Fifteen former Ringling Circus Train cars go to In 1974 the Felds, owners of the Ringling Bros. and Barnam & Bailey Circus, opened a major theme park near Orlando, FL and named it Circus World. |
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For the 1977 season, four of Ringling's older circus train cars -- former US Army steel Hospital Cars from WWII -- were brought out of a 5+ year retirement to serve as structures inside the expanding park. By 1979, 11 more of the cars had been added. They were painted a variety of colors over the years -- mostly blue, yellow, red, and silver. The Big Top Circus - a structure made to look like a tent, opened in 1974 as Circus World Showcase, a preview center for the public as well as potential investors in the larger park which opened in early 1976. From its 1974 opening, the structure held the world's largest IMAX movie screen. |
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Circus World Map 1976 No circus train cars on the property yet. The play 'The Day the Circus Comes to Town' featured a large circus train prop, but none of it was real railroad equipment. Image: Circus World map 1976 |
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The Day the Circus Comes to Town - a play performed in the early days of the park. Image. State Library & Archives of Florida 1976. |
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The Day the Circus Comes to Town. The stage play featured a prop circus train on the fictional B&N Railroad. Image. State Library & Archives of Florida 1976. |
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Circus World Map 1977 The first year that the former circus train cars were used at the park. The map depicts just 4 cars. Many more would soon join them in the rapidly expanding park. 1977 was also the first year for the looping steel Zoomerang coaster. The larger wooden Florida Hurricane coaster followed in 1978 - and eventually saw its name changed to The Roaring Tiger in 1981. Image: Collectors Series Show Schedule 1977, depicting 4 former circus train cars. |
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Circus World Map 1979 This map shows the maximum number of the former steel WWII hospital train cars ever used as structures at the park - 15. It may also show a 16th former circus train car - a short car (or truncated longer car?) between the left most red car and the Barnum City Station structure. The Ringling circus really didn't have any short cars. If you have any info, please email. Many of the former WWII hospital cars used in the 1960-1972 version of the Ringling train were turned into tunnel cars to hold circus wagons. Only about 15 were not, and the cars used at the park may account for substantially all the non-tunneled cars Ringling had left, assuming no tunnel cars were used at the park. The Live Circus Extravaganza (hand written at middle right where ' Circus Day Theater' used to be) was performed in the summer and fall by the former Ringling Gold Unit artists who had toured with the Ringling Monte Carlo Express train earlier in 1979. Image: Circus World Show Schedule summer/fall 1979. Cars have been highlighted in the basic colors they were likely wearing at the time. The car depicted in gray didn't last long. The cars were repainted every year or two, sometimes changing color. |
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Circus World Map 1980 Structures 4,9,20,23 on the 1980 map were made up of one or more former Circus Train cars. Some other cars are depicted, but have no numbers (employee-only spaces). Image: Circus World map 1980. Some of the former circus train cars present at the time are not depicted. There were 15 in 1980. |
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Circus World Map 1981 Only six train cars were depicted as part of the Barnum City Train Station on this 1981 map; the 1984 map depicts nine. This is the year the large wooden roller coaster changed its (1978 debut) name from the Florida Hurricane to The Roaring Tiger - its originally intended name, as seen on a premature park map from 1976 that first depicted the planned coaster. Image: Circus World map 1981, now down to 14 former circus train cars (the one near the #34 on the map is now gone). |
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Circus World Map 1983
Image: Circus World map 1983. Not all of the 14 former circus train cars present at the time are depicted. Note the Ferris wheel at upper left, which had just arrived in 1983. The elephant barns have been replaced with the Great Western Stampede at lower right. John A Fox, illustrator. |
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Circus World Souvenir Map 1983 Image: Circus World map 1983. Probably the largest and most elaborate souvenir map ever produced for the park. Many rides and attractions have labels. Doesn't depict every railcar, and the ones it shows are not in their correct colors, but a magnificent map nonetheless. John A Fox, illustrator. |
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Circus World Map 1984 Image: Circus World Map 1984, by artist Mardi Ripple. All fourteen former circus train cars present at the time are depicted. |
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Circus World Map 1985 Image: Circus World Map 1985. Not all of the former circus train cars present at the time are depicted - there were likely still 14 cars. Note that the former Dog & Cat Palace Car by the main entrance is now a VIP Lounge. This was the first year for the Giant Slide and Wave Swinger attractions. |
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Barnum City Train Station Several of the train cars were part of a shops-and-arcade area themed as Branum City Train Station, complete with a wooden depot structure. The number of cars seems to have increased from five to nine over the years. The area had previously been known as the Barnum City Depot and Crafts Village, with artisans working inside the railcars. Image: Barnum City Train Station. State Library & Archives of Florida. |
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Image: Two of the cars at Barnum City Train Station in Circus World. State Library & Archives of Florida. |
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Image: Detail of a railcar at Barnum City Train Station. State Library & Archives of Florida. |
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Barnum City Train Station from the 1983 park map. Some train cars are not depicted, and the colors on the ones shown are not accurate. Image: Circus World Souvenir Map 1983
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Barnum City Train Station illustrated with all nine cars. Colors on the cars are accurate. For a time this area featured the park's miniature circus model and a crafts area. Image: Circus World Map 1984
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Barnum City Depot - Shops, Arcade, Crafts. With four of the former Ringling circus train cars. Before a name change to Barnum City Station. Image: Circus World postcard circa 1978 |
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Circus Route Crafts Serving All Points North and South sign. Showing three of the former Ringling circus train cars. |
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Part of the Barnum City Station complex. Image: Circus World guide |
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Part of the Barnum City Station complex. Image: Circa 1980. A fraction of the full image (scroll far down) of the ornamental railroad tracks by the Center Ring tilting wheel ride. State Library & Archives of Florida. |
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Interior platform of the Barnum City Station complex showing one of the old train cars. |
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Exterior of the Barnum City Station complex. |
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Exterior of the Barnum City Station complex. |
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C.P. Fox Circus Cinema Car The C.P. Fox Circus Cinema, playing Titans of the Tanbark - the story of the men who built The Greatest Show on Earth, as told by the world's foremost circus historian Chappie Fox. Here, C.P. 'Chappie' Fox stands next to his namesake cinema. This refurbished former WWII railroad hospital car retained the 'silver, gold & red with colorful graphics' look that all these cars had on the Ringling train throughout the 1950s. Image: Circus World, July 1977 |
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| Image: Collectors Series Show Schedule 1977 |  |
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Gift Shop Cars The two side-by-side silver cars that had been associated with the C.P Fox Cinema in 1977 had become gift shops by 1981 - see 1981 map above, map item #23. Some other cars eventually became gift shops too, or were converted to employee-only spaces. Image: The blue gift shop in the 1984 map image above, next to the left end of the Zoomerang looping coaster. Circus World postcard, circa 1985/86 |
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The two cars associated with the C.P. Fox Circus Cinema in the park's early days. Later used as gift shops and later employee-only space. The colors shown on the cars are not accurate for 1983. Image: Circus World Souvenir Map 1983
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Dog & Cat Palace Car One, eventually painted blue, was outside the front gate and served as the Circus World Dog and Cat Palace Car, a kennel for visitors traveling with pets. Image: Circus World Souvenir Map 1983 |
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A former Ringling circus train car -- and WWII US Army Hospital car -- serving as the Circus World kennel, the Dog & Cat Palace Car. Later converted to a VIP area and painted silver. Boardwalk and Baseball used this as an employee-only space. Image: Circus World brochure 1981 |
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In 1985, the car was transformed into a VIP Lounge and painted silver. Image: Circus World Map 1984
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First Aid Car One car served as the Circus World First Aid station. It also served as the Boardwalk and Baseball First Aid station. Image: Circus World Souvenir Map 1983. The car is not likely illustrated in its correct color for 1983. |
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The two cars associated with the C.P. Fox Circus Cinema in the park's early days. Later used as gift shops and later employee-only space. The colors shown on the cars are not accurate for 1983. Image: Circus World Map 1984
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The First Aid car, green at lower right. The Wave Swinger ride at center was new to the park in 1985. Image: Circus World postcard 1985/86 |
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Image: Circus World postcard 1985/86 |
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Gargantua the Great One car was used for a while as an ode to a Ringling legend of the circus - Gargantua the Great, a huge lowland gorilla who saved the circus from financial ruin in the Great Depression. The red car near the elephant barn was later converted to a gift shop, then an employee-only structure. It remained an employee-only space at successor park Boardwalk and Baseball. Image: Collectors Series Show Schedule 1977 |
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Image: Partial shot of the car during its Gargantua the Great days. |
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The former Gargantua the Great car in 1983, as either a gift shop or an employee-only space. Image: Circus World Souvenir Map 1983
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| The former Gargantua the Great space as an employee-only space in 1984.
Image: Circus World map 1984 |
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| Ornamental railroad tracks crossing the road and passing between the Barnum City Station (left) and the Center Ring ride (right). As depicted in the 1980 map above. |  |
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Boardwalk and Baseball After the Circus World park closed in 1986, it reopened in 1987 for a new owner as Boardwalk and Baseball, a baseball-themed park with rides and ball fields, including the 8000-seat Baseball City Stadium, which served as the spring training facility for the Kansas City Royals until 2002 - well after the adjacent theme park closed. Image: Boardwalk and Baseball park map. |
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Image: Boardwalk and Baseball park map. Five former WWII US Army Hospital Cars became the Chicken N' Biscuit Restaurant. |
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The railcars continued to serve as structures until the theme park closed in 1990. Four cars from the former Barnum City Train Station area were consolidated into the Salerno Express Restaurant and Lounge near the park entrance. The remaining cars at the former Barnum City Train Station became the Chicken N' Biscuit Restaurant. The car used as Circus World's first aid station became Boardwalk and Baseball's first aid station. The others became or remained employee-only spaces. Image: Boardwalk and Baseball park map. Two of the Salerno Express cars became part of Grandpa's Steakhouse in Cocoa, FL from 1992 to 2018. |
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Today, some of the land of Circus World/Boardwalk & Baseball has been redeveloped into Posner Park. Ironically, its upscale shopping area has an IMAX theater, just as Circus World did decades before it. Except that the one at Circus World was the largest IMAX screen in the world - 6 stories tall. |
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