QUICK FACTS

Model: dormitory car
Built: 1953
Builder: ACF Industries, Berwick, PA
Past Railroad Owners: Union Pacific, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Current Owner: TOYX, Inc.

Dormitory car No. 1703 was built in 1953 by ACF Industries as Union Pacific 44-seat coach No. 5459. It saw service across the Union Pacific system until it was sold to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1972 and reconfigured to 14 single bedrooms. The car was extensively rebuilt, with all of the exterior steel “skin” replaced with aluminum to prevent rust. The car carried a series of Ringling numbers depending on its location in the train. By 1979, it was numbered RB No. 51, becoming RBX No. 51 by 1984. By 1987, it was renumbered RBX No. 50, and it was also numbered RBX No. 48 for a time. The car became RBBX No. 40006 in 1995 and was operated on the Blue Unit train until the retirement of the entire Ringling Brothers railcar fleet in 2016. The No. 40006 was donated in 2017 and was transported to Scranton, Pennsylvania. The car was moved to Port Jervis, NY on April 21, 2022 and was renumbered as TOYX No. 1703 in June 2025.

Plans for this car are still being formulated.