Circus decals and models wanted .

[up1950s]

Specifically Ringling Bros , ( ever notice the percentage of circuses that are " Bros " )

N scale ( me ) needs and wants white and red RBBB decals , and equipment of the 50's . Microscale should capitalize on the N scale circus train interest . FUD trailers , wagons , and cages would be nice .   

I have put steam aside for awhile and are freelancing circus wagons , acquiring prototype info , and whatever decals I can possibility use . Having more fun than a barrel full of asshats doing this as well . I am using CMW wheels , HO Athearn old version handrail stanchions for axle bearings and trailer tongue hinges . Various shortened trailers and containers , and even a small thin Japanese boxcar was turned into a trailer . For cage bars an idea hit me like a rope in the back of my head , etched stainless steel telltales in HO and N look much like the MTL cage bars . That idea came to me looking for a missing set of bars on one side of a wagon , gratefully MTL supplied me with the missing part .

There is more info on the RBBB than any other circus but it is on a zillion sites . In 1933 the were an advanced 2 car section , and 4 other sections that made the whole circus , so a mile long train is not the only way to have a circus train .

Time has come today for N scalers to have some circus on display .

[pjm20]

I would like to see some late 20s early 30s equipment and supporting decals, details, etc.

[Roger Holmes]

Just returned a few hours ago from a great trip to Naples, FL and Marco Island.  We traveled north to Sarasota last Thursday to the Ringling Estate which features, among other things, a phenomenal 3/4 inch to the foot, 3,800 sq ft model circus that has been under construction for 50+ years depicting a fictional circus visiting Knoxville, TN.  Thousands of individual structures, figures, wagons, tents and vehicles.

The scratchbuilt  rail cars were spectacular and a 30 foot plus wall of industrial building where the trains were parked were all exact duplicates of Walthers structures such as Red Wing Mills, Hardwood Furniture, American Hardware and others.  In another area of the museum was the creator's shop which featured the same scene composed of the actual Walthers HO buildings that were his patterns.

I hope this website will provide some circus modeling ideas.  I highly recommend the Ringling Estate if you are in the Sarasota area.

http://www.ringling.org/CircusMuseums.aspx?ekmensel=c580fa7b_186_188_btnlink

[Alaska Railroader]

Time has come today for N scalers to have some circus on display .

I couldn't agree more so I have made a circus of my own in N scale and its for sale on our site. I had to create a circus empire because its illegal for me to make and sell RBBB items due to the expensive licensing by Feld Entertainment, which MTL has rights to currently. Not sure you'll find RBBB decals available commercially for this reason.

I have so much more in the wings that either hasn't gotten up on the site yet or is still being manufactured. The high wire and trapeze acts are nearly finished, circus people and all.

Here is a sampling...





 
You will find the "World of Wonder Circus" here:
http://stonebridgemodels.com/circus/circus.htm

[bbussey]

A license must be obtained from RBB&B to produce RBB&B-decorated models, and it's pricey.  It may also be exclusive.  MTL holds the license currently to produce N scale equipment.  If you want to see prototypical RBB&B-decorated equipment, it's best to start lobbying them.

One prototypically-correct car from the early/mid-20th century that MTL could produce today is the heavyweight Advertising Car #1, on (I believe) the 12-1 model.  MTL already has photos of the prototype.

[pjm20]

I highly recommend the Ringling Estate if you are in the Sarasota area.

+1

[jmlaboda]

One problem that you will encounter in trying to do prototypical models is that there is very little currently available that would fit the circus train, be it before or after the former Army cars were added to the operation.  Prior to the Army cars, except for a few steel private cars, most of the equipment was wood vestibuled cars acquired from a variety of sources.  After the Army cars came after WWII things settled down for a time with the Army cars being modified to various uses but retaining pretty much their original appearance with the single biggest detail challenge being the lovers that were applied to the car windows.

The mid-to-late-60s saw cars from the New York Central and Rock Island being added with many of them being heavily modified by the circus.  Additional cars from Baltimore & Ohio and Union Pacific came next, with UP cars still dominating the roster to this day, but all requiring more than a little work to be made reasonably accurate.  Photos of some of the early cars as well as the post-Army car roster can be found at the link below...
http://passcarphotos.info/Indices/Showtrain1.htm

There is a magazine that deals with circuses and carnivals but I cna't remember the name of it off hand... will have to dig for my copies of the issues that dealt with the circus train's car roster.  Will try to get the name and issues posted in just a little bit.  There are a number of available models that could represent the circus train circa early-70s until the mid-90s when RBBX began to heavily rebuild the cars to better fit their needs.  For modelers wanting to model the cars before all the rebuilding started it would be fairly easy to do.

Oh, and for those who remember the old circus coaches with the oval windows that Walthers use to produce in HO and O scales a word of warning... they were head-end (baggage - mail) cars that the Circus World Museum rebuilt for excursion trains and not actual cars that saw use on any circus or carnival train.

[Alaska Railroader]

Modeling circus trains in RBBB for your own personal use is probably fine, and you can get it to be very prototypical. MTL did a pretty good job on their red train but even with the licensing they couldn't redo all their tooling to make the trains exactly as the original. And they took liberty with the rest of their train sets and stepped out of the realm of what was real and became more fantasy. Same goes for me except I'm trying to keep away from fantasy as much as possible and, again, by creating my own circus name and using it throughout. Another associate of mine, Chuck Dietrich, does make a very close representation of the older elephant car and, as I had shared before, the Warren and Mt. Vernon flats.

My 4-4-0 loco and heavyweights are being custom decaled now with gold lettering and will be in our circus name. I sure would have loved to do RBBB but oh well.

[jmlaboda]

Bandwagon magazine, published by the Circus Historical Society, has published four articles by the late Robert S. MacDougall documenting the many cars that the circus has used, from just after WWI to the recent cars.

Two issues, November - December 1999 and January - February 2001 deal with the former Army hospital cars, the latter issue touching briefly on some of the rebuilding the cars underwent as well as the acquisition of five ex-NYC coaches which were heavily rebuilt by the circus, from 1947 - 1956 and 1957 - 1972 respectively.

The wood car roster was published in the January - February 2002 issue (covering 1919 - 1946) while the September - October 2004 deals with cars acquired after 1972, entitled The Blue Unit Train, the First Twenty Years, which covers many of the cars that remain in service to this day.

These back issues are available and for anyone who would want to learn more about the circus train's equipment I highly recommend them.

[up1950s]

I may just have to do my own name as well . I don't like what I see as offerings for a N RBBB . I have copied some of the lists from the Bandwagon on line stuff . The 1932 tour list has each flat number , the number on the wagons and what they were used for as well as the length of the wagons , and if they were carrying poles , the length of the longest poles . All cars in all 4 sections of about 22 cars covered . What a kick butt list that is . I have an old copy of The Little Circus Wagon which covers wagon 43 coming my way , that's the unique Big Top pole wagon that went through at least 3 modifications over the years . It is a shame that the lack of RBBB N scale decals is what is crippling desires to model a 50's circus train .

I will have a circus train , and if I use a name of my choosing all restrictions are lifted as to prototypical exactness . 

[Alaska Railroader]

I will have a circus train , and if I use a name of my choosing all restrictions are lifted as to prototypical exactness .

+1
This is my mantra!

[jmlaboda]

"I will have a circus train , and if I use a name of my choosing all restrictions are lifted as to prototypical exactness ."

Want some real heavyweight car inspiration... check out the links for the Royal American Shows (link below).  The outfit was a big time carnival that use to play the rails just like the circus train does and was really a site to see.  At least some of the cars can be modeled while reasonable stand-ins can also be substituted.  James E. Strates Shows also had a collection of Pullmans at one time, though they took advantage, when possible, to also upgrade their equipment.  They are also on the same page...
http://passcarphotos.info/Indices/Showtrain4.htm

[up1950s]

Link is not working Jerry , and thanks for all your and others input . This aspect of N scale is not something we shouldn't clown about . Just thought of more circus wagon bone sources . BLMA PODS and Trainworx  truck wheels , they have a smaller diameter set of truck wheels item 4083-1 , so does Willmodels .

[jmlaboda]

"Link is not working Jerry..."

Anyone else having this problem?  I just checked and it worked fine for me.

[up1950s]

Works for me now Jerry .