Sideshow G-Gauge Train

 

I have long been a fan of your incredible site.  My interest in all-things-sideshow began when I was just a kid when my parents took me to the Louisiana State Fair 10-in-1 for many years.  Much later I ran a big haunted attraction on the fairgrounds during the State Fair, and I was privileged enough to actually see and meet some of the great performers in the shows -- Popeye, the Viking Giant, Bob Melvin, and many many more.

 

I've also always wanted a g-gauge train set.  So recently I ordered a cute & colorful circus train from a catalogue, and have proceeded to transform it into a 1932 train which transports a remarkable but very well-worn and road-weary series if sideshows across the Midwest and the west.  I'm not finished with the entire train as yet, but I thought you and your readers might enjoy seeing a few of the cars thus far.

 

This train is not intended to be any sort of historical piece -- merely an entertaining creative piece.  Though some of the references on the cars are based on actual performers and shows, some were inspired by actual shows which I have embellished -- and, frankly, I simply made some of them up. 

 

Drew Edward Hunter

 

 

 

 

 

This first car contains -- or, rather, did contain --the most astonishing arachnid attraction ever.  If the door was intact, it would read "Giant Spider -- Killer of the Amazon".  As you see, the behemoth spider has escaped, breaking out of the door and scrambling over the top of the boxcar.  (On this, as on all the cars, are remarkable details that these few photos do not do justice.) 

 

 

 

 

 

The reverse side of the same car.  On a few of the cars, I thought that the owners of the sideshow might make good use of their banners by strapping them on the sides of the cars as they traveled cross-country, to advertise their many wonders.

 

 

 

 

 

Another car advertises the "Girl Into Gorilla" show.  The tent poles are lashed to the top of the car, as are some trunks and crates. Below the poster to the right is some scrawled graffiti which reads -- "dirty slimy freaks" -- a dark reference to Tod Browning's classic film.

 

 

 

 

 

If you look in the doorway on the reverse side of the car, you'll see an ape peering out.  Could it be that somebody is trying out the gorilla outfit --- or, could it be that the devolution process has finally......?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remain convinced that somewhere in this world is the last living dinosaur.  Until such time as it is discovered, this traveling sideshow will have to present their version of it.  Thus, "Dragundagon, the Last Living Thunder Lizard" stands in his battered and rusting cage atop the flatbed.  Note his food and water in front of him, and an "actual & authentic" Styracosaursus skull chained to the car behind him.

 

 

 

 

 

As far as the caboose goes --- any surface for advertising will do! But -- what is inside -- and why are the windows boarded up???

 

 

 

A Few Details for your Amusement...

 

 

The reverse side of the caboose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A note about the sign atop the dino's cage:  The "Dr. Blood" is in reference to a haunted attraction host character I created back in 1975 and performed until 2000 or so.  At that time I was president of a summer melodrama theater located in an old exhibit building on the Louisiana State Fairgrounds.  For the fair each year I designed and directed a very theatrical and popular attraction inside the building titled (the first year) "Dr. Blood's Exposition of Terror".  Each year the title and theme changed, except for the good doctor's name.  I did this for eleven years, then moved (with the Doc) to Dallas.  Dr. Blood hosted a huge Halloween event for seven years at the big wax museum in between Dallas and Fort Worth, and later for a few years at Six Flags Over Texas for their Fright Fest. The Doc has been "on ice" since 2000, but this sideshow train is going to mark his revival! 

 

 

 

Photographs courtesy of Drew Edward Hunter © copyright 2008 all rights reserved

 


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