SPRING HOPE, N.C. — Several former Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus railcars now owned by the state of North Carolina have been badly damaged or destroyed in a fire.
WRAL-TV reports the cars, stored on an isolated rail line just outside the city limits of the community of Spring Hope, caught fire this morning (Thursday, March 10), with at least four of the cars on fire and badly damaged as of 8 a.m. EST.
The state’s Department of Transportation bought nine of the Ringling cars after the circus shut down in 2017, intending to rebuild them to expand the car fleet for the state-supported Piedmont passenger service between Raleigh and Charlotte, which uses state-owned equipment. But the state subsequently ordered new equipment for the Piedmonts, and placed the Ringling Bros. cars and several others in an auction for surplus equipment [see “Digest: Stimulus bill will make short line tax credit permanent,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 22, 2020]. No one bought the cars during that auction [see “Digest: NS to furlough 17 …,” News Wire, Jan. 9, 2021].
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Sounds like somebody wanted to get rid of the surplus a little faster. Shame they didn’t secure these cars in a better place.
They were up the Creek without a paddle or “lightning” arrestors.
Google Earth shows them parked over Bear Branch Creek east of Spring Hope. There is a lumber transload spur just east of the cars. The cars were parked on top of a former industrial siding switch. The siding is still there but the factory using it is long gone.
Some of the former Ringland Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus cars were original streamlined equipment of the 1938 edition of ‘The Twentieth Century Limited’, ‘The Broadway Limited’ and ‘The Super Chief’. They had historic value.
“But the state subsequently ordered new equipment for the Piedmonts…” Order from who and how many?
One has to wonder why these cars weren’t kept at the NC DOT yard and maintenance facility in Raleigh. They would be in a secure location there. Looking at a map, Spring Hope is on a dead end on a line from Rocky Mount. Or maybe donated to the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer.
My guess is an urban explorer sat down for a quick smoke and flicked his butt into another seat. A few minutes/hours later, flames started rolling.