Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train Advertising Car No. 1 is preserved at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI. It is a former US Army hospital car, as many of the Pre-RBBX Ringling circus cars were. This car served Ringling as #64 WORCESTER for the first half of 1947, after which it became Adverting Car #1. It stayed that way until retired in 1956. In 1960 it was donated to the Circus World Museum. The circular graphic on the far right end is a fairly recent re-addition. It also sported that graphic in service for the circus. Image: Chris Karas ~2010. |
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Advertising cars rarely ran as part of the circus train. Instead, they traveled ahead of the circus train by a couple of weeks, announcing the impending arrival of the circus. They provided a home for circus promoters and advance staff. Image: September 21, 2004, by Fred & Mary Lou at RVtowster.com |
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Image: from a vintage Circus World Museum postcard, circa 1970s. |
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Image: Advertising Car No. 1, newly arrived at the Circus World Museum on September 24, 1960. As seen across the Baraboo River. |
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Image: Advertising Car No. 1 in about 1954. (State Archives of Florida/Steinmetz) |
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Image: Advertising Car No. 1 in the early 1950s in Sarasota, FL. This is a paint scheme it wore before the circus experimented with travel by truck in the late 1950s. |
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Image: Artwork detail, early 1950s. |
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Image: Artwork detail, early 1950s. |
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Image: In its first paint scheme, in Pennsylvania in 1948. |
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