Sunday, January 31, 2010

Are you on our mailing list? Did you get the email I sent out this week about the new exhibit? If not, please email me your current email address and I'll add you to our list. Our email is: thebusmuseum@yahoo.com.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Due to the prediction of some wintry weather for today--we went ahead Thursday and set up the Buses of the Negro Leagues Exhibit--so if you are out and about this weekend and want a sneak preview--please stop by the Museum.

Join us for Community Weekend! The AACA Museum is offering a special admission price of just $5.00 per person to enjoy the Museum on Saturday, January 30th or Sunday, January 31st!

Friday, January 29, 2010

16 Museum of Bus Transportation volunteers contributed 1,307 hours in 2009! (A new record, since 2008 was 1,053!) THANK YOU to ALL our volunteers--without all of you, we could not exist!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Here's some interesting information about School Buses:

The Type A school bus consists of a bus body constructed upon a cutaway front-section vehicle with a left side driver's door, designed for carrying more than 10 persons. This definition includes two classifications: Type A-I, with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 10,000 pounds or less, and a Type A-2, with a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or more. Type A school buses meet all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for school buses.

The Type B school bus consists of a bus body constructed and installed upon a front-section vehicle chassis, or stripped chassis, with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds, designed for carrying more than 10 persons. Part of the engine is beneath and/or behind the windshield and beside the drivr's seat. The entrance door is behind the front wheels. Type B school buses meet all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for school buses.

The Type C school bus, also known as a "conventional," is a body installed upon a flat-back cowl chassis with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds, designed for carrying more than 10 persons. All of the engine is in front of the windshield and the entrance door is behind the front wheels. Type C school buses meet all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for school buses.

The Type D school bus, also known as a transit-style, is a body installed upon a chassis, with the engine mounted in the front, midship, or rear with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds, and designed for carrying more than 10 persons. The engine may be behind the windshield and beside the driver's seat; it may be at the rear of the bus, behind the rear wheels; or midship between the front and rear axles. The entrance door is ahead of the front wheels.Type D school buses meet all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for school buses. Type D buses are referred to as FE--Engine in the front, or RE--Engine in the rear.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

This Ford Model TT was the original courtesy bus for QANTAS Airlines of Australia at their headquarters in Longreach.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Here's another restored school bus from the West Coast: 1955 Gillig Short Bus On Ford B500 Chassis. Its on a Ford B-500 frame built late in 55 so it has a 56 front grill, its still all original and runs great.

Monday, January 25, 2010

A 1940 Chevrolet School Bus has been restored by Steve Bobst of Saint Charles, IA....wish I rode to school in something like this!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

We are excited about our exhibit coming up for Black History Month--Buses of the Negro League Baseball Teams.

Yesterday, we had the delightful experience of meeting Mr. Willie Fordham, a spry 82 year old former player for the Harrisburg Giants. He has agreed to display his memorabilia at the Museum and visit with the public and talk about his days in the Negro League. He will be there Mon-Fri of the four weeks in February -- so don't miss this great opportunity to meet Mr. Fordham!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

An eight-foot-tall bronze statue of a jolly Jackie Gleason stands in front of Manhattan's midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal. Jackie, clad in his Honeymooner's bus driver's uniform, clutching his lunch pail, wears a satisfied expression as he looks out over the mostly indifferent passers-by on New York's Eighth Avenue (I don't know who the lady in pink is, however).

Cable television's TV Land funded the statue in cooperation with Gleason's estate and the Port Authority.

While it's hard not to like the character of Ralph Kramden, it's equally hard TO like the spot where his statue has been placed. Gleason's dark bronze features are nearly invisible, in perpetual shadow under an overhang and the never-ending crowds here ensure that someone is almost always pushing themselves between you and Ralph. We’re not used to this interference, having enjoyed Ralph from across the clear, calm expanse of our TV room. Just where he belongs.

The plaque reads:
Jackie Gleason as Ralph KramdenBus Driver - Raccoon Lodge Treasurer - DreamerPresented by the People of TV Land

Ralph Kramden Statue
Address: 8th Avenue, New York, NY
Directions: On the west side of Eighth Avenue, midway between 40th and 41st Streets, in front of The Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Admission: Free.
Hours: Always visible.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Well--we are 1/3 through WINTER - I always love this time of the year when the days start to get longer.....so thinking ahead to summer....here's another quirky bus stop from Japan.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

As a perk of Membership, we offer free admission to the Museum for the member who shows their card--last year 106 members took advantage of that perk! Were you one of them? If not, plan on visiting your Museum in 2010!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Less than 5 months until our SPRING FLING - June 4-5, 2010 - have you made up your mind to attend? Have you made your hotel reservation yet? Don't be left out--the SPRING FLING is our biggest event of the year! It is never too early to start planning.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

As a follow-up to my post:

Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Sunday is the opening of the new movie "The Lovely Bones" starting Susan Sarandan and Mark Walberg. Watch for our very own 1964 GMC 4106 bus in the movie.

Unfortunately, the bus wound up on the editing room floor!

Monday, January 18, 2010

More on the Golden Eagle:

There were no more Golden Eagles until 1969, when 50 Model 05's were built. The last group of 11 were built in 1971 without the Golden Aluminum. They used the Silver Aluminum and painted it gold. Overall, there were about 150 Golden Eagles built from 1956 to 1971.

5-Star Service was terminated several years later. The Interstate Commerce Commission and Regulatory Agencies had kept the fare surcharge so low in most cases that Continental could not recover the extra cost of the 5-Star Service even when the buses were full.

Our Golden Eagle was purchased new by CONTINENTAL PANHANDLE LINES, INC. in 1971 and was used as an extra in the Trailways pool and in charter service out of the Amarillo, TX, area. This was the last Golden Eagle in revenue service and operated until 2001, when it was donated to us by the late Richard Allison.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Some info about our Golden Eagle: The original Golden Eagle was built in Germany by Kassbohreer and was powered with a M.A.N. D-8 Model D1648MTH Diesel Engine turbo-charged and aftercooled. The gear box on the prototype was a 6-speed, ZF Media 6M-75. The production models that followed had a 5-speed gear box of the same preselector type. The production buses were built in 1967 and were 40' in length and of a hi-level design. A total of 51 Golden Eagles (name derived from the gold-colored aluminum siding and eagle insignia) were built in the 40' length.

A new Bus and Car plant in Belgium was the manufacturing arm of Continental and started turning out Silver Eagles late 1962 and in 1963, 31 Golden Eagles were built and 13 more in 1964. These were known as Model 01 powered by a Detroit Diesel 8V71 and used a Spicer 4-speed transmission,

More on this story tomorrow.....

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Pittsburgh Crawfords – Pittsburgh, PA - The cornerstone of Gus Greenlee's new Negro National League in 1933, the Crawfords fielded some of the strongest lineups in baseball history during the 1930s. The East team roster of the 1933 East-West All-Star game looked very much like the everyday Crawfords lineup, featuring no fewer than five future Hall-Of-Famers including Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and Judy Johnson.

Owned by Pittsburgh gambling and numbers racketeer Gus Greenlee, the Crawfords was the best financed team in black baseball during its early years. Revenue generated from his "business" operations allowed Greenlee to sign black baseball's biggest names. It also enabled him to build his own ballpark, Gus Greenlee Field, in Pittsburgh's Hill District.

We will have a special display with Josh Gibson on the floor--don't miss it!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Birmingham Black Barons – Birmingham, AL - Among the most long lived teams in black baseball, the Black Barons had developed during the late 1910s from the robust industrial baseball leagues in Birmingham. Playing first as independents, then as members of the Southern circuit, the team became the first Southern entry in the Negro National League in 1924. In 1937 the club became a charter franchise in the Negro American League.

Featuring such talent as Piper Davis, Ed Steele and Artie Wilson the Black Barons captured Negro National League pennants in 1943, 1944 and 1949.

The Black Barons played their home games at Birmingham's Rickwood Field from 1924 forward, sharing the facility with their white Southern Association counterparts, the Birmingham Barons. When integration came to organized baseball the Black Barons made several contributions of top talent, most notable among them a young Willie Mays

Thursday, January 14, 2010

We have been so pleased with the networking that we have done for our Black History Month display. We want to thank both the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, MO, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY.

Here's one of the posters we will have on display--photos from the Museums.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Black history month is celebrated in February of every year. In past years, we have talked to people about Rosa Parks and the bus that she road on.

This year, we have taken a 180 degree turn and decided to concentrate our display on the Buses of the Negro League Baseball Teams. We hope to encourage both people interested in Black History as well as Baseball to visit our display.

Decades before Jackie Robinson crossed the infamous color barrier in Major League Baseball, black baseball players were making names for themselves on the diamond in another way. African Americans had been playing the game of baseball since the mid to late 1800’s, forming teams after the Civil War days and traveling on their own around the country to play anybody that would challenge them.

It was not until 1920 that a meeting was held between owners of these independent teams that the Negro National League was formed. The first organized Negro league consisted of teams from the Midwest. With the organization of the league came more upstart leagues along the east cost, and in the south. The game of baseball was quickly spreading to communities in more urban and rural regions. Sometimes they rode all night on the bus to get to the next town for another game….stopping in places that were segregated—they often bought their food at the back door of the restaurant and ate on the bus.

Although we don't have any of the actual buses--we have several similar buses and lots of photographs of the teams with their buses. Please try to visit the Museum during the month of February to see this exciting new display.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Bellair Charters has donated a motorcoach to the Museum of Bus Transportation. The vehicle is a 1977 MCI MC-5, Fleet Number 352, Serial Number S-12886 and was an important member of the Bellair Charters / Airporter Shuttle fleet for many years. “This bus has logged well over a million miles in its time,” says Bellair president Richard Johnson. “We’re very happy to give it a permanent home at the Museum.”

It is our understanding that this was formerly a Yellowstone NTL park bus. It is currently on its way to the Museum from the state of Washington.

Monday, January 11, 2010

As we start another week with most of the nation in a deep freeze, I wanted to share a picture with you that was in our local newspaper. This was taken in Elkhorn, Nebraska.

Sunday, January 10, 2009

I know I have been giving you little bits and pieces about our Black History Month exhibit: Buses of the Negro Leagues--we are very excited about this, have done a lot of research on it and we will have tons of pictures to share with you. Here's some info about one of the Pennsylvania teams.

Pittsburgh Crawfords – Pittsburgh, PA - The cornerstone of Gus Greenlee's new Negro National League in 1933, the Crawfords fielded some of the strongest lineups in baseball history during the 1930s. The East team roster of the 1933 East-West All-Star game looked very much like the everyday Crawfords lineup, featuring no fewer than five future Hall-Of-Famers including Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and Judy Johnson.

Owned by Pittsburgh gambling and numbers racketeer Gus Greenlee, the Crawfords was the nest financed team in black baseball during its early years. Revenue generated from his "business" operations allowed Greenlee to sign black baseball's biggest names. It also enabled him to build his own ballpark, Gus Greenlee Field, in Pittsburgh's Hill District.

Saturday, January 9, 2009

Have you been to our Gift Shop lately? The Museum is open again starting today after having done maintenance work on the floors....so now would be a great time to visit the Museum AND the Gift Shop.

Friday, January 8, 2009

Our beloved Red-White-Blue bus, aka the Patriot, came with a long history of use by the Republican National Committee in Washington, DC. Here is a picture of it in use and also one how it looks today at our Museum (all decked out for the Spring Fling).

Thursday, January 7, 2009

We have been doing a lot of research in preparation for our Black History Month exhibit: Buses of the Negro Leagues. One of the buses that was identified was a BECK....here is a similar bus to one that was used by the teams.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Sunday is the opening of the new movie "The Lovely Bones" starting Susan Sarandan and Mark Walberg. Watch for our very own 1964 GMC 4106 bus in the movie!

Tuesday, January 5, 2009

Searching around on the internet--you can find some interesting things. Here's a photo of two old (yikes, I hate to say old when something is from the 50s or 60s--that must mean I am OLD too!).....Greyhound Luggage Tags.

Monday, January 4, 2010

As you all know, the Museum is closed this week due to some well-needed floor maintenance which is certainly very difficult to accomplish when there are visitors. If you haven't been to the Museum in a while--2010 will be an exciting year to visit.

The AACA side of the Museum (auto) has redone many of its vignettes and murals--and they are GORGEOUS.

In February, the MBT side (bus) will have a display on "Buses of the Negro Leagues" for Black History Month.....we have done a lot of research and are very excited about this interesting exhibit. There will be lots of pictures and history on the Negro Leagues--you won't want to miss it--but it is for one month only--FEBRUARY--so plan your trip now!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

REMEMBER - the Museum is closed until January 9, 2010, for some much needed floor painting. Thanks for being patient with us during this temporary closing of our doors.

Friday, January 1, 2010

A new year - a new beginning....hoping you had a safe New Year's eve? I think many of us were probably looking at the inside of our eyelids as the new year entered our lives.

Look at this gorgeous "bus stop" at Yosemite Falls--wow, wouldn't you like to be there right now looking at that view??? Well probably, it is covered in snow this time of the year--but we can dream.