It's the ARN Day Bus Fest!

... or something like that.  Whatever.  For a damp, cloudy fall day there was a lot going on.

Before the action starts, let's look at what has been accomplished on Central Avenue with the new streetcar tracks.  The ground has been filled in around the tracks, and Dave has started filling in the space between the rails with stone blocks as a test.  

Most of the road will be paved with asphalt, perhaps treated to look like stone, but there will be a couple of crosswalks paved with actual stone blocks.   Or so I'm told.

The east end of the north track has a couple of concrete blocks put in place to hold the end of the rails down.

The subsurface has been extended south at the intersection with Railroad Ave.

In the car shop, all of the preparations for ARNFEST have been made.  Here's a quick view of the various items. 

The ARNFEST seemed to be well attended, and a lot was going on during the day.   I was careful not to get in the way.

Trolleybus service was a large part of Bus Day.   The Seattle articulated bus is seen here at the Depot St. intersection.   Richard Schauer is the driver.

The 3142 crosses Central, as the bus waits.

A couple of privately-owned buses arrived.

The owner was checking out the motor.

 On its return trip from the Wagner loop, the trolleybus will have to move over to the left side of the road, due to the streetcar track construction.

At this point the bus stops, and the assistant gets out and sets the poles over.

I was asked to get some pictures of the streetcar line extension, nicely ballasted and dressed, before cars are stored on it.  That should happen soon.

Where would you ever see nicer new construction that this?

Yard 15 is also finished.  Right now track 152 is empty, but that probably won't last long.

Bill has been polishing up the whistles for the 24.

I was working on repainting the vestibule of the 36, as usual.  Some spare parts were taken over to the shop to be wire-wheeled, then got a coat of spray primer.

I sanded down and recoated the controller cover.

And by the end of the day, I put some more primer on various parts of the #2 vestibule, and the piping we had installed on Wednesday.   While the paint is drying, let's go for a ride.

There were lots of buses operating today.  I don't have even a guesstimate of how many.   But here's the classic Chicago Motor Coach bus.

Did I mention that it was a rainy day?

The bus was nearly full, until we got to the Andersen barn and nearly everybody got off to go to the Bus Stop Shop.  

At the shop, there were lots of book and magazines, models and toys, and a large selection of CTA signs.  The flash lights up the fluorescent parts of the signs, which are not at all obvious in the dim ambient light.  

And future bus drivers can pose in this end of a Seattle bus.   I hadn't seen this before.

Well, that's enough for today.   A good time was had by all.