MARCH

March 20

Boy, our last blast for Winter. What a great day we had at the St Patrick's Day event. We had a horse drawn carriage up front for the Virginia Museum of Transportation, then the school bus with James as the driver (you should have seen his hat—sharp is the word), Harry, Mel and Phil from the VMT were onboard and in the rear of that was Richmond's Virginia Transit 418, with BT at the helm, Bbagby, Ed's granddaughter and her best friend, Tony and Kennie Harris, and Shirley and Bev. The bus did wonderful despite killing all behind us in the parade with its exhaust, as we went the entire route with not a problem. Had a picture in the Roanoke Times of the bus and it was great exposure for both the VMT and the CC&T.

We carried a bunch of folks for the parade with the Alexandria bus running from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. A good time was had by all involved. Thanks so much to everyone who made this a wonderful day. The preparation of both buses took a lot of time and energy so particular thanks Mel, Harry, James and Ben for their work. We had all the issues with the drive train on the school bus and without James it would not have been possible! Harry and Mel put in a lot of extra hours working on the mechanical issues for both buses and Ben got us started on the Valve Body experience that ended up being so funny. It was indeed an "out of body" experience until we found out the valve goes inside and not on the table at Valley Metro.

What a great bus the old school bus is! It did need to be dusted off for our riders before getting them on board. And, it has bad diesel fumes inside so it’s necessary to put something over the rear seat or make sure some of the windows are open so no one will die on the bus! Thanks for one heck of a job getting this painted and now ready for things like the MDA car show (see photo!).

FEBRUARY

February 27

James and Mel worked on the school bus lights. They have been reassembled and mounted, except for one. The gear for next week has been gathered and stored on the bus in an old toolbox. Next Wednesday the plan is to wash the bus inside and out, and top off the fuel.

Ben, Kenny B., Ed, and Freddie spent their time working on the 102. Fuel lines are connected. Could not find the right combo of switches to start it. Maybe we’ll discover it on the next worknight.

February 23

Harry, BT, Mark Williams and Mark Jr., Ed Stinson, Ben and Bev turned out and rolled up their sleeves for the February workday.

We started work on the Pumpkin. Ben has it running and it will be on the road soon. Harry and Ed put a window in the school bus that BB had reworked. It looks wonderful. We started the 66 Richmond bus and put in a new battery. After it cooled down, Harry and Ben got the Transmission Pan and Valve Body off the transmission and we are having them cleaned and checked. We already know we have a slow solenoid and that may have been the problem. We also need to change the transmission filter more often since it was underwater in the flood of 2003. The wrecker is off to Robert Young's to get hoses fixed and hopefully back soon. Ed took us all to lunch and we drove the 62 Newlook and it is doing wonderful since Steve Fisher fixed the air dryer valve.

We were able to get the BT bus started and charged the batteries so we can get it to Roanoke Auto Spring Works for a check of king pins and steering rods. John Thompson and his brother Wayne put the used transmission we bought in a couple of weeks ago and it is running great. It is much better than it was before. Thanks Johnny and Wayne. AND, the Mack started and was running. It smoked us all out of the building but sounded great! We moved the Chiquita out of the way with the lift truck and the pickup. Mark and Mark Jr. were its operators. BT was at the helm of the forklift.

 We now need to get several of them inspected so we will be street legal! The lot is looking much better and we are making progress on the adding of NS property to our site. They came out Saturday and said we need no flagman for Allegheny to dump the dirt to fill up the gulley.

We need to start the 102 very soon. Part of the building came apart in the windstorm so we have some real fixing to do on the shed portion of the place. You can see right into our parts storage area! We are getting some estimates on the roof and after that hope to meet with the owner.

We have been working with Kennie Harris to get our equipment listed on a spreadsheet to note problems, regular maintenance issue, servicing, inspections etc. Thanks to him we are getting better organized. We need Ray Bright to help us do paperwork and hope we see him soon. We also need Brett to put some pictures on the site as we have more words than scenes lately. BT has sent him some to use and if you have any, I am sure he would like to see them.

We need to get a sign out front as the one we have is not looking so good. We need to get one of the Carilion signs painted and up. And, we need to get the tractor fixed and I want to ask Freddy to see what needs to be done on that one. The lawn needs to be cleaned of debris and it will not be too long before we have to mow grass!

February 20

We’ve made continued progress toward the St. Patrick's Day festivities this week. Harry, Mel and James worked on lights for the school bus, BT and Freddy took the BT bus to have the oil checked and washed. It got a newer transmission on Saturday thanks to Johnny and Wayne and it runs great. It seems to have developed battery problems and we have to get the king pins fixed before we can use it again on trips. Ben worked on the Pumpkin but needs one more belt and a new bracket piece to get it running again.

February 18

Worknight went well this week with Harry, Mel and James working on the School bus. Harry has redone the right brake cylinder and has done a super job. We now have brakes for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

 Mel has also been working on the Richmond Metro #309 sanding it down for painting soon. We loaded the transmission that goes on the BT bus onto the pickup tonight. Our hope is that parts will arrive so John Thompson and his brother Wayne can get the transmission in this weekend!

 Kennie and BT are working on the taillights on the Grumman and Freddy put a phone book on our active buses to use when we need assistance. Kenny Brooks worked on the Gillig and it is now ready to do trips again.

 By the way, thinking ahead, we need to get the tractor fixed so we can be ready to do the lawn at the Buseum. We will likely see some dirt being dumped along the tracks soon filling in the gulley next to the museum. Allegheny Construction is donating this to us and it will be a great addition. Now all we have to do is get fencing in to secure the new area!

We have had a request by Staunton City Council to have the Pumpkin in the Staunton 4th of July Parade. We need drivers to look at this date and perhaps a Buseum outing could be done around the trip up old Route 11. BT and I will be out of town for that week so we need others to plan this event.

 We have our entry done for the St Patrick's Day Parade and are partnering with the Virginia Museum of Transportation. We will have the school bus with Ed and BB's hat on top, and the Richmond bus to show off our good work. We need to have all of you there that day. Might I suggest that we do a dish lunch and have a party on board the 66 GMC! And you have to be dressed in green.

Thanks so much to each of you for what you do for the Buseum. Remember we are likely in the top 5 bus museums in the country based on our size. And, we are the very best due to all of you and your commitment to us.

JANUAARY

January 22

We have had such a good crew the last two Wednesdays and are getting a lot done. Ben has been in charge of fixing the Pumpkin with a rebuilt alternator, new belts and lots of work, Harry and James have been working on the school bus brakes (there are none) and seeing what we can do to permanently fix them.  Mel and Ben have been working on the Richmond Metro to ready the bus for painting and it is coming along well. We have had some issues with the Gillig as it has very weak batteries and will not start. We need to take it to be checked and must take the 62 WMATA as well as we have found an air dryer to fit it that we will put on there. The RTS needs antifreeze as we may need it soon.

The wrecker will be going to Robert Young's again to get new hoses and we hope the engine is fine. Ultimately, we have to start the Chiquita and get it out of our way.