Woody Massara, Supt. Air Brake Systems for Ringling Brothers sent the following e-mails regarding number 5443:

1/18/04 Just a note to your passenger roster, ARR coach 5443 was sold to Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey and is stored in Palmetto, Florida for possible rebuild. Its new number is RBBX 42023. If you have a mail address, I believe I have some pix of the car as it now is.

2/15/04 It's hard to tell when the body will go into service. We just picked up two stainless steel bodies from MARC--former Prr p-85L lounge cars that are going into this years production, along with two former Metro North cars (we bought a group of 10). The Metro North cars have been sandblasted and gutted, so are farther along than the ARR car. My guess is another two or three years before it gets its' turn--most of what we have coming off the road will be scrapped.

2/22/04 Here are the photos I promised of ARR 5443. They were taken in Palmetto, Florida at the Ringling Brothers. Opr shop in July 2003. The car has since been detrucked and is on stands.

8/21/06 No change in its status--The car body is in poor shape and appears to have been sideswiped at some time in the past, so I suspect that the body will probably end up being scrapped.  The real value item was the trucks which we will rebuild and rotate into our fleet.