I can't run at all and besides, I only attack vegetation with chainsaws. One last one for tonight. Center right is an I-H crew truck, in the woods we called them "crummies", I don't know why.
I go way back with buses, I got my Class A DL when I was 18, courtesy of the State of California's Division of Forestry. I started out with the old, nasty green, 1960 I-H crewbuses. At another station the had '64 GMCs with some sort of big V6 with the usual 5X2 trans/axle set-up, but with that dreadful vacuum axle shifter. Well it was marginally better than the cable that Dodge used at that same time. Nothing beats an Eaton electric. Several years later I drove city transit in Reno, NV, they used the GMC RTS-IIs mainly, with a few old RTS-Is leftover. I really liked those GMCs, which was good because I drove them up by Seattle too. I made 4 or 5 trips a day from Snohomish Co (Everett) into downtown Seattle. RTS coaches are tough, I tested the front bumper on a few makes and models of cars, mostly at freeway speed, cars lose badly. We also had Gillig Phantoms, a big square box with plenty of rear-end swing or "whaletail" as we called it. Good for smearing the side of a car that tucked in too close on the left as you made a street corner. I dabbled with flex buses, but not too much. My last bus driving job was plowing up and US 101, between Eureka and Santa Rosa, a 438 mile round trip. I drove all kinds of coaches, Neoplans, MCIs, Eagles, GMCs..... That was the winter of 1994/95, a flood year, I went to bed every night and dreamed of roaring rivers, mud and rock slides.
3rd year as a county school bus driver here. The first bus I had assigned to me after driving most all types the county had on a spot basis , was a 1992 Amtran Genesis. IH powered front engined snub nose with Allison automatic. Easy to drive once you adjusted to steering characteristics, they would turn tight. Great bus, you can see it in my gallery. I called it the SpaceBus since it also had an extra row of seating(72 pass) over a conventional. Driving a 1998 Carpenter Crown this year, conventional, 65 pass, still IH turbo 6 with an Allison. Our buses are old but no rust/rot issues in GA, and they are very well maintained. One of our techs just finished up 2nd in country wide competition last month in NC. http://www.times-herald.com/local/20121013-BusTech-MOS
There you have it ladies and gentlemen. Not only vintage bus pictures, but also vintage bus drivers. Only on the station wagon forums.
My dad was a school bus driver when we lived out west. He got 2nd place in a bus rodeo. I have his award plaque. I like buses.
Several years ago at a small nearby town circle track they were having figure eight races using old school buses. Somehow one of the drivers got killed while racing and crashing while driving the old school bus. Several other deadly school bus accidents killing a number of students has also happened not far away. Just a week ago a school bus rear ended a flat bed one ton pickup slowing to turn right and shoved the flatbed into the cab of the truck. Signal light on truck was still on according to witnesses. All in broad daylight on straight sections of highways. I'd rather see more pictures of old busses.
The Rodeo my dad was a part of was NOT to do tricks so much as a way to see how safe a of a driver you are by having you maneuver a bus in tight situations as safely and as fast as possible.
That's the kind of buses our school system used. I used to have to sit in the back. They'd drop off us kids then go out back to pump the outhouses. By the time school was out they'd be empty and sorta cleaned out.
