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Work continues on 4107… last week we showed you the beginning of work to clean off old grease from wheels and brakes. This past Sunday, Richard Dyer was completing the task. You can clearly see the difference between the “before” and ”after” views of the king pin, and the amount of material removed. Meanwhile Milan Streit cleans the brake drums and shoes.

April Director’s Meeting

The Director’s meeting was held at the Anvil Centre on April 5th. All members are welcome to attend — it’s a chance to catch up on the activities of the Society, and to hear and comment on our plans. But perhaps the most important aspect is the opportunity for the social “chit-chat” (as Sue Walker, who took these photos, calls it.)

(Appearing in the pictures: Michael Taylor-Noonan, Oscar Kapsa, Rob Chew. Centre: Angus Macintyre chats with Robert Farringer. Bottom: Ewan Streit and Dale Laird)

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It was bath-time for 4612 this past Sunday. Ewan Streit gave it a scrub down in preparation for its appearance at this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival (Big Picnic). That’ll be held Saturday March 30th, 10:00a to 4:00p in David Lam Park at Homer and Pacific. And…. Could there be a fan-trip in its future?! Stay tuned!

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This past Sunday (17^th March 2024) Sean Keating, Kyle Little and Jason Sharpe removed the front wheels of 4107. They’ll repack bearings and inspect brake drums and suspension.

Sean Keating instructs Kyle on removing wheel nuts

Kyle Little uses a locking axle nut wrench to allow removal of 4107’s front wheel

Jason Sharpe and Kyle Little remove the front wheel, and Sean shows Kyle how to inspect the drum

Meanwhile….

While archiving some documents I came across these notes:

The pages describe 730’s (as UPF 642) few months on its last assignment in Maple Ridge (after service in Powell River and Mission). That was 1987, and really, nothing has changed. It does reinforce our decision to convert 4107 as a second museum bus to handle most of our outreach program!

You talking’ ‘bout me? (John Day photo)

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On March 5^th, 2024, TMS President Bryan Larrabee drove our 1964 GM ‘Fishbowl’ to BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Matthew & Lawrence Walker attended as hosts. It was a short two-hour event that we attended at the request of hospital administration and TransLink.

Like many hospitals, BC Children’s (and the adjoining Women’s Health Centre) has a shortage of parking. One solution is to encourage hospital staff to take transit to work. Timed to coincide with staff lunch breaks, representatives from the Provincial Health Services Authority and Fraser Health staffed tables to encourage hospital employees to purchase discounted transit passes. 4612 attended to advertise the event and attract staff.

From 11am to 2pm, 120 people boarded 4612 for a look around no doubt reliving memories of taking transit many years ago! (Photos by Matthew Walker, Bryan Larrabee)

West Vancouver #712 in downtown Vancouver on October 20, 2009. Photos captured by Peter McLaughlin, courtesy of busdrawings.com

The Crown

Milan (pictured below) and Ewan Streit have been restoring the ‘crown’ from West Vancouver D60LFR #712. They used parts from an older version, though we are not sure from which vehicle that came.

And finally, Bryan happened to pass by the ‘flower shop’ on Roseberry Avenue in Burnaby. Our former home, Unit #6, has long been demolished and the new warehouse is taking shape. (Photos: Bryan Larrabee)

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Seems ironic, but just as our Langley shop regained heat, work began on our 1982 GM ‘New Look’ to remove heat. For quite some time the coach had a leak in the piping connecting the passenger heaters to the radiator. Too, the heater cores needed attention, so the decision was made to bypass the heating system. Since the bus will no longer be in service, this will not affect the operation: visitors in the winter will be dressed for the weather, and in the summer we will not need heat! The driver’s heater remains operational. This past Sunday (March 3^rd 2024), the 4107 Mobile Museum project leader Jason Sharpe began work on the bypass. To open the ‘barn doors’ enclosing the heating cores, 4107 had to be raised. Jason was aided by Milan Streit; Milan’s first task was to drive the coach onto the ramps. There’s no room for error here!

Photographs: Matthew Walker, Ewan Streit, and Michael Taylor-Noonan

New Board Elected

At the 2024 Annual General Meeting, held March 1^st 2024, a new Board of Directors was elected by members of the Transit Museum Society. ‘New” refers to the date of its term, for the 2024-2025 Board is comprised entirely of members of the previous Board.

The 2024/25 Board of Directors (left to right): Jason Sharpe, Lawrence Walker, Michael Taylor-Noonan (Vice President), Sue Walker, Bryan Larrabee (President), Milan Streit, Rob Chew and Angus McIntyre.

Full disclosure: I didn’t manage to photograph the new Board before Jason left the Anvil Centre. Milan was absent. So, I reused this photograph of the 2023-2024 Board. Trust me, despite being a year older and wiser, our appearances haven’t changed!

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Last Sunday, our shop work-party had a noticeable spring in their step. The reason? Our Langley facility finally had heat! For the past two months or so, we and our neighbours have been without it – the natural gas heating units had failed. We still had heat in our office, but the shop had to rely on electric heaters our landlord supplied. Mindful of the expense their operation would incur, we used them sparingly to keep the space at 6 deg. C.

Last week, Parkinson’s Heating completed installation of our four units, and those of our neighbours. Being ceiling mounted, we had to move our buses to allow access. Lawrence Walker and Bryan Larrabee organized the operation. We even helped out with our fork-lift, expertly operated by Lawrence, who also supervised the moving of our buses.

Preserving History in Langley

In February, President Bryan Larrabee and myself (Michael Taylor-Noonan, Vice-President) attended a roundtable discussion hosted by Langley MP John Aldag. It was held at Langley City Hall. The subject was the state of heritage in the Langley & the Lower Mainland. MP Aldag wanted to hear of the experiences and challenges of heritage societies and museums in preserving our history. It’s a topic he is most interested in, especially in relation to the role of the federal government. For us, and our fellow attendees, it was a chance to meet and get to know the work of our neighbouring organizations: the BC Farm Museum, Langley Centennial Museum, Langley Heritage Society, Fraser Valley Heritage Railway, Fort Langley, the Museum of Flight and BC Vintage Truck Museum.

(John Aldag, MP is centre 5th from left, with Bryan 2nd from right, Michael extreme left. Photo: Megan Waddington)

Striking is the fact that all the organisations, including ourselves, are facing hurdles to their continued operation. Some of these are significant: loss of facilities, loss of funding, and aging of members. Thankfully, in the past few years, TMS has attracted many younger members which bodes well for our future. Possible redevelopment of museum properties is a challenge for the Museum of Flight and the Truck Museum. Even where this is not a prospect, as in the case of the Farm Museum, delays in receiving planning permission can impact fundraising for new facilities. MP Aldag told of federal belt-tightening which may affect funding of sites such as Fort Langley. Federal assistance may be contingent on having some paid staff — most of the organizations are entirely volunteer.  

Participants agreed that the Province and municipal governments tend to under-estimate the value of our organizations to their communities, in both educational and economic value. The Musuem of Flight, for example, welcomed many international visitors since the pandemic. Perhaps this under-estimation is partly of our own making; even though there are many heritage museums and societies in the Langley area, there is very little co-operation and co-ordination between them. It was agreed that this fragmentation is a barrier to us “selling” Langley as a tourist heritage destination.  We hope to correct this, and work closer, to promote “circle tours” for instance. Fort Langley expressed interest in working with us to give tours in the townsite and the city of Langley will welcome our attendance at its summer festival. 

And, finally, as food for thought on our own future: The Museum of Flight told of an unintended consequence of the Federal government’s “de-carbonization” programs: the presence of Ethanol in avaition fuel is leading to increased wear within airplane engines. Could Canada’s push to a green future endanger our ability to run diesel and gasoline powered buses?

While waiting for Bryan in the lobby, I noticed two paintings, both of a familiar scene, depicted in our DVD, Then & Now. It is of an interurban arriving in Langley. Both paintings were by noted artist Brian Croft who has a passion for transit history.

 

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BlackBoxMyCar is a local Richmond, BC company specializing in dashcams. They kindly donated two units for us to install on our buses. We’ve produced a short video about them and the installation, which was performed by our Electrician, Jason Sharpe.

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This past weekend (February 10/11^th, 2024) saw our 1996 coach, #9753, take part in two outings. On Saturday, driver Chris Cassidy took it on a “Back to Vancouver” fan-trip.

The points of interest included Memorial South Park, former Oakridge Transit Centre, Canada Lands Company – Regional Office former RCMP office, Queen Elizabeth Park, Hayes-Anderson Factory Stanley Park, Chilco loop and former Joyce trolley loop.

The tour was designed by Ewan Streit.  It was Ewan’s first attempt at routing a fan-trip, and we’re told that the 21 passengers thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to Milan, we made a small profit, which allowed us to offset the costs associated with 9753’s next day out on the following day.

(Matthew Walker)

 

(Photos: Ewan Streit)

The inclement weather couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds ling the parade route of the 50th anniversary of the Spring Festival Parade. Nor could it dampen the enthusiasm of our volunteers accompanying 9753 as it travelled the parade route along Pender, Gore & Keefer Sts.

It was a horrible wet day

We all got soaked

There were a few times when the rain slowed.

Most of the time very wet and cold, but it was all worth it! We enjoyed the parade!

(Sue Walker)

The Parade Driver was Anthony Sherst. The hosts: Hubert Leong, Steve Goodman, Ewan Streit, Rian Fatemi, Rob Chew, Francis He, Oscar Kapsa, Ophelia Lo, Leland Babic, Isaac Tam, Martin Wu, Nathen Sheng, Aden Wong, Jacquie Sherst, Matthew Walker, Sue Walker and Lawrence Walker. 

Parade photos: Martin Wu and Lawrence Walker) Gung Hay Fat Choy. (新年好)

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