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CTHA annual outing to the Hamilton Antique Auto Show

 
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:43 pm    Post subject: CTHA annual outing to the Hamilton Antique Auto Show Reply with quote

The Cincinnati Transit Historical Association (of which yours truly is a founding member) set out for the annual Hamilton, Ohio Antique Auto Show this morning.

In spite of torrential rain and belligerent thunderstorms, we began humbly at the TANK facility in Northern Kentucky with two of TANK's five historic buses. TDH4517 #703 is a 1960 product of Pontiac and was one of the first new look buses in Kentucky. TDH3612 #209 is one of 10 buses purchased new in 1950 to replace the last northern Kentucky streetcars on the Fort Mitchell route. Both buses were basket cases when recovered by TANK, and both have been lovingly restored by TANK shop personnel in their spare time and both run great most of the time.



Driving into the sunshine approaching the Hamilton County Fairgrounds in Cincinnati, we joined up with the CTHA vehicles being prepared for the trek. TDH5105 #359 was not going this year, due to transmission problems, but it looked good in the only sunshine of the day:



But alas, all was not well, thanks to ultra low sulphur diesel fuel and its affect on old fuel tanks and any debris or crap located therein. Both 703 and 209 suffered fuel filter issues and had to be nursed back to TANK.

Hurrying back up to Hamilton, we caught CTHA/CN&C 1953 TDH4512 #273 (ex-Harrisburg Railways, ex-COLTS) during the mid-parade stop and judging. #209 and #273 are in the classic Dixie Traction Company color scheme applied to new purchases of buses in the early fifties. Dixie Traction was owned by Cincinnati, Newport and Covington Street Railway, and hence all of the buses were painted similarly. No disrespect to the New York Green Bus Lines, CN&C was called "The Green Line" locally in northern Kentucky since early streetcar days!



There were some fine autos and a few antique trucks in the parade as well -- most built and seen daily long before many of you on this forum were even born! Among the group of antique autos was the largest gathering of Chevy Corvairs I had ever seen outside of a dealer showroom -- and none of them were spewing or burning oil!

The TANK new look and the CTHA 4512 got a total of three trophies, shown here behind the Butler County Courthouse in downtown Hamilton. The storms rolled back in later in the afternoon and after I returned to Louisville, but a good time was had by all. The crew posing with the trophies includes CTHA members, two of whom are former Cincinnati Transit and Queen City Metro employees. All four have donated many hundreds of hours of work on restoration of these buses and deserve credit for CTHA having one of the largest operable fleets of antique transit vehicles in the country!



FYI - CTHA holds meetings monthly except August and February on the third Saturday at Metro's Queensgate facility. Anyone is welcome to attend meetings. A monthly newsletter that focuses on transit in the region is published 11 times a year. If you're interested, the website is:

www.ctha.org

timecruncher
Hell yes, I'm old!


Last edited by timecruncher on Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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timecruncher



Age: 73
Joined: 23 Dec 2008
Posts: 456
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just a few more:





And a couple of the TDH3612 from previous dates:





And one of the other restored buses. In truth, 1901 was never actually retired from service. TANK got the first big batch of AM-General 10235 units (even before Metrobus in Washington):





The other two are nasty old Flxible Metros from 1992... Some other time, perhaps!

timecruncher
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