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By Norm Spaulding
854 is a General Motors coach. It represents the
highest evolution of the transit bus design reached in America. As we progress
further down the road in bus designs, when features are no longer dictated by economy of
operation, profit and reliability, the offerings become less and less efficient. 854
and its siblings could seat 53 passengers in relative comfort. Today's offering,
while exactly the same outside dimensions, can seat 34. Today, design considerations
are made with federal and state regulations and other mandates in mind. They now
have priority over economy and reliability.
Therefore, 854 represents the pinnacle of design,
in another era. That era is gone, but memories remain. I've spent thousands of
hours seated behind the wheel of "new look" coaches in 854's family. In my
younger years, I've sweated through tight schedules, and continuous standing loads in
Cleveland, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Atlanta, and many other urban areas.
854's sisters worked their hearts out for me. They gave me everything I demanded of
them.
By the time I went to work for Golden Gate
Transit in 1974, I really appreciated what 854 and her sisters offered an intense,
heavy-duty urban transit operation in a very special way. Only after I had gone to
work for GGT in San Rafael, CA, did I realize that this was a very unique operation.
Golden Gate Transit had the finest maintenance operation in the United
States. Nothing exceeded it. Attention was paid to the smallest detail.
Countless upgrades for the smallest of reasons were carefully made to every
vehicle in the fleet.
854 is a cross between a suburban and a transit.
It was part of a large order by Golden Gate Transit, in San Rafael, CA. 854 was built in
1972 and spent its life among the highways and biways of Marin County, running between San
Francisco, and Marin and Sonoma County destinations. Golden Gate Transit had unique
specifications for their fleet of coaches. No other coaches were ever built to these
specs. 854 has a single door, luggage racks, reclining seats, and reading lights. It
does not have any baggage bins, since it was intended for suburban and commuter runs. It
has a Detroit Diesel V-8 engine, and is capable of the industry-standard top speed of 72
mph for buses. To this day, approximately 70-75 mph is a standard governor top speed in
the bus business. After all, buses aren't built for the Indianapolis 500! They have a
different mission in life! But, they'll do 70 mph all day, all that night, and
the next day, without missing a beat.
Since suburban and transit buses are not intended
for inter-city operation a la Greyhound or Trailways, a coach like this isn't seen far
from an urban area, and virtually never on cross-country highways.
But 854 like her sisters, happens to be fully
road-worthy, including a 500+ mile fuel range. This thanks to Golden Gate's
specifications, which included an extended-range fuel tank; not a normal part of a transit
order.
In 1975 while working at Golden Gate one Sunday
afternoon on a San Francisco - Santa Rosa run, my late father rode on my bus to Santa
Rosa. The coach was 854.
I acquired 854 in the summer of 1992. It had been
sold as Golden Gate Transit was updating their fleet with new equipment. This was an
incremental upgrade, and many of 854's younger sisters continued operating at Golden Gate
for several more years.
In April 1993, I made my first real road trip
with 854. I looped Grand Junction, Colorado. (In 1992 854 did a quick Reno turn, but this
was a real trip!)
I say "looping" because I sort of do a
loop. My favorite way to take the trip is to leave SFO and highball it to Salt Lake City
on I-80. I usually drive straight through. First stop is Sparks for fuel and food, then I
usually just stop in Nevada for coffee. 854 goes straight on through to S.L.C. for fuel,
500 miles. Leaving S.L.C. I head south a few miles, and then over Soldier Summit on US 6,
and down to I-70, where I head west right in to Grand Junction. Returning to California is
a little different route. I leave Grand Junction and continue west on I-70,
past U.S. Rte 6, to I-25 where I head south for about 100 miles. Then I exit I-70
and turn eastward on a country road. Passing through a couple of small towns on the
way, barefoot kids sometimes stop their playing to stare at a kind of bus they've probably
never seen before. After a pit stop in Milford Utah, I take a road going out
of town in a northeasterly direction. This road runs for about 70 miles, ending in
Nevada at US Rte 50. Those 70 miles are more desolate than anything encountered on
Hwy 50!
While 854 made lots of road trips to other
destinations, including Oregon, it's made this trip many times!
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This is at an overlook in western
Colorado, almost in to Utah on I-70. I'm heading home from Grand Junction, after my first
trip there with 854 in 1993. |
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This pix was
shot through the windshield, at 70 mph. You can just see the road as a straight thin line,
leading to the next mountain range. This is one of the remotest, most
desolate stretches of a 72 mile State Road leading west out of Milford Utah, to U.S. Route
50 just inside Nevada, by about 5 miles. Much of it is a straight line. One climbs
up over a mountain pass, and as you crest it, and start downwards, you can gaze at the
valley ahead, and make out the thread of the road, straight as an arrow, right into the
next mountain range; one after another. Up and over, up and over! A
little twisting and turning going through the peak of the mountain range, then a straight
shot, down through the next valley. You make this journey in solitude. Rarely
does a vehicle pass in the opposite direction!
Milford is a
town totally supported by the UP Railroad (crew changes, etc.). Amtrak's Desert Wind
stopped there before it was taken off. Leaving Milford, heading west on this road, first
the telephone poles run out, then a little farther, even the fences. Then you are left
with nothing! Frequently I've gone 20-30 minutes without seeing any moving thing.
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I originally acquired 854 in 1992,
and after some very minor repair work, 854 hit the road, including trips shown in some of
the pictures here. However, having a bus break down in some small western town with
perhaps 2-300 population is not my idea of fun! Therefore prudence dictated a serious
going-over of 854's engine and accessories, before calamity did strike. Over the period I
owned 854, repairs and cosmetic improvements were made as I was able to do them. In these
pictures, you can note some of the changes. For example, you can look for changes in the
paint scheme, red wheels changed to white wheels, and improved rear view mirrors.
In 1993, 854 went in to the Royal Coach Shops in San Jose, CA, for some major work. Here is 854 in San
Jose temporarily 4,000 lbs lighter. |
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The
lighter weight was due to the removal of the entire power pack, shown here inside Royal
Coach's shops undergoing a rebuild. Taking advantage of easier access to 854's interior
body areas minus the power pack, Royal's mechanic Frank Cantwell also made additional
repairs, such as welding cracks in the firewall, the result of the inevitable ravages that
time and miles will do to any coach during its service lifetime (650,000 miles, in the
case of 854). |
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In
June 1995, at 1:35 AM I parked 854 at the foot of Sutter Street in downtown San Francisco,
and awaited my friend Jim Holland's outbound 3-Sutter bus. (Jim drives for the San
Francisco Municipal Railway). He came rolling around the corner, honked his horn, and
picked up his passengers as the last coach of the night on the 3 Line. I followed him
outbound. At 1:57 AM, he turned in to Presidio, and I went around the corner and
parked on Geary beside his Vanagan (visible parked against the building).
While waiting for Jim, I snapped this picture from across Geary. Jim came out, stopped at
the Vanagan long enough to grab his suitcase, climbed in, and we did a non-stop to Salt
LakeCity (we did make pit stops for meals and fuel!).
After staying overnight the next night (and getting a good night's sleep!) we continued on
to Grand Junction, Colorado |
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Here, 854 is parked across from
where I briefly lived in 1988, in Grand Junction. On this trip, 854 was in its best
condition -- after the rebuild, body parts (all marker lenses and reflectors, all front
window glass), painting, some new tires, etc.
After getting a good night's sleep in Grand Junction, after our arrival on that June, '95
trip, 854 ventured eastward on I-80 about another 100 miles. At a lonely exit, with not a
single structure visible, 854 took the off-ramp, onto a road that soon narrowed down to
about 12 feet in width. As the barren hills closed in on us, 854 became a vehicle totally
out of its "native" urban habitat! After awhile we parked 854 as best we could
beside a gate in a fence. Just for safety, I left the engine running on fast idle. With
nothing but the sound of the gentle wind, I fancied that it would have been quite a wait
for mechanical assistance in that desolate place!
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