Photo provided by Glen Mikkelsen, CFE
Did You Know? In 1952, Arnold Spielberg took his 5-year-old son Stevie to see his
performing horses were transported. The “baggage stock” were the draft horses who pulled the circus wagons from the railyard to the per- formance area. Baggage stock wore their harnesses on the trains, since they were needed immediately at the next city. However, to relieve the weight of the collars around the horses’ necks, chains were attached to the railcar’s roof, and their collars were attached to hooks. The “ring stock” were the performing horses. Ring stock had in- dividual stalls on the train cars, whereas baggage stock did not have stalls, but were loaded side by side, always in the same spot. The elephants were usually positioned in three pairs at each end
of a car – allowing for about 12 or 13 elephants. The cars were a foot taller than other stock cars, and had small windows for ventilation near the top of the car, as elephants were susceptible to pneumonia. Along with the animals travel the human menagerie. The circus
deaths. The gamut of human interactions has occurred on circus trains! the late 1940’s: “The privacy was minimal, and the ambience created by this conglomeration of athletes and beauties and adventurers and freaks and con merchants often resembled a pressure cooker on a slow occurred in the wee hours in the vast darkness of the railroad yards.” He adds, “Keeping secrets was impossible on the circus train, which
is how I heard that the aerialist was steadily but irregularly involved with one of the advance press agents, irregularly because he caught up and sometimes they found a sharp young ticket seller or ruggedly winner of a post-midnight rendezvous on the train.” was regulated by the circus caste system. For example, band members
to another, etc. Single girls were assigned to a separate car which was nicknamed, “the virgin car.” This car had a “car mother” to look after girls.
Short berths were set aside for midgets, plus special berths for the
fat lady and the giant. And on these cars, the train porter was not just a housekeeper, but he was the law of the car. He delivered mail, ran errands, but more importantly, enforced rules and settled disputes. The circus hierarchy deemed that new laborers, known as “First of
Mays,” were assigned top berths. Working men could be slotted two to a bunk. These musty and odorous cars were not air conditioned, so on beneath the circus wagons. But no matter where you slept, you did not want to miss the train.
Dean recalls, “Missing the train was an unimaginable calamity. If any of the circus folk had gotten into trouble with a town’s authorities, the no matter their usual berth.” Then, as today, the social hub of the train was the Pie Car. The
gossip was (and is), shared. Today’s Pie Car serves 1,000 to 1,500 meals per week, trying to please the palates of performers from 13 countries. At over a mile-long, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Red and Blue Unit trains are the world’s longest privately-owned trains. Come this summer, their reign on the rails closes. They will be missed. was never less than exciting, and the places it took me were always fascinating. If the weather was good, I’d watch the world go by from a FM
Glen Mikkelsen, CFE, is manager of the CN Centre in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada.
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