This old bus

[bluenose25]

This picture appeared in a book about a small town in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

 

The picture can be accurately dated with a year or two of 1948, although the bus could well be older.

 

The picture was tightly cropped to fit the available page space in the book, but the front appears to be symmetrical and the right half is completely there.

 

The design could pre-date the use of destination plaques above the windshield. A military bus wouldn’t need one, though.

 

Could be a school bus, might be yellow, but the luggage rack on top wouldn’t make much sense.

 

The three running lights about the center of the windshield weren’t universal.

 

There could be a slight lean-back aerodynamic shaping to the front, hard to say.

 

“cab forward (U.S.), flat nose (Canada)” seems to fit.

 

Very truck-like – possibly a modification? Side windows seem regular, though.

 

No front plate, no visible permits. 

 

I've looked at hundreds of pics with Google, but few resemble this. 

 

Thoughts? (Thx.)

 

[TerryB]

Maybe a Crown school bus?  1940 era?

Edited June 14, 2022 by TerryB (see edit history)

[pkhammer]

My first thought was of a railbus or trolley of some sort.

[pkhammer]

Maybe???

[joe_padavano]

3 minutes ago, pkhammer said:

Maybe???

Uh...

 

[pkhammer]

Obviously not the same unit but I was trying to illustrate that the original photo COULD be a railbus.

[bluenose25]

Good ideas, similarities to both the schoolbus and the railbus.

 

As a railbus, would it need the three running lights over the windshield?

 

No rails or ties visible in the shadows, but could be a "de-railed" railbus design. Many of the pics I viewed had School Bus painted there.

 

With the grille on the front, the terminology might be "forward engine".

 

[pkhammer]

Entirely possible. Some were equipped for road and rail similar to the modern railroad maintenance-of-way trucks.

[TerryB]

Crown Coach Bus, somewhat similar

 

[Rusty_OToole]

Cape Breton Nova Scotia 1948. It looks like a bus built on a truck chassis. But there is no emblem visible, in fact, no numbers or paint scheme visible, not even a license plate. Could be a town bus but the luggage rack argues for a hiway coach travelling between small towns. Could also be a rail car, who knows. Was there a caption in the book?

[bluenose25]

I have more in this expanded pic. (The book is in one province, and I am in another.)

 

But if the chassis was modified (as stated), would that change the front end appearance? Maybe change the bumper height?

 

Throw Studebaker in the mix as possibly either the bus body or the chassis.

 

The year is specified on the page reverse as being 1942-1944, although I would contest this and still place it c1948.

 

The bus possibly ran from Halifax to Sidney. A roof rack would make more sense for long distance travel (like Halifax to Sydney). A roof rack would permit travelers to carry more luggage, and would increase freight capacity - freight being more likely with a run of that length than with a shorter local/regional run. In the 40's, Halifax to Sydney would likely take 8 hours one way.

 

Might be unidentifiable if custom.

 

 

Magnified view using a low-power microscope.

 

[bluenose25]

Another expansion.

 

Grand River wouldn't be much of a run from Sydney (maybe 2 hours in the 1940's), but might have been all that they were up to prior to the chassis was modified. If it was modified for engine size, that to me would speak to a need for greater range. If modified for wheel base or for a rear extension, that might only mean more seats.

 

[joe_padavano]

14 hours ago, pkhammer said:

Obviously not the same unit but I was trying to illustrate that the original photo COULD be a railbus.

Got it. That makes more sense.

 

[Gunsmoke]

I grew up in the area this bus would have operated, certainly no rail system. I don't expect any clues from front view will shed light on what lies beneath. Body/lights/bumper etc seem sorta homemade (some metal work shop). The grill is only curious piece, appearing to have a crank hole at lower center, but coming up too high (to bottom of windshield) to service a radiator (radiator would have to be in driver's compartment). So my thinking is that even the grille was either made up, or purloined from a truck like vehicle and simply "stuck" on the front and built around, or is the only visible piece of the rolling chassis lying underneath this crude body. So if we could find a grille that looks like that in some truck/tractor like vehicle that may be a close as we get. 

[JACK M]

For some reason I picture this bus smoking thru some third world country loaded with guys on the roof and goats and chickens inside with the women and children.

[bluenose25]

 

I edited the grille image to make it symmetrical and evenly lit. 

 

Just an idea, may or may not have looked like this.