School Bus Sightings

[awstott]

I saw 3 of the mystery fleet at Hughes on 99 Street about a week back.

[mitchell]

Here are some other Corbel/Collins buses, from the Leeds website. I also found these photos of some old Corbeil Dodge buses, they were on a website for the Bakery seen in thebackground.

[T6H-5307N]

Neat, thanks for sharing

BTW, the Girardin with the boxy roof (from my shot at the top of this page) is still there! I'll prolly grab ya some pics sometime this week

[Michael Marriott]

Saw First 539 behind my house after work this PM

[mitchell]

Neat, thanks for sharing

BTW, the Girardin with the boxy roof (from my shot at the top of this page) is still there! I'll prolly grab ya some pics sometime this week

Glad to hear the bus is still there it must be retired, I can't wait to see more shots of that Girardin. Here are some shots of a 1990 Ford Corbeil from an episode of goosebumps. That episode was filmed in Ontario, and the bus was borrowed from Laidlaw, the number can be seen at one point it is 93600. Does anyone know if Corbeil ever made GMC or Chevrolet buses in the 80's?

[A. Wong]

That's a good question - they did make Dodge Ram van chassis minibuses though. Blue Bird had GM chassis for sure.

Actually I think I might have a photo of a blue/grey converted GM chassis minibus - I will have to look it up again as I don't remember the chassis. I think it was in Calgary on Deerfoot, but I wonder if I even have a shot of the front...

I thought I saw Golden Arrow 473 as a C2 this morning, but looking at the roster we have it could have been 478. T6H-5307N: Do you know if 478 is in the Belvedere yard?

[mitchell]

Well here is a photo of a 1996 Corbeil Chevrolet single rear wheel, there have been a few sightings of these in the US, But I have never seen or heard of one in Canada. I believe Corbeil started selling GM chassis in Canada after 1996 once the Savanna/Express was introduced, because the bus in the photo says Crown/Corbeil, from when Corbeil used their name to venture into the US. But what I am wondering is if there are some rare Canadian older GM Corbeils that made it out, because the GM van was pretty much the same from the 70's-90's, with the only changes being made to the grille and taillights.

http://www.schoolbuscentral.com/gallery/ar...1_che_96_ny.htm

[A. Wong]

Sorry, it was a Ford chassis one I was thinking I shot:

Here's a customized Blue Bird on that chassis:

Speaking of rare, I take it you saw my photos of the full size Corbeils on the Ford chassis?

[M. Parsons]

FS 454.

Also saw a Cunningham C2, but was in no position to get a shot.

[T6H-5307N]

T6H-5307N: Do you know if 478 is in the Belvedere yard?

It could be, however I don't ever recall it being there

I believe I have a picture of myself in front of 478 too

On another note, here is the mystery shuttle from before:

Almost looks like they did a custom high roof!

[A. Wong]

Wow, it does. And interesting rear door and lack of windows on the side too.

[mitchell]

I don't think that bus is a custom high roof, but instead I think it is a commercial model MB-II that was converted into a school bus, whether it be by Girardin, or Briggs bus sales, or even the owner. The reason why I think this is because of the large spaces for windows on the rear, you can see the outline, similar to the shape of the windows on the dual wheel. The school bus model MB-II would either have small rectangular windows on the rear, or if it is a pre 1994 it would have no windows at all and the space where the would go is just flat. I have seen commercial MB-II buses with that boxy roofcap, I have some photos of them, but they are legit PHOTOGRAPHS lol, I need to get a scanner and scan lots the good pictures I have. Look here, while on google street view on google maps, I was checking out cardinal coach lines, and I found these two similar buses, they look to be wheelchair/commerial buses converted into school buses, the black around the warning lights clearly isn't original. These ones even have the commercial model's tail lights.

[Michael Marriott]

Saw someone's ex #32 in a 7-11 Parking Lot at 162 St/Stony Plain Rd toay. Most of the bus had been repainted red, but some of the paint was peeling. Possibly an ex-francophone bus, as it had ecoliers on the front instead of School Bus. Pictures to come when I get home.

[A. Wong]

Southland 3307 was rear ended by a Nissan Maxima this afternoon on Fort Road across from the Buffet Royale.

[mitchell]

The year to year changes are as follows for the Girardin school buses rear end design

1992= Van chassis supplied taillights, no windows except on the emergency door, no rubrails on the rear (will dig up a photo I know I have)

1993= 2 round taillights, reverse light below, no rubrails on rear, and no extra rear windows except the emergency door

1994= Rubrails on rear, still no extra windows, and the tail light arrangement was the same as it still is today

1995-2010= Tail light arrangement didnt change, rubrails remained, but 2 small rectangular windows were added, one on each side of the emergency door

The photo is a California spec 1993 Girardin, the photo was on Flickr and is not mine

[Michael Marriott]

As promised, photos of the red painted bus:

And a couple shots from last week,

First 539

First 228601

[A. Wong]

Interesting, that red one came from Quebec.

[T6H-5307N]

Interesting, that red one came from Quebec.

LOL, guess what? That red thing is ex Golden Arrow 32

54 pass Bluebird GMC 6000 gasoline, folding doors, fifth gusset rail, once retrofitted with 8 way warning lights, plus ex Quebec...

Definitely Golden Arrow, under contract at some point too

I believe it is situated outside of a bar on Stony Plain Rd (as a smoker bus).

[T6H-5307N]

So apparently some driving school has a school bus! 72pass 1995-1998 Corbiel on International 3800/DT466 chassis, interchangeable destination sign, large reverse lights:

[A. Wong]

Looks like an ex-Laidlaw or something!

Shot an interesting Southland unit today, 722 or something - medium Corbeil with wheelchair lift. Will post pics later.

[awstott]

Saw that on Saturday by southgate. Forgot to mention it.

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

Shot an interesting Southland unit today, 722 or something - medium Corbeil with wheelchair lift. Will post pics later.

722 is a 48 passenger low roof Freightliner in Calgary. So this could be interesting!

On my way home from Edmonton earlier today I saw a Freightliner with a tall Corbeil 72 passenger body running for Southland in Calgary as #3561. Wonder if that's the same unit that used to run in Edmonton area? But I forget which company had one of these in the Edmonton area. I will post a pic shortly...

Edit: Here's the image of 3561...

http://www.cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php?title=I...tation_3561.jpg

Edited May 20, 2010 by MBTA9244-9640b

[T6H-5307N]

On my way home from Edmonton earlier today I saw a Freightliner with a tall Corbeil 72 passenger body running for Southland in Calgary as #3561. Wonder if that's the same unit that used to run in Edmonton area? But I forget which company had one of these in the Edmonton area. I will post a pic shortly...

Edit: Here's the image of 3561...

The only one I know of around here is Golden Arrow 426:

http://www.cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php?title=I...n_Arrow_426.jpg

But that can't be the same one

[BCT-3122-D800-10240]

The only one I know of around here is Golden Arrow 426:

http://www.cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php?title=I...n_Arrow_426.jpg

But that can't be the same one

Ok. If the Edmonton one is from Golden Arrow, I would have to agree with you then. Thanks! Either way, the Calgary area never had one of these before and it's cool to see one here now. I hope to get a better image of that bus at some point.

[A. Wong]

I was way off on the fleet number. It was 977:

3800 / T444E