Front:
RINGLING BROS BARNUM&BAILEY
COMBINED 100 SHOWS
RAILWAY
CARS
BARNUMA
BARNE
MEANEY
EROS BAR
BAILEY
GREATEST
SHOW
EARTH
THESE TRAINS MORE THAN ONE AND ONE THIRD MILES LONG
LOADED WITH TEN THOUSAND WONDERS FROM EVERY LAND
Back:
19
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
In 1919, a few years after Ringling Bros. took over Barnum & Bailey, the two
biggest tent shows in the world began operating as a unit. At one time they boasted
100 brightly painted and unusually long railroad cars. This equipment was divided
among four sections of what was technically called one train, each section having
a separate locomotive. Contrary to popular belief, the first "big top" to use trains
for transportation was not Barnum's, but Spalding & Rogers in 1856. Today,
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, reduced to a 15-car train,
is North America's only railroad circus. As in this much earlier setting, slap-
happy clowns and acrobats, snarling tigers, white Arabian horses, elephants from
India and gorgeous girls in tights and spangles still ride the rails with the "Greatest
Show on Earth."
CIRCUS WORLD MUSEUM
