising car?  It was acquired in 1938 and was used as the advance advertising car throughout the war years.  It was demoted to the laundry car after the ACF Hospital Cars were acquired in 1946.  I believe it had a 12-1 interior arrangement.  I saw a photo online two or three years ago, but foolishly didn't save it or make note of what site it was.  This is the Lional version of the car from a couple of years ago, and they aren't the only manufacturer to release one so documentation must exist somewhere.



The roof was silver.  The sides were red/white/blue, but the blue on this model is not as dark as it should be.  The colors might have been Old Glory Red and Blue but I'm not sure on that.  The lower lettering was gold leaf.  I remember all of that from the photo I saw, which was not a full shot but it did show the right half of a side shot of the car in a station.

[pjm20]

You could try this website: http://digital.library.illinoisstate.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/circus

I have only seen this combine used as an advance car before the hospital cars. This picture is from 1934. Admittedly my research is for the period around 1930, so I probably missed something.

[bbussey]

I also sent a query to the Circus Historical Society, and they replied with a number of possible sources.

There is a photo of the RBBB advance car in the red, white and blue livery in the book "Circus Trains" by C. P. Fox (Kalmbach, 1947), taken sometime between 1942 and 1947.  The car was an older, wooden-framed car with truss rods, having been updated with metal sheathing and retrofitted with cast steel underframes.  A second view of the same car is on page 89 of the Fox and Tom Parkinson book "The Circus Moves by Rail."  It was converted into a laundry car when the hospital cars were acquired in 1947, and it's been preserved.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27847413@N00/7867289870/

It also was suggested that I contact the CHS librararian to gather additional info.  At some point, I'll hunt down the Fox book.