School bus

It was one of those timeless scenes: I had to stop for the red flashing lights of a school bus. The mother was holding the hands of her two youngsters until the bus driver motioned for them to board. Once seated, the mom waved heartily at her children, and the bus pulled away. Maybe it was thanking me for following the law, and stopping for the school bus...no, I think she knew my own mother couldn't properly send me off to work this morning; she waved vigorously at me before turning and walking up her driveway.

Bret, I drove a school bus one year. I was working 9:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. at the Post Office, so when I'd get off work there, I'd go make the morning bus run, go home and hit the sack, then get up and make the afternoon bus run. And almost everyone back then stopped for the school bus loading and unloading. Of course, a few things have changed, since that was about 47 years ago. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

Bird, How hard was that old school bus to hand crank in the winter?

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

It was almost as hard to crank as the old John Deere L. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] The first half of the year, I drove morning and evening and had the oldest bus in the fleet; a 1952 International, but the second half of the year, I only drove an afternoon route and had the newest bus in the fleet; a 1957 International. They called them 72 passenger busses, but of course that was with 3 little kids in each seat. And of course back then I hauled all 12 grades together; not like modern times for sure.

Was that 52 blessed with a two pole six volt starter?

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I'm gettin' old, Egon. You know I can't remember whether it was a 6 volt or 12 volt. But I DO remember when it died one evening about halfway through my route and wouldn't restart. That was when I found that the battery was mounted directly on the frame and there was no tie down bracket at all. I don't know how long it had been that way, but the battery had bounced around until a cable got against metal and welded itself to the metal. I jerked real hard and jerked it loose, and then it started. Another evening I made a stop and when I started to go again, it killed the engine. It would start and idle, but would not pull itself in the bottom gear to move at all. The school had an old military duece and a half that the guy came to pull me in. Then to get into the shop, he had to push me down the street fast enough that when he stopped, I could turn up a steep driveway into the shop building and then stop without going through the back. With no power steering or power brakes, that was plenty exciting. It took nearly all my strength to make the turn, then had to stand up on the brake pedal and pull as hard as I could on the steering wheel to get it stopped.

And I love all the mirrors they have on modern school busses. I had the one inside rear view mirror over the center of the windshield and a single side view mirror on the left side; no other mirrors at all. That certainly made it interesting when I took a bus load of kids to the State Fair in Dallas traffic. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Bird, I guess I probably never rode in those buses. I was in grade school in or near LIma, Ohio those years but our school system used SUPERIOR buses. My grade school class took a field trip to a bus factory where we saw a demonstration of how if you corrugate a dollar bill you can hold a 50 cent piece up with it. This was to show why the sides of the bus had corrugated panels.

My all time favorite bus driver story was when a seargent I worked with at Minot AFB got a part time job as a driver. He said the cutest little angelic first grade girl in curls you would ever hope to see always called him Jimmy. She gets on the bus one morning and says, "Jimmy, want a hertz donut?" He says sure sweetie and she power punches him in the solar plexus temporarily taking his breath. The little angel says, " HURTS DON'T IT!"

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Pat, of course I've seen Superior busses, but I think the best known brands back then, in this area, were Bluebird and Thomas. I rode a school bus my grade school and junior high days at Ardmore and Healdton. And I drove the bus at Plano, TX. Of course they were all gasoline powered, manual transmissions back then. I guess everything now is diesel and automatic.

It's neat to hear that such a simple thing was so appreciated. I think that if more people were more thoughtful throughout the day with gestures as simple as a kind wave, opening the door, or saying thank you, we would live in a much better world. It makes everyone feel better. :)