General Motors RTS Buses.

[DanCBJMS1988]

Originally Posted by 91 s-10baja

Hooray for bendy buses!

[haleykeek]

i know this may sound off topic,but do any of you people remember the GM4104's and ScenicCruisers of the 50's? man,those were some beautiful busses.I'm looking for a Silver Eagle with a 318 V8 Detroit. possibly an 1985 model to convert to a motorhome.

[CrunkedRL]

Ahh the ubicutous RTS bus. I'm so glad another company pick them up where Nova left so they wouldn't die a quick but horrific death like Flxible bus which BTW was built not too far from where I live here in Ohio.

[GMMediumDutyMQ]

Originally Posted by haleykeek

i know this may sound off topic,but do any of you people remember the GM4104's and ScenicCruisers of the 50's? man,those were some beautiful busses.I'm looking for a Silver Eagle with a 318 V8 Detroit. possibly an 1985 model to convert to a motorhome.

Scenicruisers (aka 4501s) were indeed beautiful, but originally were engineered in a bizzare manner.

Original powertrain (ex-Pontiac) wasn't the 8V-71, but two Detroit Diesel 4-71s, combined via fluid coupling to power the rear axle. Quite a similar set-up to what GM's Euclid division was doing at the time, particuarly within their LLD trucks and 82-80 dozers, respectively.

Understandably, this didn't pan out as too reliable, and by '63, Greyhound had all of the buses rebuilt with a more conventional 8V-71.

GM also had a single-deck variant, the 4905, that was intended to be sold to operators other than Greyhound. The cancellation of this coach (aka "The Golden Chariot") was one of a variety of reasons the relationship between GM and Trailways soured to where Trailways started building the Eagle.

[escaladelover]

Originally Posted by GMMediumDutyMQ

FWIW, no RTS that GM made - outside of the RTX experimental - ever had a rear window.

01 and 03 models - with the "slopebacks" - appeared to have such a feature, but in reality, it was a painted panel that opened for climate system servicing. Most A/C equipment was mounted in this area, on the other side of the rear bulkhead/firewall.



The only RTS' that ever sported a rear window were some of Chicago's TMC Series 08 buses (on left). These models didn't have aircon installed, and subsequently, such a design could be implemented. By 2002, these coaches were retrofitted with A/C, and they no longer sported the rear window (right).

I Hope RTS gets better and better.

[GMMediumDutyMQ]

Originally Posted by escaladelover

I Hope RTS gets better and better.

Um...okay?

[MCGARRETT]

I have been meaning to ask...

What is that large charter bus with RTS headlamps in your avatar? I see the GMC badge in the front, but I have never seen such an animal on the road.

[DanCBJMS1988]

Read his sig. That should give you a clue.

[GMMediumDutyMQ]

Originally Posted by MCGARRETT

I have been meaning to ask...

What is that large charter bus with RTS headlamps in your avatar? I see the GMC badge in the front, but I have never seen such an animal on the road.

Dan does have it partially correct...

The bus is the GMC Triton II, which was essentially a proposal to extensively refresh/revamp the "Buffalo" intercity bus style.

From what I'm able to tell, Truck & Coach took a stock 4905, and went to town on it. Their key arguement for it's production would be it's light weight. The bus used quite a bit of aluminum, which placed it's GVWR within a range where most states didn't require it to use a third tag axle.

The entire front end is all-new; the driver is now placed up higher, and there's only one stairway for entry to the bus. Modified clusters taken from the RTS are used for head and turn lamps.

Large windows (as can be seen in the signature) were also incorporated to increase visibility for passengers. Interestingly, on the other side of the coach, only two of these windows were installed; the remainder continued to be the stock 4905 "slanted" window sashes. The rear of the bus sports a fiberglass cap, albeit some blueprints I've seen show it sporting a rear window once again.

As far as I know, only one such demo was built in late 1978, and was equipped with a 6V-92TA. Sadly, it wasn't to be, and GM quit the intercity market after 1980, meaning it likely was scrapped.

Iconografix's photo archives book on GM Intercity Coaches has a few black & white images of it, but I've got an array upstairs right now that show both interior and exterior in color. I plan on doing a quick write-up on them soon, but if only I had more time...

[Pontiac-Custom-S]

I love the RTS bus, but my favorite was the GM New Look (Fishbowl) Bus from the 60s. You can see an older, Old Look bus behing it from the 50s.

This photo was taken circa, 1970.

[C/K Man]

The 'New Look' was a BUS! Probably the finest piece of public transportation equipment ever designed, they were tough, economical, easy to drive and service, and had a great ride. The RTS, on the other hand, was great at what it was designed to do- meet a bunch of arcane government specifications. As far as being a bus, well.......... I guess with the passing of time (and a host of dismal transit coaches introduced since the RTS like the Gillig Phantom and Grumman Metro), the RTS starts to look pretty good.

[AndrewGS]

You know, the "New Look" could take corners at 55MPH+, jump large gaps and mow through traffic like a knife through bread!





Speaking of buses, Houston is getting 40 New Flyer DE40LFRs with the GM hybrid system between now and June. I may have to go ride one. http://blogs.ridemetro.org/blogs/wri...rid-Buses.aspx

[member12]

Are the hybrids any quieter than the regular busses?

I dont' know what Capitol Area Transit in Baton Rouge has. They are all new....they have futuristic looking front ends with round lights and very small wheels. They seem to be very low to the ground. Maybe one of you know what kind I am talking about. There are pictures of them on here:
http://www.brcats.com/


Either way....they are very loud. You can't talk on a phone if you are walking on a sidewalk near one of these. Of course the operators drive them like they stole them and refuse to stop and crosswalks, etc.

They need to come up with a quieter bus.

[GMMediumDutyMQ]

Originally Posted by member12

Are the hybrids any quieter than the regular busses?

I dont' know what Capitol Area Transit in Baton Rouge has. They are all new....they have futuristic looking front ends with round lights and very small wheels. They seem to be very low to the ground. Maybe one of you know what kind I am talking about. There are pictures of them on here:
http://www.brcats.com/


Either way....they are very loud. You can't talk on a phone if you are walking on a sidewalk near one of these. Of course the operators drive them like they stole them and refuse to stop and crosswalks, etc.

They need to come up with a quieter bus.

Those look like New Flyers. I've not known them to be horrendously loud, but I suppose that also depends on engine choice and rear axle ratios.

As for operator-based bus abuse, you should see what Detroit puts their RTS' through. Hell and back, quite literally...

[nota]

GMMediumDutyMQ, as an afficondo of buses perhaps you may perhaps be interested in the attached picture? Apologies for its small size - the best I can do

I've no doubt you will be familiar with buses of this genre. The pictured unit is a Landliner, one of a batch of several units engineered in post-war Melbourne, Australia and employed for highway express runs for distance commuters until the early 1960s when finally superceded by rail. Other such buses of different design but similar tractor-trailer configuration were briefly popular and operated in various other cities and regions

Landliners were puller-pushers featuring twin petrol engines (either Lincoln V12 or Buick straight-eight iirc) with one engine in the 'punt' and the other assisting at rear on demand. However in service it was found that economy improved when both engines were running together. Up to 60 passengers could be accomodated and I still remember being one of them. The driver rode centrally on a turntable affixed to the punt and rotated as it did when cornering, a most unusual sight