CIRCUS TIME: Random Circus Photo

Here we have an animal cage wagon from an unknown maker posed in front of the repo Coca-Cola circus tent. The horses are just posed next to the yoke, they're not attached by reins or anything - makes life easier when taking these photos :-)

There are soooo many circus photos in the queue for blogging it's hard to know where to start.  Posting the K-Line wagons from the '90s as well as at least one 'tent' got us going but there is one little drawback. I love circuses and I have tents and wagons, and trains, and stuff. What I don't have is the room to set up a permanent display. That means that anything I do will be temporary - which entails clearing out space, setting up a display, taking pics, and tearing it all down again to make room for the next set-up. Okay, it'll take time so if you're a circus fan, be patient while I attempt to get it all done. Enjoy! Opa Fritz 

CIRCUS TIME: Mystery Bear Cage Wagon - Green sides, gold scroll work, white roof, ends, and under carriage and green wheels - and Why Didn't K-Line Make one?

The tooling for the plastic wagons from K-Line I've been posting first appeared in the 1950's (or maybe it was the '60s - I haven't figured out exactly when yet) - and as stated in a previous post, K-Line did not carry forward the original designations. The wagon shown below - posted just a few days ago - was originally called a Lion Cage Wagon but K-Line just called it an Animal Wagon. To confuse matters more, in circus parlance it's simply a 'cage wagon'.

K-Line KUN-6900-03 Animal Wagon

To make matters worse (or fun depending on your outlook) there have been multiple players over the years. My guess is the absolute very first offerings were by Betty Schmid Circusiana. Then they were offered by Circus World Models, Big Top Models, then K-Line, and most recently Gem City Amusements. Mind you, it's absolutely wonderful that these have survived in the marketplace for so long when so many other circus wagon manufacturers have faded out, but it is tricky coming up with a timeline.

Which brings me to the main subject of the post: the Bear Cage Wagon. As much as I've tried, I cannot find where K-Line ever offered this piece, but it's among the six original plastic wagon designs dating from the '50s/'60s. The one posted here I know was offered as a Bear Cage Wagon from original boxes/packaging I have for other color variations. However, the wagon shown below didn't come with its original packaging so I cannot ascribe it to a particular brand. You'll notice that this wagon is a bit shorter and there are two bears inside of it. These older kits included either bears or lions which came as two-piece plastic kits, while K-Line omitted the animals from its kits. Enjoy! Opa Fritz