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Hi, Does anyone know anything about the Crown-Ikarus articulated buses, and if anyone here has any audio recordings from back in the day? All of the Crown-Ikarus 286 artics had Cummins NHHTC Big Cam engines at first. TriMet in Portland, OR, decided during 1986-87 to change out the original Cummins engines in favor of Detroit Diesel 6L71TA engines (an engine that was used on the related Orion III artics in Toronto and Ottawa), following prior lawsuits it made against the bus manufacturer (among other things, maintenance diagrams whose text was written mainly in Hungarian (Magyar)). The transmission specified in these buses was usually the Allison HT740 4-speed automatic, but 5 out of 40 buses ran by the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS), as well as all of Houston Metro's (MTA of Harris County) artics, used Voith DIWA D864.2 transmissions. ~Ben

Does anyone know whether or not the GMC RTS II Articulated Bus, model T9J204, would have been successful if it were to have materialized beyond the prototype phase? Specifications did exist: the powertrain was a Detroit Diesel 6V92TA MUI engine producing 315 hp @ 2100 rpm (#2 diesel fuel) and Allison V735 transmission. In Canada, though, a GM articulated bus did exist, but only for that market (and delivered to just four cities there, all in the province of Ontario: Mississauga; Ottawa; Hamilton and Toronto), only for the 1982 model year and just 53 units made. Essentially it had the GM Classic front end fused to the "New Look" body. The powertrain was a Detroit Diesel 8V71N engine producing 255 hp, mated to the Allison V735 transmission. 10 years later, MCI (which took over bus production from GMC in 1986) dusted off this model as the TC60102N, which now shared its entire body with the Classic and used the Detroit Diesel 6V92TA DDEC engine (making roughly over 300 hp) and Allison VR736 ATEC transmission, but again this wasn't anything to write home about: equally as short-lived, it was (as before) never ordered outside of Canada, and this time only being delivered in Quebec City, QC and Halifax, NS (the latter of which got most of these). ~Ben

Here is a complete listing of the VIN numbers for the GMDD model TA60102N articulated buses. All were built in 1982 ("C" model year code). How to read this VIN style: 2GH = made by General Motors Diesel Division of Canada, Ltd. Y = air brakes R = transit coach 9 = 60 foot (articulated) length 2 = 102 inch width H = Detroit Diesel 8V71N (255 hp) engine C = 1982 model year 5 = assembled in London, ON (rare occasion - these buses only existed because of the Ontario Ministry of Public Transit's handshake deal) 200001 = sequence number MISSISSAUGA TRANSIT (MT) 5001: 2GHYR92H9C5200001 5002: 2GHYR92H0C5200002 5003: 2GHYR92H2C5200003 5004: 2GHYR92H4C5200004 5005: 2GHYR92H6C5200005 5006: 2GHYR92H8C5200006 5007: 2GHYR92HXC5200007 5008: 2GHYR92H1C5200008 5009: 2GHYR92H3C5200009 5010: 2GHYR92HXC5200010 5011: 2GHYR92H1C5200011 5012: 2GHYR92H3C5200012 5013: 2GHYR92H5C5200013 5014: 2GHYR92H7C5200014 OC TRANSPO (OCT) 8201 (later MT 5027): 2GHYR92H9C5200015 8202 (later MT 5028): 2GHYR92H0C5200016 8203 (later MT 5029): 2GHYR92H2C5200017 8204 (later MT 5030): 2GHYR92H4C5200018 8205 (later MT 5031): 2GHYR92H6C5200019 8206 (later MT 5032): 2GHYR92H2C5200020 8207 (later MT 5033): 2GHYR92H4C5200021 8208 (later MT 5034): 2GHYR92H6C5200022 8209 (later MT 5035): 2GHYR92H8C5200023 8210 (later MT 5036): 2GHYR92HXC5200024 8211 (later MT 5037): 2GHYR92H1C5200025 8212 (later MT 5038): 2GHYR92H3C5200026 8213 (later HSR 8215): 2GHYR92H5C5200027 8214 (later HSR 8207): 2GHYR92H7C5200028 8215 (later HSR 8208): 2GHYR92H9C5200029 8216 (later HSR 8209): 2GHYR92H5C5200030 8217 (later HSR 8213): 2GHYR92H7C5200031 8218 (later HSR 8214): 2GHYR92H9C5200032 8219 (later HSR 8210): 2GHYR92H0C5200033 8220 (later HSR 8211): 2GHYR92H2C5200034 8221 (later HSR 8212): 2GHYR92H4C5200035 HAMILTON STREET RAILWAY (HSR) 8201: 2GHYR92H6C5200036 8202: 2GHYR92H8C5200037 8203 (later 518203): 2GHYR92HXC5200038 8204: 2GHYR92H1C5200039 8205: 2GHYR92H8C5200040 8206 (later 518206): 2GHYR92HXC5200041 TORONTO TRANSIT COMMISSION (TTC) 8500 (later MT 5015): 2GHYR92H1C5200042 8501 (later MT 5016): 2GHYR92H3C5200043 8502 (later MT 5017): 2GHYR92H5C5200044 8503 (later MT 5018): 2GHYR92H7C5200045 8504 (later MT 5019): 2GHYR92H9C5200046 8505 (later MT 5020): 2GHYR92H0C5200047 8506 (later MT 5021): 2GHYR92H2C5200048 8507 (later MT 5022): 2GHYR92H4C5200049 8508 (later MT 5023): 2GHYR92H0C5200050 8509 (later MT 5024): 2GHYR92H2C5200051 8510 (later MT 5025): 2GHYR92H4C5200052 8511 (later MT 5026): 2GHYR92H6C5200053 ~Ben