JUNE

June 8

What a great help all the members have been recently. Mel is getting us into a maintenance schedule with all details on the computer and with the help of Congressman Goodlatte's grant, we have begun to work on the buses. The folks at Virginia Truck Center have been super to work with as we take a bus out, get it fixed and then take another one out to get checked. We are doing oil changes, filters, hoses, airbags etc if necessary as they go through the  process of getting some particular things fixed. Mel is putting together the details of what has been done so we can establish timelines for their next service.

The Grumman's parking brake has been replaced, it has been serviced and the A/C is working well. We could not afford to have the oil leak fixed as it was to be over $10,000.

The BT bus has been serviced, new airbags installed on the front, new drag link ends are on and it has been inspected. Thanks to White Tire, we have all new tires (retreads on the rear) on it and all it needs is an A/C repair. It came to our aid on Friday night when the Orion conked out.

The Orion was doing good but stopped running on Friday night on I-581 while Kenny Brooks was on the way to a Hollins Reunion event. We took all of his folks, put them on the Grumman and went up Peakwood at 1 mph the entire way. It was a really interesting trip. Thanks so much to Joe Kennedy and Kenny Brooks for making the evening successful. Robert Young came to get the Orion and the diagnosis is not in yet.

We have the Pentran at White Tire and are to pick it up on Wednesday night. It has all new tires and we have gone back to the original hubs of white and blue on the coach.

 The 66 Richmond bus goes to the muffler shop on Wednesday night to get some tailpipe work and will now likely be quiet, but no quarantees on the smoke!

 The Wrecker is currently at Virginia Truck Center getting the lights fixed and having all other stuff checked.

Thanks to Ben the Pumpkin is good again and remember it will go to Staunton for the 4th of July Parade. We had suggested that it would be a great outing for all the folks to do that day. Come one come all and let these folks up the Valley see just how good we are!

APRILWe need to get three batteries for buses and will try to go to Interstate this week.

April 15

This week we will hopefully get the streetcar seat unloading completed and do some work on getting coaches ready for upcoming trips on the 19th and 20th.

The 309 is closer than ever to painting and we need to keep that on the hot burner. The BT bus is taking longer than expected to get fixed but we are doing more than expected on it. We hope to do a new radiator that we’ve had tested this week along with new tires.

April 9

A wonderful crowd got great results. Ed and Raymond Bright were there and Raymond will be taking over our scheduling of trips soon. That will be a great help to Bev as this is a very time consuming tasks if you are not organized to keep up with it. The policy will be to call Raymond whenever someone requests our help or get them to call or email him directly. Ben, BT, Mel, Harry and Kenny worked on getting more streetcar seats palletized and moved. We got the 102 ready to start and just need a charged battery to get it running again. Freddy spent some time cleaning the Great Pumpkin as it will be going out soon. Bev took the 1962 to VM to get the leveling valve in the front redone. It turned out that it could be adjusted more than we expected so the coach is lower on the front than it used to be. Steve Fisher is amazing when it comes to fixing stuff like this! It looks and rides better!

The BT bus is at Virginia Truck Center getting inspected, perhaps new airbags and new tires and alignment. We have attempted to make contact with the folks who own the Master unit but no luck as yet

MARCH

March 29

What an amazing day of discovery we had on Saturday. Harry, Ben, BT, Mark, Ed and Bev arrived at the Virginia Scrap Iron and Metal Company at 10 sharp with trucks, ladders, tools and no idea what we had to accomplish other than to get some streetcar seats. Freddy came later and added some needed energy to the group.

 What we found was so unusual, and probably the last stash of streetcar seats anywhere around here that we could hardly have imagined. In the attic of the Adams, Gleaves and Payne stable building were what look to be at least 3 sets of streetcar seats including motorman's chairs from streetcar maker J. G. Brill. These were on Brill Master units, the last to arrive in Roanoke and as Lewis Newton explained, the best cars Brill ever made. They were pretty rare and originally came from the Lynchburg side of the company.

It took five hours of straight, very hard work and we all owe these guys who were there all day. Boy what a job they did! Because of them, we now have what most streetcar museums would kill for—original leather seats for streetcars! We will be unloading them on Wednesday night so all of you will be able to see them before they are piled up in the shed.

I want to thank all of these guys for their hard work and dedication to the Buseum. Seats are not something you can find easily these days, so we are really way ahead now in what we can do in a future restoration project.