DECEMBER

December 12

Had a great worknight preparing the buses for the Salem Parade. Mel and Harry along with James worked on the School bus. They put dry gas in it and took it around the block with Ed's special lights on and it did fine. They took it up to Salem on Friday am to make sure it was ok for that night. BT worked on the Grumman and the Pumpkin to make sure they were ok. Oil was checked, fuel checked and they were cleaned out to be ready for the Parade.

 We have the RTS back with a replaced R-8 valve and it has brakes on the rear right for the first time since its arrival in Roanoke! We still have air leaking somewhere but it is much better. Next step is getting the used transmission on the BT bus and we are looking several places at the moment to get that done. We started the BT bus and Freddy worked on recharging the batteries on the 30 ft Metro. We have received a call from WMATA about logos for that bus and hope to have them soon. We still have to get the Chiquita running again.

Found out after the Salem parade that we have some kind of electrical issue on the Pumpkin. This is a bus that rarely has any issues so we need to find out what is wrong right away. BT says the inside lights go dim unless it is revving a lot. Same with the outside as well I think! How do we check the generator? Mel and BT said it went great and the passengers loved it. They even got out and acted like they were pulling Harry in the Dodge Bros bus. What a great time and we thank Mel for arranging all of this for us.

December 2Kennie, BT, Freddy, Ed, Harry, Mel, James and Ben were all there for worknight and we had a good time.

The CC&T has received the go ahead to spend some funds now that all the paperwork on our Federal Grant has been done. We have ordered a used transmission for the BT bus and it has arrived. We have to find someone who can put it in and then get the bus over to that location. After that, we need to take it to National Alignment to get new king pins put on the bus.

The restored Richmond bus has a dead battery and we have a new one to put in and hopefully can do that Wednesday night. Thanks to Harry and Ben who both worked to get the wrecker battery replaced and have put a cutoff switch on the battery. We now need to attach the second battery on the wrecker. We think the batteries on the Gillig may be going bad and need to keep our eyes on that coach. It is too good to let fall into bad shape. We also need to move the Chiquita as it is in the way where it is currently.

The most important thing going right now are our entries into the Vinton and Salem Parades. We did the Vinton Christmas Parade Thursday night with BT and Mark driving the Pumpkin and the Grumman. With Ed's decorations and the handy talent of Mel, Harry and James we had them looking sharp. Unfortunately, we had some problems with the 34 Dodge on the way to the parade and it did not make it. We had to call Robert Young to come get it and deliver it back to the barn. Harry and Mel had it going good on the way down and we are not sure what happened. Mel and Harry will do all they can to get it ready for Salem on Friday night.

We need some help getting the 102 and the Mack started. Also we need to start the 30 ft Metro and the AB&W coach. Plus we need to get the Buffalo to someone so we can follow up on Ben's hard work getting the dry clutch back in. That will be fun coach when can get it running and cleaned up.

The roof is in terrible shape and we are getting leaks almost everywhere. It is more severe at the back and I will be talking to someone about it soon. McNeil Roofing has been doing some work at the Virginia Museum of Transportation and we will hope to get them to check out our problem.

We need to find someone who might be able to tear down the inside storage rooms of our bus barn.  We need to get additional coaches inside and if we had that space could put the RTS, the Richmond bus, the BT bus and the small Metro from WMATA all in the barn. I would like to get the wrecker and the big pick-up in there as well. This means we need to be planning the shop room soon. I hope to meet with our landlord soon to see about the future relationship between our organization and the building.

Our next bus painting project should be the Richmond Metro which is a piece of cake compared to the Richmond GMC. I hope we can get on that right after Christmas.

NOVEMBER

November 12

There is a lot going on as we enter November. We are preparing the school bus for parade duty and Mel, Harry and BB are working hard on this project. We all think it would be great if we had some lights on the bus. No, I do not mean Christmas lights—I mean headlights and taillights! It is coming along well and thanks to the crew who is working on it.

The RTS is at Robert Young's for inspection, an R-8 valve and a diaphragm. Maybe it will work correctly for the first time when we get it back. The transmission is here for the BT bus and we need to get it on over to someone who can put it on right away. The Richmond bus needs the transmission valve body removed so we can have it cleaned and checked. The Chiquita needs to be started so we can get it out of the way and this Wednesday night we need to get the wrecker started. We need to find out if the batteries on it are dead as well.

The Gillig has an antifreeze leak that will require some parts and a place to change out the old plate with the new. We may have to go to Valley Metro to ask for their guidance on the installation.

The end of October was big for us as we provided two buses for the Renovate Roanoke effort, and sent two to Rocky Mount for the Ghost Tours. All went as planned although we have an anti freeze leak on the Gillig. Followed with a weekend of four trips, with three on Saturday and one on Sunday. Thanks for hanging in there as we make it through our fall season while helping lots of people!

OCTOBER

October 28

Sarturday was busy for everyone, but we we're able to catch Ben as he came by to fix a few things. He's one hard working and dedicated guy. (Just like the rest of our dedicated volunteers!)

This past Wednesday’s work night went great with continuing work on the school bus by Mel and Harry. Freddy did cleaning on the Orion. We have very bad leaks in the roof and it was raining everywhere! Last weekend we did 2 buses for the Renovate Roanoke effort, and sent two to Rocky Mount for the Ghost Tours. All went as planned although we have an anti-freeze leak on the Gillig. This weekend we have 4 trips, 3 on Saturday and one on Sunday. Thanks for hanging in there as we do our fall season and are helping lots of people!

October 1

We have a new address! (on the web that is). Our official Web site address is now www.commonwealthcoach.org. Please bookmark our new page and pass the word along to your friends. Being a non-profit organization, this address better reflects our organization. In the near future, those going to the old address will be forwarded on to the new. They are still a couple issues to be resolved with that and in the meantime, the June 22 version of our site will be found at www.commonwealthcoach.com.

We have a lot of buses in the lot, as things have been busy, we have some dead and need to move others inside. The Chiquita is a puzzling coach as it now does not want to run despite having gone all the way to Truckstops of America a couple of weeks ago. When we were working on it we left the batteries on and they need recharging with the switch cut off on. Freddy is going to try to bring his mower to do some cutting Wednesday since ours has a problem so if anyone else has a mower we need help!

The School bus will not start for a couple of us neophytes so we have maneuvered it back in the corner to enable us to get some more buses in. We need to check it out for sure!

We also need a plan for preparing the Richmond Metro for painting, as it is our next in line and with our funding we should be able to get it done pretty quickly. It would be great to have another bus that we can count on regularly. We hope to work on the transmission installation on the Buffalo on Saturday so be ready for some heavy-duty work. We also need to get the batteries charged on the wrecker and install a cut off as on the pickup.

I spoke to the Virginia Transit Assn. Quarterly Board in Richmond and asked them for more signage, schedules, pictures, etc as we work with the Virginia Museum of Transportation to install a bus exhibit this fall. I am hopeful that they will be forthcoming with lots of stuff! Also emailed the American Bus Association to see if they would like to get us items related to charter coach history in Virginia etc.

I discovered a Fageol-Twin Coach bus on the way home from a trip to Williamsburg. It is in Prospect Virginia and we need Bruce and Buddy to go up there to see it soon. I got some pictures (see right side of page). It is a Richmond bus, in great shape considering its location and length of time outside. It has no seats but would be a great exhibit for the VMT. Also found another Brill in Fincastle that is in good shape and likely has the engine in it. Can't be sure yet but we will work to see if we can get it soon.