Entries by Ray Piesciuk

According to the calendar, the Bus Stop Shop is scheduled to open on Bus Day, September 29.  To say "thank you" to everyone for their patience over Labor Day weekend, the Bus Stop Shop will be open throughout Showcase Weekend, September 15-16!!!  This will be the largest Bus Stop Shop ever, giving you the opportunity to purchase surplus items from the Museum's collection.  Stop by the Andersen Trolley Bus Garage from 10:00am - 4:00pm on Saturday 09/15 and Sunday 09/16.  The Andersen Garage is conveniently located at the Electric Park stop on the streetcar line.  On Saturday you will also be able to ride the trolley bus right to the front door.  Of course we will also be open on Bus Day as scheduled, Saturday 09/29.

We are scheduled to run 6 trolley coaches and 2 motor buses on Saturday for Bus Day.  Depending on mechanical condition and operator availability, here is what we envision.  We will start with Chicago Marmon-Herrington 9553 at 10:00am.  It will be joined by Seattle Gillig 4123 at 11:00.  Both will run until 11:45.  At that time 9553 will be parked.  At 12:00, Milwaukee Marmon-Herrington 441 joins 4123.  At 12:45, 4123 is parked and at 1:00 Seattle M-A-N 4020 joins 441.  At 1:45, 441 is parked and at 2:00 Dayton Flyer 925 joins 4020.  At 2:45, 4020 is parked and at 3:00 Seattle Twin 633 joins 925.  Finally at 4:00, 9553 goes solo again until 5:00pm.  Throughout the day motor buses CMC GMC 605 and Janesville RTS 412 will supplement trolley bus service but will not run on a specific schedule (again subject to condition).  The Bus Stop Shop will be open for business again this year, selling surplus items from the Museum's collection to raise funds for a new bus garage.  We appreciate the tremendous support and feedback we received after last year's inaugural event.  We hope this year will be even better!!!

Excellent progress is being made on the construction on Central & Railroad.  We are anticipating being able to provide service on Bus Day!!!  Our plan is to run 6 different trolley buses throughout the day, with 2 motor buses supplementing that service.  All trips will originate and end at the Andersen Garage - home of the Bus Stop Shop.  Trolley buses will depart Andersen at :00, :15, :30 and :45 past the hour.  If able, motor buses will run trips between those times, so vehicles will alternate between trolley and motor buses with every trip.  Here is our tentative schedule (as always, subject to change due to equipment/road conditions or other factors):  First 4 trips (11:00am - 11:45am) will be Seattle MAN 4020.  The next 4 (12:00pm - 12:45pm) will be Dayton Flyer 925.  1:00pm - 1:45pm will feature Seattle Twin 633.  2:00pm - 2:45pm will be Milwaukee Marmon-Herrington 441.  3:00pm - 3:45pm will see Seattle Gillig 4123, and finally 4:00pm - 4:45pm CTA Marmon-Herrington 9553 will be in service.  The two motor buses providing supplemental service will be Janesville RTS 412 and CMC GM 605.  We will not have set times for them due to condition and other factors.

We also invite private owners of former transit buses to bring them out and display them.  There is no registration required.  If you would like to display your bus, come into the main parking lot and go all the way to the gate at the east end of the entrance drive.  There will be someone near the Wagner loop to assist you to enter and park you bus on the grass just south of the Wagner loop.  These privately owned buses may not be driven around the property nor give rides, but it does give you the opportunity to "show it" to all our Bus Day visitors!!!

Should anything change, an update will be posted on this blog.  Don't forget, no matter what the road conditions, the Bus Stop Shop will be open all day in the Andersen Garage, where you can browse through and buy excess items from our collection.  We hope to see you out on Saturday!!!

As many of you know, construction has started on the streetcar track that will be located down the middle of Main Street, and will eventually become part of the Carline extension.  That project has resulted in the intersection of Central & Railroad being torn up.  Of course that is a part of our Trolley Bus line.  B&G and our contractors are working feverishly to make one lane of that intersection at least passable by Bus Day on 10/01.  At this point, NO GUARANTEE could be given that the line will be able to be used on 10/01, but it looks good for limited operation.  If all goes as we hope, we will operate westbound on Central, turn north on Railroad and around the Wagner Loop.  On the return trip southbound on Railroad, we will hop the trolley poles to the northbound wires and operate back on the "wrong" side until the double wire ends at the used bookstore.

No matter the outcome of the construction issue, we WILL have motor bus operation (as always, based on condition) on 10/01 using the Janesville RTS 412 and the Chicago Motor Coach GM 605, which Vince Allen and John LeBeau were able to get running reliably yesterday (09/24).  We WILL have many of the trolley and motor buses outside the garages, open for inspection and for photos.  We WILL have several trolley and motor buses inside the garages open for inspection.  We WILL have the Bus Stop Shop open for business, selling excess memorabilia from the museum's collection.

As I receive further updates I will post them on this blog.  Thanks to everyone for their questions, inquiries and interest in this event!!!

At 10:15am on Wednesday 11/25/2015, Seattle Gillig Trolley Bus 4123 rolled off the truck trailer under its own power!  The bus was loaded in Seattle on Saturday afternoon.  Thanks to the guys at Extreme Trucking, it safely made the cross-country trip in about 3½ days.  As usual, the guys at MEHVA (Metro Employees Historic Vehicle Association) out in Seattle took care of us.  They chose a coach that was in great shape and mechanically sound.  They also sent along ever critical extra parts.

 

Our coach has a build date of February 13, 2002.  It is exactly 13 years, 9 months and 12 days old.  It may very well be the youngest piece of equipment ever to join the museum's historic collection.

 

We were able to make two test trips and it performed wonderfully.  As this is such a new bus, there are a couple things that we are figuring out as we go and we have a couple outstanding questions for the MEHVA guys, but it was great running a bus that could easily still be in service.  We are immediately getting busy emptying, cleaning, inspecting and testing the bus and will hopefully have it in service for the Christmas event in a week and a half.

In this season of giving thanks, those involved with this acquisition come to mind.  First, thanks to all the guys out in Seattle for arranging this and taking care of the loading.  Thanks to the Board of Directors for having the foresight to approve such an exciting new acquisition.  As always, a HUGE thank you goes to Richard Schauer.  He arranged the trucking and took care of all that was necessary to "de-shippify" the bus once it arrived - putting back all the things that had to be done/undone in order to ship it.  Finally, THANK YOU to everyone who has supported the Trolley Bus Department over the years.  With the previous acquisitions from MOT in St. Louis and this one, our trucking costs are in the $15,000 range.  Even though vehicles are either donated or made available at scrap value, it still costs a considerable amount to transport them to the museum.  Your past and continued support allows us to keep working and (hopefully) keep acquiring as exciting opportunities (like this one) arise.

 

We in the Trolley Bus & Motor Bus Departments wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

Last weekend (Thursday through Sunday!) we were able to finish the reorganization of the Andersen and Hoffman Garages.  A HUGE thank you to Wes Lloyd, who worked alongside me and Richard Schauer the entire day on Sunday.  Without his help it is doubtful we would have been able to finish the job last weekend.  Once complete, we gave a tour of the newly acquired coaches to President Joe Stupar, First Lady Gwyn Stupar along with other Directors, former Directors and volunteers.  Once that was finished, we all joined Frank Hicks and a good size crew to tarp one of the CA&E cars in yard 11.  It was a busy and rewarding weekend!

 

Yesterday started out lending a hand to Joel Ahrendt, who wanted to accomplish the simple task of moving CA&E 460 to the pit for inspection.   There just happened to be a couple trucks and two other CA&E cars blocking his path.  So we set about getting the two trucks, newly delivered for Tim Peters' 1024 project, ready to be moved.  As usual, Richard Schauer was an integral part of the team.  After a good deal of oil in strategic places, with additional help from Fred McGullam, Bob Olsen & Tim Peters, and encouragement from Marcus Ruef & Randy Hicks, we were able to get the trucks relocated.  We then switched to other two CA&E cars and Joel was finally, with cooperation from the Diesel guys, able to get 460 to the pit.

 

During the week, Richard and Greg Kepka acquired, primed and painted a new trolley board for Chicago Marmon-Herrington 9553.  Yesterday afternoon, with the help of Thomas Slater and David Fullarton, we installed it on the coach.  It may be one of the coaches we put into service to shuttle visitors to and from the parking lot during the Christmas event, so it was critical that this maintenance was done prior to the event.  Now, it is ready to go!!

 

We just received the bill for trucking the four newly acquired coaches from MOT in St. Louis.  The cost came to around $8,000.  Any assistance with defraying this cost via donations will be very gladly accepted!!!  Sorry, no pictures this week.

 

These past several months have seen and incredible amount of activity and progress in both the Trolley Bus and Motor Bus Departments.  I want to extend a big THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us.  Not only the volunteers, but those of you who have supported us via donations - to EVERYONE who has helped, you are GREATLY appreciated!!!