It’s been a long time since the last post to the Transit Museum Society blog. Truth was, we had no-one who was willing to take on the job of “TMS Blogger!” Well, now we have! Rachel Lee has just joined our Society… it’s a bit confusing if she volunteered to be our Social Media Co-ordinator or we (the older, un-connected, uncool types) volunteered her. Anyway, she took it in her stride, and even agreed to resurrect our blog.
During our conversation, she let it slip that she is passionate about social media and its possibilities. You may have seen her Facebook page, complete with a web-comic about transit. The page attracted the attention of the social types who keep TransLink online: they asked if she would draw some artwork for an upcoming edition of The Buzzer.
She agreed. Her artwork graced an edition promoting the transit authority’s vision of how we may get around in the future, asking for ideas from the public. Lee took her interpretations of the vehicles we see everyday, gave them personalities, and drew what they thought the future may look like: submarines, helicopters, rocket-packs and space-ships. All were combined into a stunning illustration for the brochure.
Lee says she has been drawing since a child. But she wasn’t fond of the traditional subjects of culture, portraits, and landscapes. She wanted to focus on something Canadian, but local. That’s when she decided that transit was the ideal subject for her artwork and Facebook page. And she developed her unique style, based, she says, on web-comics and fan-art.
Rachel Lee holds a copy of The Buzzer with her illustration on the cover. (Sue Walker)
After being contacted by TransLink, she was given a tour of Vancouver Transit Centre. That’s when she realized that buses were cool. Lee was also impressed by the huge undertaking needed to run a large transit operation. She also realized that nobody is doing fan-art of buses, and definitely no-one is creating fan-art of TransLink buses.
So, we’re happy to welcome Lee to the Transit Museum Society. In her role as Social Media Co-ordinator she’ll look after our two Facebook pages, and breathe new life into our Twitter account. (Yes, we have one. Like the blog it’s been asleep for many years!) She has plans for Instagram too. And, of course, the blog. (Which, by the way, needs a name. If you have a suggestion, you can email Rachel: social@transitmuseumsociety.org!)
A few months ago I was having coffee with my friend James Pearson who happens to work for 911 Filmcars. They provide an array of vehicles for the film industry. In passing I happened to ask about a derelict GM Oldlook bus that had been stored for some time off Byrne Road in Burnaby. The bus had mysteriously disappeared. James wasn’t sure where the bus went and I mentioned that if they decide to scrap it, keep us in mind because we might want to take some seats and other parts.
The discussion was forgotten by both of us until a rainy Tuesday afternoon in December. Around 3:30 pm I got an urgent call from James. The Oldlook bus had been parked at a film set near the Golden Ears Bridge for a few months. 911 Filmcars had to move it immediately and they decided to ask James to arrange to have it towed to scrap.
James asked if the Transit Museum could have it if they paid for the towing and they said yes but it would have to be moved immediately. My first call was to Dale Laird, our President, to ask “Can we take this bus? At the very least we could part it out and scrap it to recover our towing costs”. Dale was concerned about finding a place to park it because the City of Burnaby won’t allow us to park unlicensed buses outside in our compound. After some discussion he agreed we could take it.
My next call was to Angus McIntyre who is on our Board of Directors. Angus has a good contact within Mundies Towing and if anyone can get us a tow truck on short notice, it’s Angus. He was very doubtful and asked if there was any way we could make arrangements for the next day. I said I would try and in the meantime he would call Mundies. As Angus was arranging for a tow truck for noon the next day, I was finding out that the bus couldn’t wait. It had to be gone that night. We were going to miss the chance to acquire the bus.
I texted Mundies to say “Sorry it won’t work for us, the bus has go tonight”. My phone rang immediately and Mundies said “Tonight is better. We have a truck clearing in Port Kells right now!” So I called James back and told him we could do it after all. He made arrangements with the movie lot and we agreed to drop everything and meet the tow truck at our Roseberry shop. I arrived 10 minutes before James and was moving a bus out of the shop to make room when the tow truck with bus in tow came sailing around the corner.
The driver showed his skill and backed the derelict Oldlook right into the shop, disconnected and drove away. It was 7pm. It only took three and a half hours from the first phone call to delivery of the bus. This left James and I standing there looking in silence at an extremely dirty bus full of junk and smelling like musky mold. James looked at me and broke the silence by saying “What have we done?”
We had to leave a licensed bus outside while we rallied the Board of Directors to decide what to do with the derelict Oldlook. I immediately evoked a “cone of silence” over the bus until all the Directors were informed and the Board had a chance to discuss the fate of the bus. I didn’t want our volunteers to start posting pictures until the directors had a chance to consider options. In the meantime James was able to tell us that all the glass on the bus had been replaced, the fuel tank had been cleaned out and various bus parts were stored inside. All the seats were intact except the driver’s seat. There were old wasp nests to remove and a layer of dirt both inside and outside of the bus. We had to use N95 respirators to work on the inside of the bus.
I bought some rubbermaid containers and we used them to store bus parts as we removed them. We found garbage and mouldy cardboard that fell apart as we tried to remove it. We pushed the bus outside on a Sunday and Kyle Little power washed part of the exterior as Harry Vagg and I worked on the interior. Over the next week, Jason Sharpe and Matthew Walker joined in the cleanup. At the Directors meeting it was agreed that we will have the bus assessed first for structural integrity (the floor, bulkheads and suspension). The second assessment will be for mechanical condition (driveline, engine and transmission). We will ask a Detroit Diesel mechanic to give us a recommendation. We understand that if the Museum keeps the bus, it will become a long term project. The bus was given fleet #740 when it first operated in Victoria and later assumed the current fleet #678 when it saw service in Prince George. This information is not verified but if we keep the bus, should it be known as #740 or #678?
Expo Buses