Friday, October 26, 2012

Two Buses Donated To The Museum

The MBT is pleased to announce we have taken delivery of two buses that have been donated to us by Ralph Ciccone. We now have in our fleet a 1951 Brill that was we understand was originally a school bus in Reading PA and was later converted to a transit bus. We hope to have it restored to it's original school bus configuration.


Mr. Ciccone also donated a 1952 Beaver, which originally was a demonstrator, then was sold to Holloway Bus Lines in New Jersey. It was later sold to Leonard Lines before being acquired by Mr. Ciccone.
These buses were delivered to us on Thursday. Both of these buses are currently in the museum parking lot along with the buses evacuated from the annex. We'll have pictures of these buses to share with you soon.
A big thank you to Ralph Ciccone for his donation of these two interesting and rare buses to the MBT.

Buses Evacuated From Annex Today

With Hurricane Sandy threatening the East Coast and with many of the forecasts calling for the storm to make landfall somewhere between Delaware & New England, a decision was made to evacuate the buses stored at the annex today. Ken McNelis and Tom Mozer drove the buses that could be moved from the annex to the museum parking lot. Tom Collins assisted as the chase driver. Mark Watson happened to stop by, unaware that the evacuation was taking place. Mark took Tom Collins' place so Tom could go to the museum to finish the last minute preparations for tomorrow's annual meeting. A handful of buses are still at the annex as of the time of this posting. The Long Beach RTS and the Michaud GM "Little Spike" would not start and the Peter Pan MC-5 needs a jump start. Ed Wolf will assist Ken & Tom Mozer tomorrow after the meeting to get those buses started and moved. Worst case scenario if they can't be started: Ed will pull them into the annex garage. The CAT Fishbowl (air bags) and SEPTA Volvo (engine) cannot be moved and unfortunetly are stuck outside the annex. The Richmond AM General is also outside, but has been sold for scrap and will be removed from the annex property soon. Mark, Ken & Tom Mozer also moved various tools, battery chargers and other items to the highest points possible inside the annex, and after tomorrow's efforts to move the remaining buses, the annex will be secured as we keep our fingers crossed and pray that the storm does not inflict any serious damage or flooding such as was seen last year. Thank You to Ken, Tom, Tom & Mark for your help today

Thursday, October 25, 2012

It's Almost Annual Meeting Day

We're getting ready to welcome those who will be attending the MBT annual meeting this Saturday. A full day is planned, mixing business with fun. We are also looking forward to welcoming Maureen Leo from Lakeland Bus Lines and her presentation on their operation. A reminder that coffee & danish will be served from 8:30-10:00AM followed by Maureen Leo's presentation. After a brief pause for the raffles, the annual MBT business meeting will take place, followed by a buffet lunch and the afternoon bus fan tour on one of Lakeland's new MCI coaches. For those who will not be taking the bus tour, the annex will be open, however no transportation will be provided, you may drive your own vehicle to the annex. The detailed schedule for this Saturday is listed in a previous post.

For those who are attending, we can't wait to see you and safe travel to all.