BusTalk

bystander · Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2010 8:17 pm Post subject: Another Old Memory

Back around '64, I was in Merced California and I had a freind named Davey Something....I wish I could remember his last name. Davey had a Crown School Coach with the Underfloor Cummins in it and the Ten Speed Roadranger. (They also came with Five speeds and two speed rears). Well, one afternoon, we were coming out of Mariposa on 140 and when we came out of the foothills, Davey opened it up. He told me he had just "Attended To" his engine. Well, I guess he did, because The California Highway Patrol got him for 92 Miles an hour. I just found a part of a snapshot of Davey's bus and was reminded of our adventure.

Anyone else care to comment on how fast buses could go? My TDH4509 was good for a little over 60MPH after I fooled with the governor.

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 2:53 am Post subject:

bystander,

I've written much in these threads about the buses that I drove for Green Line (NY) with broken governors (usually broken by a kinetic energy boost on a downhill run which, of course, I never tried (ha ha).

The best were the 5104's taking the Van Wyck extension into what is now Kennedy Airport - I believe I hit 75 in one race with a Carey Transportation 4104 - we were hauling!

Ah, the memories - they're so great!

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Mr 'L' - bystander -

I think we need some anecdotes from old hands who operated either: 1) Most any ACF-Brill IC-37 or IC-41 types,
or 2) Curious reports from old C T S (Continental Trails) runs.

.....................Vern......................

Steve Carras · Age: 64 Joined: 05 Mar 2010 Posts: 63

bystander · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 9:58 pm Post subject: Two speed rears?

Steve:

I got to thinking about what you said. i may ramble a bit here because its been awhile since I played with gearing. Never-the-less, here we go.

We are looking at The Cummins engine with either a 10 speed Roadranger or a Five speed main with a two speed rear. Now we also have a transmission option that top gear could either be direct (1:1) or some Overdrive ratio.And you could spec a rear "Under/direct, or direct/overdrive.
You need to remember to keep enough torque in the lower gears to move you out briskly.

There was also a Detroit 6-71 available just to keep things interesting.

So, put it together any way you like and bring it to Cecil County Dragway to join Me, Mr.Linsky, and Hiway Haulier when we race our favorite old buses.

WET DREAM DIVISION: Mack and Brown-Lipe manufacture(d) auxilary transmissions in two, three, and four speed versions

IMAGINE THE FUN!!! YAYY!!

bystander · Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 10:37 pm Post subject: AAARGHGH!! Now I've done it!!!

I've set my brain off on another Science Fiction Adventure Epic!!

1: If Me, Steve, Hiway Haulier, and Mr. Linsky should ever meet, it won't be at Cecil County Dragway to race buses. It'll probably be over Coffee and Crumb Buns at some Diner.

2:Unless one of us can get Weight, horsepower, Torque specs, gear ratios and drag co-effeciance and get an engineer to crunch the numbers at maximum acceleration on a surfaced,level, tangent course, we will probably never know how our beloved buses would perform, even in Virtual Reality.

3:And I don't think any of us has the discretionary income to build Steve's Dream Bus and acquire all the components to try all the options. I DO, however, have enough tools to do it, except I don't have a torque wrench or a torch.

Ahh, the dream fades even as the days dwindle down to a precious few....
November......December....The days of Racing Buses and.......you?

traildriver · Joined: 26 Mar 2011 Posts: 2701 Location: South Florida

I was cushioning from NYC back to DC late one Sunday night in 1970. I was riding on a deadheading 4106. We were on the turnpike somewhere south of exit 3. We were cruising along at the top speed of around 75mph, when we slowly passed a chromed-up conventional Peterbilt.
After we passed him, he pulled out and slowly passed us. This went on back and forth for miles. My buddy, was getting tired of 'playing games', turned to me and said: "You didn't see a thing, get it?"
He then reached over and flipped on the high idle switch then swiftly pulled up one notch on the "johnson bar" handbrake lever.
All of a sudden the coach starting accelerating. And kept on accelerating.
We flew by that 'Pete' like he was going backwards. The white lines were going by in a blur. The tachograph needle was pegged at 90, and I'm sure we were going considerably faster than that. After putting a big distance between us and that truck, my buddy backed off and returned to a saner speed. Luckily the engine did not blow up or a tire blow out.
We never saw that truck again, and we never talked about that incident.