This occurred less then two months after I left the show in 1994. My car(which was Charly Baumanns old car) is the second one up from the bottom on it's side. Adam and Eric used to ride the train, from city to city while I drove my car. Every day I think how lucky we were that we were not on the show that year. In the 7 years I was with the show, we had 4 very minor derailments(wheels off the track, etc.), but this was the worst. 1992-1993 was a shit tour anyway, with Axel Gautier getting killed by an elephant, NMotion, the singing group, who was the feature of the show was let go, after the first year, as they hadn't worked out, and then this happened at the start of 1994.
A Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus train derailed yesterday on a foggy stretch of track a mile east of Lakeland, Fla., killing a nationally known elephant trainer and a clown and injuring 15 people.
The Polk County Sheriff's Department said the cause of the derailment was unknown and is under investigation. The 53-car train, which derailed at 9:15 A.M., carried 200 performers and circus workers as well as 60 animals in the circus's Blue Unit, one of two Ringling shows that travel across the country in circus trains.
"It's Ringling's most serious train accident in more than 100 years," said a circus spokeswoman, Laura FitzGerald. The train was traveling 35 miles an hour, she said, adding that she did not know if fog had contributed to the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.Ms. FitzGerald identified the dead trainer as Theodore Svertesky, 39, of Bridgeport, Conn. A leading elephant trainer who headed the Ringling Elephant Farm, a research and breeding facility in Williston, Fla., Mr. Svertesky also performed in the center ring. He presented the Blue Show's headline attractions, Romeo and Juliet, 1-year-old Asian elephants who were making their debut with the show.
Officials said Ceslee Conkling, 28, of Fort Worth, Tex., a clown who performed in the show, was also killed. Animals Are Unharmed
Among the performers injured were a clown, a member of the band, two dancers and four members of a Chinese acrobatic troupe. All were treated for minor injuries at Lakeland Regional Medical Center and released.
No animals were in the 17 cars that derailed, and none was injured. After the accident, two members of a television news crew from Orlando were injured when their helicopter crashed behind a nearby high school.
The derailment occurred at a crossing at the intersection of State Route 92 and Fish Hatchery Road as the train traveled from St. Petersburg to an engagement in Orlando on Friday.
Ms. FitzGerald said it had not yet been decided whether the Friday performance in Orlando would be held. The show is scheduled to work its way north, traveling from city to city until its official world premiere in Madison Square Garden on March 24.
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Between the time the Barnum show went on the rails in the 1870s and the Hagenbeck Wallace train wreck in 1918 the number of accidents and deaths associated with circus trains was enormous. Some shows derailed five or more times in one season. There were few standards and circuses were slow to adapt the better braking systems of system cars. When I was kid we would ride on the Strates train, and it always seemed like great fun. But when something goes wrong on a train the consequences are terrible.
Wade, you and your family were truly fortunate that you were not on the show that year. No wonder you think about it every day. Those cars are scattered like matchsticks.
Mary Ann
Often the engineers of the trains didn't make any distinction between pulling freight and pulling people and animals.
While the train is owned by "the" company, engineers come with ownership of the rails.
Adaline,
You have been "jostled" a time or two, I take it. LOL The tight, tight schedule they were often on, sometimes necessitated, not justified, but necessitated the urgency sometimes undertaken. The first night I spent on the train, they coupled the two strings together at 3:00 am, and I got thrown out of bed and on to the floor. I jumped up, looked at my "companion" with awe and would have fallen in love, if she hadn't informed me it was just the train getting ready to leave, and it happened all the time.
Wade
P.S. You have to admit some of the train sleep overs were memorable, Adaline(talk about your strange bedfellows!!!0. I'll bet they are what encouraged you to seek the ministry when you left it. LOL
The years i was with the Ringling show red and blue we had 2 serious derailment first one was in the red unit in Harrisburg Pa. we were hit by a train loaded with cement the year was in 77 or 78 fortunaly no one was killed but clown car was hit hard and second was with Buckles in the blue unit when the bull cars were derail outside of a small up state N Y town name Salamanca we were on the way to Lexington KY.again fortunaly no one was kill but yours truly was kind of shocked up by a male elephant in the middle of the confusion . i am sure Buckles and crew may rember that day or week .. we had the males and Ana Mae . males were Major and Vence and the rest of that bunch . no animals were hurt just myself but most of all had the shit scared out of me and my first time that i tasted dirt . CleanRaul.
Clean Raul,
If you are like the rest of us, you enjoyed that first dirt sandwich so much, you ate a number of them over the years. LOL Contact me at wburck3@aol.com, I need to ask you a question.
Wade
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