Video is from 2017 in Baraboo, WI at Circus World Museum Spur......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-nnARR0uF8
I gotta play the optimist here and say "it's great to see circus cars rolling the rails", even if it is for insertion into a museum.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
I just LOVE the name of that town! Bara-BOO!
Wonder what it means? Probably an old Indian word for Bara-BOO.
Actually, way back in the day, the line through Baraboo was the original Chicago & Northwestern mainline to Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, and was the route of the original “400” that CNW put together to compete against the Hiawatha.
Since they were circus cars being set out, I had been hoping they had used a flying switch....
”They switch out the cars with the greatest of ease,
The daring young men riding on the SDs...”
Why didn't I think of this sooner?
How's about a little "entry" music, since those cars are entering their new home?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy5vjfOLTaA
Well done, Flintlock76! And for the encore, here is “The Flying Trapeze”:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fwvqMptS7UA
Thanks for that kgb', I didn't know Eddie Cantor recorded this one!
I think Baraboo used to be a ex-C&NW Division point as well. Because the Depot is so large and had offices on the second floor it was more than just a passenger depot see link below. Nice color shot of the "400" in the Baraboo station with the REA Express truck leaving the station.
http://railroadarchives.org/content/baraboo-wi-cnw-depot-0
and then there's the Spike Jones version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAQFtntTlzA
By the way, Burt Lancaster would be credible as an acrobat- that's what he was before he made movies.
Flintlock76I just LOVE the name of that town! Bara-BOO! Wonder what it means? Probably an old Indian word for Bara-BOO.
Baraboo is where the Circus used to winter and the same winter grounds are where the Circus World Museum is located. Circus also used to winter in Florida. If your ever in Wisconsin visiting the Circus World Museum is like visiting a Circus though not as large. They have a big top show and excellent museum exhibits. It is about 40 mins from the Wisconsin Dells I believe by car.
In that same central area of Wisconsin is "Devils Lake" which is what is known as a geographic outlier from the last glacier which went around Devils Lake instead of bulldozing it. So surrounding the Lake they have towering foothills of granite rock which is how the landscape looked prior to the last glacier (somewhat cool and worth the side trip). C&NW has a line that goes right through the geographic feature and the line twists and curves around the foothills.....WSOR still operates over it. Devils Lake due to the large granite outcroppings also has it's fair share of rattlesnakes, so beware if you hike up those foothills.
Not too far from Devils Lake both the Milwaukee and C&NW used to serve the Badger Army Ammo Plant which was huge and in use a little past the end of the Vietnam War. Either gone or being dismantled now but large amount of track through that complex. Looks like it was quite a traffic generator back in the old days. Might explain why Baraboo was a division point, with the Ammo Plant, Circus setouts, Granite and Gravel Quaries in the region, etc.
There's a rail museum who's name escapes me in the Baraboo area as well, another place to visit if I ever get to Wisconsin. And of course while I'm there I'll have to go and bother the people at "Trains," "Classic Trains," and "Classic Toy Trains!"
Maybe Wisconsin's motto should be "Come for the cheese, stay for the trains!"
Anywho, Eddie Cantor was a comic genius, so was Spike Jones, but for the definative version of "The Man On The Flying Trapeze" I've gotta go with the "International Silver String Submarine Band!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybl-XvOZCAU
I have to say, the guy who played Eddie Cantor in "Boardwalk Empire" sure sounds just like the real thing.
But let's not ignore Popeye's version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRKt38GKWOQ
Ol' Popeye did pretty good on the trapeze!
He must have started out on square-riggers as a top-man!
Flintlock76the "International Silver String Submarine Band!"
That one ranks just above the "mweep mwow cake" on my list.
Interresting crossover, William "Froggy" Laughlin was doing his impersonation of Popeye i n the Our Gang shorts and contrary to urban myth his voice was not "stuck that way".
William Robert Laughlin 7/5/32-8/31/48
What a crew of amazing film-makers the "Our Gang" people were. All those films are timeless and just as good as the day they were made.
The Mid-Continent Railway Mueseum is right outside Baraboo.
They are close to getting CNW R-1 4-6-0 1385 back in steam.
https://www.midcontinent.org/
You can also see the Kewaunee, Green Bay & Western 2-8-0 49 there.
The Mid-Continent Railway Museum, that's the one I was thinking of.
By the way, did you know David P. Morgan once ran 1385? He was at the museum as a guest for one of their celebrations and invited aboard the locomotive and told he could run it if he so desired.
He did! And like a pro! I got that from an issue of the late, lamented "Locomotive and Railway Preservation" magazine back in the 90's.
Here is 1385 in 1963 on the site of the future Mid-Continent Railway Museum grounds.
Scroll down
https://www.midcontinent.org/about-us/mid-continent-timeline/
They have a great collection.
Penny Trains They have a great collection.
Oh yeah, Mid-Continent's definately on "The Bucket List!"
I found some nice video from 1998 of 1385 in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA9IW2a5fm8
Let's hope its return to the "land of the living" isn't delayed.
I read they were planning to open up their train shed as an addition to the museum. Though it's been years since I heard any updates. That would be cool to see all the old circus train equipment as static displays though, especially now that they have 3 more cars.
I had the pleasure of seeing the circus train in action a handful of times when I was little.
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
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