Circus Cars

[Cody J]

Does Anyone know if Bachmann made at anytime circus cars for HO!

Thankyou for Any Help In Advance

- Cody L. Jackson

[jayl1]

I don't know about Bachmann but Lifelike (Pre-Walthers), Roundhouse (MDC)  & Walthers made some years ago.

[the Bach-man]

Dear Cody,
As far as I know, we never did. You can add Athearn to Jay's list (the Col. Carsten's Wild West Show car).
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[Cody J]

Well Is it very hard to take the couplers off of the circus cars of the companies mentioned and put bachmann couplers on.

Thankyou

-Cody L. Jackson

[jayl1]

First, good luck finding the cars!  The MDC, Walthers, & Carstens car (available only from Carstens Publishing years ago) were limited production & will take Kadee 5's or McHenry/Bachmann couplers.  The older Lifelike - I believe - were truck mounted couplers & more of a challenge.

[Pacific Northern]

You can also add IHC to the list.

Check e-bay, I just searched HO by requesting "circus" and there is a number of Circus cars by Walthers mainly but also IHC, Roundhouse

[Woody Elmore]

There used to be a wooden kit manufacturer of HO scale circus wagons and specialty flat cars. They may still be in business.

Walthers also produced several runs of all kinds of circus equipment.

[Woody Elmore]

Cody - if you Google "circus trains" you'll find several websites loaded with information, pictures of the prototypes, models, etc. The Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin may also have an interesting website.

As I suspected, the Circus Craft line is no longer in production - same goes for Wardie Jay. These kits may turn up on Ebay but I wouldn't bother if I could get the really nice Walthers models.

Also, don't model  the Ring Bros, Barnum and Bailey. They were suing model companies long before UP got on the copyright bandwagon. If you notice, there is not a lot of equipment out there lettered RBBB. You would think they'd like the free advertising.

A correct model of a post WWII circus train would be made up of three sections. The advertising train would  go into the town first. It was the ticket office and crews who started the setup.

That would be followed by the tent and roustabout train; a train with all the tents, seats, etc. and some of the animals. The third section was the train with performers and animals. The real thing approached 100 cars. This is why they stopped using the "big Top" and went into arenas.

Go to your local DVD rental and see if you can rent "The Greatest Show on Earth" a 1950s movie by Cecil B. DeMille starring Charlton Heston and Jimmy Stewart. It is a must for circus buffs.

[richG]

This can be a challenge to model. I have seen HO scale displays at model railroad shows.
I model 1900 and bought two sets of MDC Wild West trains. This would not have been as large as the circus trains where later on. I picked up a couple more of the yellow box cars off of ebay.


Rich

[Woody Elmore]

Rich - It depends on the Circus era you are modelling and the type of show. Clyde Beatty (the lion tamer) had a small show in comparison to the size of the Ringling Brothers operation.

I remember the MDC train being advertised but never saw one in person.

I visited Circus World when it was located down in Orlando, Florida. They had a couple of the old passenger cars from the fifties. These had been troop cars. They were probably eighty feet long and the performers lived in them. I really haven't kept up to date and am not sure what kind of railway equipment they operate now.

When the circus comes to NYC, they bring the animals in by train to New Jersey then walk the elephants through the tunnel to Madison Square Garden. The Ringling operation has two shows running - an "A" show and a "B" show. In that way they can keep one show together for two years.