Signage

A Scenicruiser also has a lot of signs inside to read. I'm not sure which came when it was originally made in 1956 and what has been added before its last years in Greyhound service and whatever came later. Here's what I've found so far:

Pull-Cord Switches and Holders

The Scenicruiser certainly has a lot of parts. Four of them are called the pull-cord switches. They are brushed aluminum-covered boxes with a rod and loop to which the pull-cord is attached. Those switches are at the front end just below each of the four luggage racks on the side wall. The cords themselves then snake back to the end of the lower level and to the upper level, running though 9 (upper deck) cord holders screwed to the wall.

When the chime switch to the left of the driver is on, pulling one of the cords activates the pull-cord switch and the chime sounds, letting the driver know a passenger wishes to disembark.

Pull-cord Switch

The covers pop off, so do not pry between the box and the wall to which it is mounted. Instead, pry carefully by the detent/hole and it will come off.

Pry Cover, Not Switch

Of course, be prepared for the accretions of 50+ years, including spider webs and various bug parts.

Switch with Cover Removed

To remove the switch, two screws holding down the wires must come off first. Then there are two screws holding the switch base to the wall.

Switch Removed

Typically, you won't have the cord attached to the loop coming out of the switch since those are usually long gone. If you pull on the loop, you'll see it's held by a very strong return spring. It's surprising how hard you have to pull to watch the hub contact touch the metal connector to close the circuit.

The cord goes to the back of that side of the deck through cord loops. Here's a look at one of them after removal. These might have been chrome plated, but it's a bit hard to tell. Not sure how I'll clean them up yet.

Cord Loop

Removing all the cord loops wasn't too bad, but some of those screws are locked in very tightly. However, with a long phillips screwdriver for leverage, I was able to crack and remove each one.

Leverage Needed

Of course, over the years, when a cord holder came loose or off, folks would use whatever was handy to make the repair:

Multiple Fasteners

Before you know it, you've got them all. Now it's time to figure out how to make them look good again.

All Nine From One Side Upper Deck

External Lights - The Markers

Unlike the rear, the front Michigan markers are intact, though whether or not they work remains to be seen.

And, all four corner markers appear to be original and in good shape:

Left Front Corner Marker

Right Front Corner Marker

Left Rear Corner Marker

Right Rear Corner Marker

External Lights - Front

Perhaps from its foggy past in the San Francisco area, #739 ended up with two sets of fog lights. I would presume authenticity means the ones on the bottom will go. For some reason, the 'originals' inside the bumper are not both amber which I would expect.

  

Because of the dull luster of the rings around the headlights, I suspected they were aluminum and not chrome. However, looking at a closeup of the right headlight shows a crack with rust. That suggests it's not aluminum, but a chrome plating over steel (?) that has lost its luster.

The reflectors look good and maybe original. I can't read all of the text around the perimeter of the reflector housing, but I can read New York and Toronto.

The turn signals look very good. The rings are still shiny and appear to be chrome. The glass is good and where will you ever see a bright red caboose reflected in the lens, besides the Minnesota Tranportation Museum!

   

External Lights - Rear

Another sunny fall day and time to take inventory of the external lights for future replacement. First was a look at the rear tail/brake/marker lights. As you can see, creative ways to attach were used on the left set. Neither had the original blocks in which the tailights were mounted and I didn't look close enough to note whether the rings were chrome (original) or aluminum. What do you think? One more thing to check next time - are they the original glass lens and bulb or a newer sealed beam? (thanks Tom!)

  

The rear reflector blocks seem to be original and intact, although the left ring has a piece missing:

   

And finally, the rear Michigan markers - unfortunately, gone!

I'm not sure where I can find one of those!



#739 History

PD-4501-0739 was delivered to Pacific Greyhound Lines where it ran as K2302. Later, it was part of Western Greyhound Lines as P-2301, then 8002. Finally, Greyhound added an extra row of 4 seats on the upper deck, bringing the seating capacity to 47, in order to make the run to and from Travis Air Force Base. It became 8002t and a history attributed to Ron Madaglia, President of the Pacific Bus Museum, follows:

"Converted to 47-passenger configuration and renumbered with small letter 't' suffix, and used exclusively for special service from San Francisco Airport/Terminal to Travis Air Force Base at Fairfield (Calif), late 1960s thru end of service. Greyhound added 2 more 4501s to the Travis pool, 8008 and 8009 about a year later. Also of note: 8000T-8007T were the first 4501s reseated to 47 passenger capacity by Greyhound. This was done at WGL's big SF shops around 1966. They needed high capacity buses for this route because of all the G.I.s that were going overseas and returning from Vietnam and other countries in the far east during the Vietnam war. They operated hourly service on the route 24/7and even with 47 passenger buses many times they still had to double many of the schedules, usually with mainline 4104s or MC-5s. Travis AFB was a MAC (Military Airlift Command, which was in effect the government's own scheduled airline) terminal back then and may still be. What is even more interesting was the Travis-SF-SFO route was the biggest revenue route for WGL back then and it was not a Greyhound route. For the hound to reach Travis AFB from I-80 they had to operate through Fairfield over territory of Vaca Valley Bus Lines which had exclusive rights to serve Travis AFB. Greyhound made an agreement with Vaca Valley to pay them a commission for every passenger transported over that route. Vaca Valley had a charter business in addition to their local transit routes in Fairfield, Suisun City and Vacaville and with the significant revenue they received from Greyhound soon began buying newer and then new GM buses for their charter fleet." (Background courtesy of Ron Medaglia)

Odds and Ends

There are a number of things about #739 that came to light during last week's work. After its days running between San Francisco International Airport and Travis Air Force Base in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it must have been sold to a charter company that retrofitted it into what we might call a 'party bus' today.

For those of you who really know their Scenicruiser history, the GX-2 prototype that preceded the familiar Scenicruiser had semi-circular lounge seating in the back with a table. And that's exactly what you find today in #739!

Apparently the driver could, if not party while driving, at least light up a cigarette. That was added to the dashboard where one of the original left engine gauges resided. Maybe that could be used to plug in a GPS unit, unless, of course, it's still a 12V positive ground system. I wonder how you tell?

However, it's clear that in the state of California, at least in certain areas, while Greyhound was running the Travis AFB shuttle, smoking was not allowed.



Wig-Wag

One surprising discovery while working about #739 last Saturday was hanging right in front of me as I sat in the driver's seat. It was a deployed wig-wag signal arm! After #100 was built, GMC added an indicator held 'up' by air pressure when all the baggage and parcel doors were closed. If one were left opened, which triggered the solenoid valve from an 'on' compartment door light switch, the pressure was exhausted and the wig-wag dropped in front of the driver's eyes, telling him to go close the door. When he'd return, he'd then push the wig-way arm up to the left and the restored air pressure would hold it in place.

I thought these were all removed from the PD-4501s when they were refurbished in 1960-61. I guess not. Here's what one looks like, both close-up and with the driver's seat: