Leif in Calif Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 I know I could have (probably should have) posted this in the Photos forum, but I thought it was too good for that often overlooked spot. The County Historical Society sent me this today...Looks like those kids on the end will need to really hang on! Here's Mr. Schmidt, Sonoma's first school bus driver, with his custom-built 1924 Ford truck full of students ready to head home, circa 1930. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryB Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 That’s a great photo and an opportunity for others to add to this thread with similar. I walked to grade school and didn’t ride a bus until high school in 1966. The famous yellow bus with a standard transmission and a driver who had trouble with shifting the manual gearbox without grinding. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leif in Calif Posted August 13 Author Share Posted August 13 39 minutes ago, TerryB said: That’s a great photo and an opportunity for others to add to this thread with similar. I walked to grade school and didn’t ride a bus until high school in 1966. The famous yellow bus with a standard transmission and a driver who had trouble with shifting the manual gearbox without grinding. I also walked or rode my bicycle, but my parents always sent me to summer school which was farther away and so I took the typical yellow school bus. There was a place on the route that was a rail road crossing which was slightly elevated but the tracks had been removed years before. The bus driver would announce "If you kids are good this morning, we'll go over the bump real fast for fun!" Kids in the last seats would really fly! Probably not OK today! 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryB Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 Our usual bus driver was a guy named Earl, when he missed a gear the guys would shout “grind us another pound of hamburger Earl!”. I don’t think he appreciated our humor. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketraider Posted August 13 Share Posted August 13 How many of you drove a school bus as a high school student? Not sure when Virginia stopped using student bus drivers but I drove one my senior year, 1973-74. I started out driving the same 1963 Ford bus I rode all through grade school. It was showing its miles by that time. Had to get the kid riding the front passenger seat to hold the shifter in high gear going up long grades to keep it from popping out of gear, and there were several of those on my route. You can imagine vacuum wipers going up those long grades. I got a new International bus after Christmas break and it was so nice compared to the Ford. I had a dentist appointment one afternoon so the substitute driver took the afternoon route. The substitute forgot to release the hand brake when she left the high school, and burned the back brakes off that new bus that had been in service less than two weeks. I got home that afternoon and there was old Bus 69 waiting for me. Took the bus garage 3 weeks to fix the International. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAKerry Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 During elementary school our bus driver was a farmers wife. She was maybe 4' tall at the most. There were wooded blocks attached to the pedals. My next door neighbors mom worked in the office of the high school and I rode with them most of the time until I got my license. I probably rode the bus to school, grade 7-12 no more than a dozen times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zepher Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 I never rode a school bus daily. Always walked or got a ride with someone. We lived one tenth of a mile short of the area needed for bus rides. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wells Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 (edited) I attended a small high school in the late 1950's that had only one school bus. It was a WWII war surplus REO that was used to transport the athletic teams and their equipment to away games. On one trip home after a track meet, on a long down hill grade, the brakes gave out. Our coach/driver kept his cool as long as he could but then, on a long straight away, he decided to steer the bus into the bushes and trees lining the hill on the side of the road to slow the momentum. Luckily for all aboard, the manuever worked and finally stopped us safely. The poor bus was scraped and dented but stayed upright the whole time. It took hours to contact parents to retrieve the team and equipment. We never saw that old bus again, but with any luck, it lived on with a bunch of hippies through the 1960's. Edited August 14 by Dave Wells (see edit history) 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Rode a bus from middle school through high school. Never had a car until I was out of HS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge55Royal Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 I'm the oldest of seven. We lived right across the street from our school (St. Anastasia School in Waukegan, IL) so we were allowed to go home for lunch. It was just the opposite for high school. My (late) brother Tom and I had to attend an all boys Catholic high school 15 miles away in Mundelein. Our bus driver's name was Mack and the bus company was Ritzenthaler. Did any of you guys ever get slapped, punched, whipped with a belt or beaten on the rear end with a long paddle by a teacher or coach? I did. Maybe that's why I didn't like high school too much. LOL.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAKerry Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 Just a regular ole public elementary school. But our principal had a large paddle that he would use. Some got it more than others, LOL. I was never paddled but had to do the 'bear walk' around the perimeter of the school. One time was enough, stayed on the straight and narrow after that. At least until HS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Roth Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 Never rode a school bus - Elementary - walked 2 blocks High School - walked nearly 1.5 miles each way first 3 years, but then got my license and my red 10 year old $75.00 1949 Pontiac convertible Junior High - rode choice of 2 different private bus companies, but still had almost 1.5 miles to walk each way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 I had to walk 2 miles. Up hill.............Bob 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28 Chrysler Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 In the unincorporated town where I live now, the first public school the teacher picked up the students in her 1941 Plymouth sedan. I can't find the copy of the photo of her car loaded with about 6 kids Electric power and telephone were first run in 1963. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Cocuzza Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 6 hours ago, Bhigdog said: I had to walk 2 miles. Up hill.............Bob I'll bet both ways,too..... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 8 hours ago, Joe Cocuzza said: I'll bet both ways,too..... Yup. In snow...... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge55Royal Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 13 minutes ago, Bhigdog said: Yup. In snow...... You forgot barefoot... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skvitt Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 14 minutes ago, Bhigdog said: Yup. In snow...... Against the wind.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhigdog Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 59 minutes ago, Skvitt said: Against the wind.... After I built the fire, slopped the hogs, and milked the cows...........Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 2 hours ago, Bhigdog said: After I built the fire, slopped the hogs, and milked the cows...........Bob Kids today have it so easy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted August 16 Share Posted August 16 1 hour ago, Larry Schramm said: Kids today have it so easy. DON'T WE ALL? Ben 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Skelly Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 Dad went to school in Detroit and mentioned seeing school buses with heavy wire mesh on the windows for the incorrigible kids. It was like a mini jail on wheels! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 On 8/16/2024 at 8:31 AM, Larry Schramm said: Kids today have it so easy. Okay, it's obviously time to revisit the four Yorkshiremen! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge55Royal Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 Very funny! Was this before they were on Monty Python? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil morse Posted August 17 Share Posted August 17 "At Last The 1948 Show" featured (left to right) Tim Brook-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, and Marty Feldman. Cleese and Chapman went on to do Monty Python. Feldman is probably best known in the US for his brilliant portrayal of Igor in "Young Frankenstein." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Dobbin Posted August 19 Share Posted August 19 (edited) Couldn't open Leif's photo. We lived 1.9 miles from the school and rode my bicycle most of the 8 years in Valley Road School and walked when the bike was broken. I saw Albert Einstein many days when I walked thru the Institute For Advanced Studies Campus in Princeton NJ. Now, 70 years later, I look like him. (Great minds Look Alike) Post Script: After posting this I remembered riding the bus when I would get on the bus with a friend going to the neighborhood .just outside the 2 mile limit, and walk back home. Worked best on rain or snow days. Edited September 5 by Paul Dobbin added Post Script (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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