Model Railroading > HO Greyhound Bus

Mini Metals (Classic Metal Works) has sent out their next batch of Greyhound Buses. They went off the shelfs pretty quick when they came out in the Spring. You can get them with blanks for destination, or destination boards for Chicago, New York, and I believe Los Angeles. These are the Greyhound buses that you saw run in the 60's and 70's depending on where you lived. These are not the two level Scenic Cruisers though. You can get them for about $20 each or less depending on your local hobby shop. They are nicely done.

AJ

Actually, in these are earlier buses, 4103 (meaning 41 passenger, third in the series) and were pretty much out of service by the late 60s and 70s. I drove 4104s in the 70s for a charter outfit and THEY were considered old by then. Hound was using 4106s, 4107s and 4903s by the 60s and had their own buses maker (MCI) making MC5s, 6s and 7s. 4103s were very early 50s late 40s and 4104s were of 50s vintage. The Scenic Cruiser (aka Puppy Dog) was a Raymond Lowey design and dates from the late 50s/early 60s. These ARE nice models, except for the totally wrong mirrors. If you model the 60s and later, repaint them and letter them for a charter line. Line up 3 or 4 and it looks like you got you a convoy!

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Thanks for the info. I am not arguing your point, just reliving my encounters with greyhound. I grew up in the 60's and 70's in southern Ohio, near the West Virginia, Kentucky border. My friends dad drove for Greyhound. He used to say that his territory never got the new buses when they came out and that Greyhound didn't want to tear up its new buses on the roads of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. The good buses ran the Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and Cleveland. His terminal, Portsmouth got the already ran. Portsmouth had the art deco station with the inside garage. Behind the station there was a big lot where there were always a couple of buses sitting. One high school charter trip I took in 1971, we had three Scenic Cruisers to take us from Portsmouth to Pikeville, Kentucky. It was a kick riding what we thought were modern buses, but I guess they had been around for a while but since my friend's father was driving one, he managed to get three pretty decent Scenic Cruisers for the trip.

AJ

Speaking of Stations. The one in my home town was almost identical to the Atlanta Station shown on this web page. The difference being that the enclosed busway, was at the right of the main entrance and sign. The buses passed this entrance, turned right after the station and then turned right again at the back.

Here is the link:

http://www.agilitynut.com/bus/ga.html

I looked for more and I found this. This brings back memories as it was my hometown station (Portsmouth) next to my high school.

http://www.agilitynut.com/bus/oh.html

I'm sure you're right about Hound not wanting to tear up buses in cruddy parts of the country. I was speaking more generally. Here in LA, Hound used a lot of the newest stuff for obvious reasons. You were lucky to get a ride in the coolest bus ever! I actually got to drive one once. The shift linkage was made of wet pasta! Basically you guessed where the gear was and hoped you got it right. A neat trick with a non-syncro gear box! "Grind me another pound!"

stivmac Wrote:
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> Here in LA, Hound used a lot of the newest stuff
> for obvious reasons.

Sorry, this is probably a stupid question, but what was the reason for that?

I drove a PD-4107 for several years in the 1990s. It was not in commercial use by then, but privately-owned and used for road trips to go skiing, rafting, etc. It definitely took some practice to get the feel of the non-synchronized transmission. (The linkage must have been over 30 feet long to reach from the driver to the transmission on the curb side of the engine.) But once you did get the feel, it was really satisfying to shift it silently and feel it slide right into each gear. Downshifting was more of a challenge, even double-clutching, but it could also be done silently.

Reverse was electrically engaged on those transmissions. You'd put the shift lever in neutral, hold a toggle switch on the dashboard, and move the shift lever into first (or fourth?) gear. I think there probably was a solenoid that moved a gate into place so that the shift lever engaged reverse when moved into what would otherwise be a forward gear. One time I pulled into a parking lot and couldn't get reverse to engage. After I let my passengers off to get ready for their soccer game, I opened up the side hatch on the engine compartment and surprisingly quickly found the loose electrical connection which, when tightened, restored reverse.

Nice little convoy there, Stivmac.

But to be prototypical, shouldn't they be off on the side of the road with mechanics under a couple of them? I've heard those Embree drivers were as rough as a cob.

OK, time for me to confess: I drove for Embree rival Pacific Scenic Lines. I enjoyed driving the ScenicCruisers and would love to have one on the mantel to remind me of those days.

Can anyone suggest where I might find one for a reasonable price?

TIA!

brassjournal Wrote:
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> Nice little convoy there, Stivmac.
>
> But to be prototypical, shouldn't they be off on
> the side of the road with mechanics under a couple
> of them? I've heard those Embree drivers were as
> rough as a cob.
>
> OK, time for me to confess: I drove for Embree
> rival Pacific Scenic Lines. I enjoyed driving the
> ScenicCruisers and would love to have one on the
> mantel to remind me of those days.
>
> Can anyone suggest where I might find one for a
> reasonable price?
>
> TIA!

HAH! We used to sing that Roy Orbison song when we saw one of you guys on the Grapevine--"Blue Bayou!" Embree buse NEVER (well, hardly ever) broke. We may have driven some old stuff, but it was FAST old stuff. We ALWAYS brought 'em back in one piece.

If you're talking about using the new stuff in LA and other large markets, they were competitive routes so customers demanded the best. If you are refering to non syncro gear boxes, they were less expensive to make and maintain. It meant that drivers had to know what they were doing is all. Yeah, the 4107 was a gold plated Bi*** to shift, esp when cold. But clutch? Why would you need to use the clutch to shift with? That's just to get going from a stop. heeheehee

meh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> stivmac Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Here in LA, Hound used a lot of the newest
> stuff
> > for obvious reasons.
>
> Sorry, this is probably a stupid question, but
> what was the reason for that?...
>
>
I posted that and stivmac replied. I grew up in Appalachia or on the fringes of it in Portsmouth, Ohio. A lot the Greyhound bus routes from Portsmouth went into eastern Kentucky and into West Virginia. They didn't finish all the interstates through there until the late 70's. Anyway, I found out some more info.

I just did a GOOGLE search on this. I found a couple of pictures and it confirms that the mirrors are off. The mirrors are wrong for the earlier models but can be corrected to a close representation for the later models. It looks like if you get a little bit of greyhound blue paint you can correct the mirrors.

Here are some pictures and information.



http://www.greyhounddriver.com/BOOK.html



AJ

Looks like you could either paint the mirrors blue or cut them down to the bottom 1/3 and paint them grey. I can't ever recall a 4103 or 04 with the bigger mirrors, but then I can't say I saw every bus in existance either!

I can attest to these buses running in the late 60's. I was working in a small town in west Louisiana, north of Lake Charles and went to visit my folks in New Orleans. That was late 1969 (Early September). The bus in question was what picked us up in De Ridder going to Lake Charles At Lake Charles, we got "Scenic Cruisered" to Baton Rouge and then New Orleans. Same on the return.

Speaking of mechanics, the Scenic Cruiser out of Baton Rouge to Lake Charles blew an oil line in the middle of the Achafalaya Basin, causing the diesel to seize up. We were there for 3 hr waiting for another bus to rescue us. The driver took off with some motorist to go call for help. Seems like he should have sent the motorist and stayed with the bus?? (some help here?) Lotsa unfortunate folks stayed on the bus, where it was like an oven, and suffered heat related health issues. We were having visions of the driver sitting in some roadside cafe with a nice cool drink while we sweltered!!

Anyway, the same non-SC type of bus eventually took us from Lake Charles to De Ridder. I don't know the origin of the bus to of from De Ridder to Lake Charles.