This bus is sitting on the land next to the place where I store my "spare" trucks parts out in East San Diego county. Just thought I'd share some pics...

 

Do you think it has a chance? Or is it just going to rust away?

 

That's pretty cool. What series is it. It looks like it has the Big Job emblems on the hood.

The bus they used to haul wounded soldiers in MASH was a 54 6 cylinder..... interesting since the Korean War ended in 1954.

 

I have never talked to the property owner about the bus, but knowing how most of the residents of this part of the county are, I would have to say that it could be bought. I don't know much about these commercial rigs, I just thought that someone here may see something in this bus that the average Joe (me) would have missed. This is parked about 1/2 mile off a back road so if you don't have business on that private drive you would never even see this thing.

 

Hey Ilya! There's your bus!

 

Somehow I don't think the danger in that area is from rusting. Maybe someone hauling scrap though. Heck, I'd move right in.

 

Looks like a typical Wayne windshield B-700 fairly rare for a bus most were B600s. The
reason was most districts had specs. that the winning 'bid' contractor had to go by.
Some districts had no specs or age limits. Most age limits were around 5-6 yrs then
some 1 -2 years. So we would revolve these units we new ones were purchased.

 

I just noticed what looks like a smokestack on top behind the drivers seat. Does this bus have a stove in it?

What is that coming out of the roof?

 

It probably was turned into a Hippie's party/rv/house bus

 

Not uncommon to see these old buses that had been converted to motorhomes or camps when they reached the end of their school duties. That one looks like someone failed to take the low clearance sign seriously.

 

Hey Ken, That is probably an exact copy of the bus that went into the Big Sandy River in Prestonsburg in 1958 and killed those 27 kids. I am almost certain they said it was a 1954 Ford in that documentary.

 

It is still the worst School Bus accident of all time. It is tied with the Carrollton crash as the worst Bus accident in American history. (The bus in the Carrollton crash was no longer a school bus.)

With bigger buses, more kids being moved, and heavier daily traffic, it is amazing that a crash that happened 56 years ago would still be the worst.

I think it's a testament to better training, better equipment, and better roads.

I've never seen "The very worst thing." I knew the bus was a fifty something but didn't know what year.

 

I drove a school bus in college after the knees went out and couldn't play ball anymore. When you have 40 or so kids behind you that are your responsibility you really get serious about driving. Mine was in central IL one winter I dropped off the last kid and had about a mile long steep hill to go down out in the country that was solid ice. That bus started skidding from side to side all the way down the hill - it was a so far so good until I got to the bottom and a car pulled out from a side street I hit it and pushed it a few hundred feet. All I could think of was thank god no kids were on board. My boss was ok as there was nothing I could have done about it. But when things go wrong in those top heavy unstable beast they go wrong very fast. It is amazing more kids are not killed of seriously hurt each year

 

And while on the subject... Anybody know why they don't have seat belts on school busses, or even city and greyhound busses? Just always wondered. But I have to say that's an amazing safety record, I had no idea.

 

Statistically speaking, school buses are already the safest form of transportation in the US. The seats are designed to keep the kids between them and to absorb most of the impact in a collision. That's why the seats are so close together. Seat belts can also cause serious injury, even in a minor collision, if there is no shoulder harness and/or the kids are not sitting against the back of the seat facing forward.

Supposedly the only time a seat belt would make the buses safer is in the event of a rollover, which is (again) statistically rare.

In Kentucky, we've been beat over the head with this for years. The two worst school (type) bus crashes in the US happened here. (27 deaths each)

Incidentally, in both crashes it is believed that everyone survived the impact but were killed because they couldn't get out of the buses quickly enough afterward. It is believed by many that seat belts would have actually caused more casualties in both cases.