Unitrans 4507-4508
Encyclopedia
Sacramento Regional Transit District
The Sacramento Regional Transit District, commonly referred to as RT, is the agency responsible for public transportation in the Sacramento, California area. It was established on April 1, 1973, as a result of the acquisition of the Sacramento Transit Authority...
, General Motors "old-look" buses operated in regular service by Unitrans
Unitrans
Unitrans is the name for the transit system which operates in Davis, California. It takes its name from an abbreviation of the words "University Transport". Excepting several managerial and maintenance positions, Unitrans is managed and operated entirely by students of the University of...
in Davis, California
Davis, California
Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. Originally, they were part of a fleet of 30 identical buses built between 1956 and 1958 that operated in Sacramento, CA. While at Unitrans, they were commonly referred to as the "prison buses" due to their smaller sized windows, even though they were never used as such. Having been sold, they are no longer part of the Unitrans fleet.
4507 was purchased and restored by the Pacific Bus Museum in Fremont, CA. It is now Niles Coach Lines #128 and is used for historic bus tours which operate in conjunction with the Niles Canyon Railway
Niles Canyon Railway
The Niles Canyon Railway is a heritage railway running through Niles Canyon, between Sunol and the Niles district of Fremont in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, USA. The railway is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Niles Canyon Transcontinental...
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Technical specifications
Manufacturer: General Motors Corporation, Truck & Coach DivisionGMC (General Motors division)
GMC is a manufacturer of trucks, vans, military vehicles, and SUVs marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors Company. In January 2007, GMC was GM's second-largest-selling North American vehicle division after Chevrolet, ahead of Pontiac....
Model: TDH-4512 "old-look"
Date built: October, 1958 (4507), September or October, 1958 (4508)
Engine: Detroit Diesel
Detroit Diesel
As a corporation, Daimler Trucks North America has decided to rename the company "DETROIT".Detroit Diesel Corporation is an American-based diesel engine producer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, USA...
6-71 diesel
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
with an Allison
Allison Transmission
Allison Transmission is an American manufacturer of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors including bus, refuse, fire, construction,...
VH 2-speed automatic transmission
Automatic transmission
An automatic transmission is one type of motor vehicle transmission that can automatically change gear ratios as the vehicle moves, freeing the driver from having to shift gears manually...
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Length: 35 feet
Width: 8 feet
Seating capacity: 45
Original operator: Sacramento Transit Authority (until 1973), Sacramento Regional Transit District (after 1973)
Original fleet number: 128
Date acquired by Unitrans: Late 1970s/early 1980s
Current status: 4507 was retired and sold in 1997 to the Pacific Bus Museum, 4508 was retired and sold between 1997 and 1999 to a private party in Placerville, CA.