There is a better image of a c1910 Ringling elephant car with a handler dormitory space on page 56 of Trains of the Circus 1872-1956, page 56. In addition to the man door, it has been augmented with multiple windows at nominal eye level and ventilation ports at the roof line.
Further information has been discovered about the 1902 Ringling elephant cars and a mishap involving them. While the train section including them passed from the August 16 engagement at North Yakima, WA, to Portland, OR, for the August 18-19 engagement, the elephant cars were derailed and overturned. This Sunday run accident took place in the bay-side railroad yard at Tacoma, WA. A few of the handlers were injured, but there were no losses of employees or animals. This knowledge was gained from the Yakima Herald of August 19, 1902.
A person with a camera was traveling with the show and photographed the damage to one of the cars on August 17. It had damage to both the roof, which was partially torn off, and especially the sheathed sidewall construction. The latter had several splits and the truss framing was damaged to the extent that the sidewall bowed out at the doors, and in and out at other locations.
As commonly happened, the car was set out in a yard for repairs and apparently the work was accomplished with some speed. Another view was labeled "Picked up ___," the date or other information obliterated. The Helena image of the elephant cars was made on September 3, just sixteen days later. No remnant of the destruction can be seen. Railroads were adept at repairing wooden cars, a much easier proposition that steel-framed vehicles. If the railroad was negligent in causing the derailment and damage, they also bore the cost of the repairs.
No numbers can be discerned on the Ringling elephant cars, so specific identification is impossible. At best, the photographed car was one of the three shorter cars, with three vents below the roof line, and lacked the telltale man door identifying it as the dormitory vehicle.
