school buses you rode in?

[mathewhebailey0]

Anyone remember the year model or make of school bus you rode in?
I remember riding some brands of school buses,Loadstar,Thomas,Blue Bird,but one prticular school bus I rode in Mountain View,Oklahoma was a 1970's,probably mid/late, International/Carpenter school bus.

 

[classiccaprice]

I never paid much attention to busses, but here's my first day of school in early September 1988. The bus was over 13 years old then, as the town became a city in 1975 and the bus still had the patch to cover that change. There is a 2nd picture, which I don't have here that shows this.

 

[washdaddy]

Back in the day...I remember International's were the big thing. There was a couple of other's also perhaps GMAC.

Oh so long ago, that part of my brain function has a lot of cobwebs in it.

lmao

 

[norgeway]

Lower Creek Elementary

Had a couple of old Fords, Seems like 1 Chevrolet and the newest would have been an International, I started to school in 71, and I think the Fords were 63 or 64 models.

 

[cadman]

Cedar Falls

I was on a bus route through 6th grade, and our area used a mix of Thomas and Blue Bird buses from what I remember. What I always liked was watching the operation of the controls at each stop- I either sat all the way at the front, or all the way at the back. I recall there were individual controls for each front wiper, plus rockers for the roof mount strobe, fans, and aux equipment. Some had access panels (looked like glove box doors) above the front bulkhead, one older one even had red and yellow pilot lamps on the interior for warning light status.

The majority of buses, while late 70's/80's vintage, still had the big chrome lever the driver had to pull to open the door. There was one bus which was a little newer than the rest, and it had tinted windows(!), a radio mounted above the driver, and an automatic door opener. I assume this bus was the one used elsewhere in the district for out of town trips. The only time I ever remember the radio being on was if we had a good humored substitute driver. Since this wasn't the regular bus on our route, I usually listened to music on my AM radio watch(!).

Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

 

[norgeway]

Re Thomas buses

Made in Thomasville NC about 45 minutes from here.

 

[norgeway]

My Mistake..

High Point NC...about the same distance, not too far from Replacements Limited.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Most of the ones I rode in were International Loadstar 1700 buses with Ward bodies, 345 gas V8 and a 5-speed.  There were a few Fords in the fleet, and the drivers seemed to have a harder time shifting them.  One bus I rode for a few years was an older Chevy with a Thomas body that rattled quite a bit.  In cold weather, the exhaust would blow huge smoke-rings clear across the street.  The few Bluebird bodies I rode seemed the nicest and most rattle-free.

 

With a full load of kids, those gas powered buses were quite underpowered.  They sure didn't move out like the diesel automatics I see on the road today.

 

Ken D.

 

[westie2]

First bus was a 40's Ford in 1955 then the next year was a new Wards bus.  Through out the years was Blue Bird, Wards and Thomas.  The old bus's were hot in warm weather and we froze in winter.  Small heaters in them barely blew out air.  In the fifth grade I got a Westinghouse 7 transistor radio for Christmas so could listen to music on it.

 

[DADoES]

 
No busing was involved.

 

[fido]

For a while they were using a couple of very old Routemaster double deckers which someone no doubt picked up cheap from one of the local city bus companies. We always went home on the bus but sometimes one or other of the teachers would give us a lift to school. Two of the teachers had VW Beetles and another had a SAAB. The VWs were stuffy, noisy and uncomfortable so I preferred to go on the bus!

http://https//www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/7117105061/

 

[philcobendixduo]

School Bus Memories

I can remember taking a bus from my elementary school in Kearney Nebraska to another school that had a lunchroom for "hot lunch" (on the rare occasion when I didn't walk home for lunch). This bus body was by "Oneida".

I took buses to school all the time in Minnesota but don't remember a thing about them for some reason.
I think they might have been International Harvester….

Here in California I took buses to school in the early 1970's and they were Crown coaches. These were the first school buses I'd ridden in that had rear diesel engines and powered door openers.

I actually learned how to drive a stick shift by just watching the bus driver shift gears for all the years I rode the bus. When it came time for me to drive, I had no problems at all with the clutch or shifting gears - it was just like I'd done it for years!

 

[petek]

We lived close enough to school we walked. Back in the day all the elementary schools had no bussing and the same for the highschools except mine which bussed in all the kids from the township/farms. The only times I ever rode in one was for a class trip, perish the thought today. Most as I recall were Thomas Saf-T-Liners or Bluebirds.
Today however with declining enrolment and school closures and baby making there are school buses everywhere as the jostle the kids around town to school. One of 4 highschools has closed. Mine went from a peak of 1600 students in 1974 when I graduated to less than 600 today. Probably 4 if not more of the elementary schools are closed now as well. They had to adjust the various school hours so that there's enough buses to be available. And you should see the fly down the roads when they're empty trying to make it to the next school for pickup etc.. downright dangerous some of them. From the looks of them they haven't really changed much over the last 50 years, a little more modern looking. I'm surprised they're not air conditioned LOL.. Geeze when I was in school we had no a/c in the buildings , today they're all retrofitted

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Now that is a VERY Long Time Ago!!!!!!

They were all FORDS...! And looking at today's trucks/vans/coaches/buses, what I like the most, looking very waaaaayyyyy back, is that the hoods on them, opened from FRONT-TO-BACK!!!! Not that back-to-front design that's OVER-used on everything now-a-days!!!! I know its easier to service underneath it,--but, still--!!!!

 

The bodies were built by different manufacturers: The Blue Birds and Carpenters had light green interiors, with dark green seats... But my favorite was the Wayne body...! That one had an almost pinkish, tan interior with light red seats... (No headrests on any of them, back then, either...)

 

 

-- Dave

 

[philr]

The first bus I took when I was at elementary school was a 1973 Chevrolet C/60 with a Blue Bird body. It had a gas engine and manual transmission. I would always seat in the two first rows of seats as I liked to look outside and the two first side windows had double glass while the other side windows to the rear didn't and were either fogged-up or frozen most of the school year! I remember that the bus had a huge red light on it's dashboard and two large round gauges, I have no idea what it was for. 

 

[perc-o-prince]

huge red light on it's dashboard and two large round gau

Probably air-pressure gauges and a low-pressure warning light. I remember one of the buses I rode had a little sign-thingy that was hinged up out of the line of sight for the driver. Didn't know that was a "wig-wag" that would come down in the driver's sight as a low air pressure warning.

Most of the ones we have in our lot over the last 13 years or so have been Internationals, but there have been a few Blue Birds and Thomas models. Buses get shifted from one lot/area to another as contracts change (there's usually a starting mileage clause in them so a bus can't be used if its mileage is above that point). The one I had last year finished out around 113k miles. Probably won't have it next year.

Our lot just got some flat-nose (transit or 'Twinkie') buses this past year from another yard. I hadn't seen them in our local lots before that.

Then there are the 1/2 buses. They're just as tall and wide, but only 5, 6, or 7 rows long. Mine has 6. Mostly Internationals. There are a few shorter buses that are built on F-X50 frames with Collins brand bodies. They have a/c, having originally been a truck, but lots of blind spots. I didn't like the year I had that one.

Chuck

 

[twintubdexter]

Back in San Jose in the mid 50's/early 60's as the area's population was exploding school-age baby boomers were popping up by the hundreds. I was bused to elementary schools until third grade and a new school was built within walking distance. There were so many kids that my first grade class was split with second graders making up the other half. One teacher would run back and forth between them. We were moved to the new school while it was still being constructed. The teacher had to shout over the noise of all the construction.

Miss Fouch developed a very loud voice. We called her "Miss Fouch the Grouch" although she was a very nice and kind teacher. That's me, top row, last on the right. I was adorable.

 

[cleanteamofny]

I walked to school, so the only time I've been bused was school trips on Blue Bird equipment.

 

[ptcruiser51]

School Buses? Hahahahahaha!

It's EZ to see that lots of the aw.o group is late-end boomers!  My "school bus" was my OM's 1953 DeSoto Firedome.  In the ayem he dropped off my cousin John and me at parochial school, my other cousin Butchie (discipline problem) at the public school, then drove to his shop downtown and dropped off my cousin Patti for the city bus to go the 15 blocks to her parochial high school. 

 

I walked home (10 blocks) for lunch, then back to school, then home again after dismissal.  On the way (any direction) it was not unusual to get accosted by thugs-in-training who would beat you up or steal anything you had.  My OL always "was sick" and would have me pick up groceries or stuff at the drugstore on the way home.  When I arrived home without items "apres mugging" I got a beating.  Again.  Sometimes I wonder how I survived childhood.

 

Come 1959 when we moved to the 'burbs (Think "Wonder Years"), I walked 1 mile to parochial school until I was 13 and transferred to public school (OM wouldn't pay tuition anymore in addition to suburban taxes).  Our International Harvester school buses had governers on them to prevent speeds higher than 35-40 mph.  We lived atop a rather steep hill.  Squirrels could usually outrun our buses.  Always freezading in the winter, they had ice on the >inside< of the windows.

 

High school was more of the same.  Had to walk to the bottom of the hill to get the bus (Blue Bird) to the regional high school.  Never enough seats.  Four-mile trip took 1/2 hour because of the governors.  It's amazing any of us had time for "education".  By then I had become a "hard guy"=no more muggings/beatings.  Instead it was guys accosting gals ("free feels" or "trust me" games).   And, of course, sneaking smokes.  This was a big, big change from Catholic school, let me tell you.

 

Nowadays I see school buses stopping at driveways 100 ft. apart to pick up kids who are waiting in mom's SUV.  Unless mom is driving them the 18 blocks to school, of course.  Dismissal reminds you of out-takes from the 1970s movie "Wild In The Streets".  Most of these bastar- (um) children, usually empty-out into the public library where they immediately take up spots behind the public computers to look at internet porn or play mindless video games.  God help us.

 

"Bitterman, party of one?  Bitterman?"