Anyone ever see this Santa Fe?

Superbus!!!!!!! Dang ugly, I like it.

The one bus they made ran from Los Angeles to San Francisco with a trailer until 1951. Wish they saved it. Don

I really want a model of it.  I mean, with a Torsilastic suspension - Oh My!

A vintage articulated bus!  Here is another one.

Lee, it sounds like the suspension was made of rubber bands...I do think it would be a very cool model. 

Don

So......whats stopping you Lee? Just make it!

hello guys and gals.........

Too bad they don't make buses like that today.

the woman who loves the S.F.5011

Tiffany

Yes Tiffany, wouldn't you love to travel in that bus. I would. Wouldn't it be amazing to make a private coach out of something like that. Don

In 1946 Kaiser built a 60-foot articulated over-the-road coach was constructed as a speculation and operated between Los Angeles and San Francisco by Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co., a member of the National Trailways association. The body was constructed of a magnesium-aluminum alloy. A 6-cylinder Cummins diesel engine was mounted beneath the floor of the forward section, with a separate air-conditioning unit under the floor in the rear. There was space for 378 cubic feet of baggage in under¬floor compartments. Suspension was the so-called “Torsilastic” system of rubber bonded between the walls of concentric tubes, a design pioneered by Twin Coach and later used by Flxible and Bus & Car (on the Silver Eagle). The pilot was never duplicated; it operated in regular service until 1951.

The Kaiser Bus was a contract job between Kaiser Engineers and the Santa Fe Railroad.  Like other western train lines, Santa Fe used busses to connect various areas rather than run regular train service between the cities.  Busses were cheaper to operate on the low volume lines.  They went into service during 1946-47.

As far as is known, all the busses were scrapped during the 1950′s.  Their heavy % content of magnesium helped enhance their salvage value.

There is some disagreement as to whether just one or up to six were built. The bus ended its life in Trailways livery, until 1951.

And there was the GM FuturLiner.  Some are still around.  You can own one for only $795,000.    http://www.bargainbusnews.com/...ralMotorsFuturliner/

And then subject it to some kind of test.

Here's a more modern version. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) ran these for awhile, but stopped using them about ten years ago.

JP look at this. http://youtu.be/4KQKlg4mWc0

Don

This is a good one too...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...=1&v=JVbqaHdVcg8

And this is when I got inside one in 2009:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?N...fc0&feature=fvwp

Yes this thread is train related after all.  Watch the video and see what's inside one of the FutureLiners.  Now if I had the $795,000, I'd take the ones with the trains inside.

To avoid headaches, keep watch for low bridges. Especially at night.

A couple years back one of these went across the auction block at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale.

Offspring.

The CTA here in Chicago has and is still using them...here is the newest version....

And then subject it to some kind of test.

This is really a nifty looking bus - very post-War, science fictiony look to it - can't you just see a drawing of it on the cover of some late '40s Popular Mechanics with a headline like "Future Travelers Will Go Coast to Coast on Luxury Buses in Two Days"

I would love to model it, but scratch building it would be a pain, I imagine.  If I can find something to bash, maybe get a couple of Corgi models to play with, it might be an idea.  Making it run on 'Streets would be nice, too.  Then I could test how well it goes around tight corners. 

I think modern three-axle articulated buses are not derivatives of this Kaiser bus but simply newly engineered while using that good idea.  The Torsilastic (torsion bars of course) was used on a lot of buses including many Trailways used in the '50s.  I think most modern three-axle articulated buses use a different type since they are mostly urban and have the "kneeling" feature.

Torsilastic suspension is still in common use today. BF-Goodrich is one company that  manufactures them for use in many applications.  http://www.giantrvonline.com/chassis/velvet_ride.htm

http://blog.hemmings.com/index...p-the-boys-overseas/