The History of School Transportation in Mercer County, WV

Five recently-acquired Wayne/Ford buses and one Wayne/Chevrolet pose for a group shot in Princeton in 1964. Strangely, the Ford chassis are 1963 models bearing a 1963-specific horizontal bar grille...suggesting that either Wayne was a year late delivering the buses, or the newspaper slipped up and published a year-old photo. The buses also lack central identification markers, suggesting that West Virginia slacked off on its lighting requirements in this timeframe. No fleet numbers are visible, but these buses would have borne numbers in the 190s. [Daily Telegraph, 1964-10-01]

#197, a 1964 Wayne. At the time of this photo, the bus was fourteen years old and had almost certainly been relegated to grounds storage or maintenance purposes. The bus also bears an early, low-numbered example of West Virginia's current white-on-red "County" licence plate design, which had just recently come into use in 1964. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1978]

#198, another 1964 Wayne subbing for a newer bus on a cold winter's day in Athens in 1977. The words "Emergency Exit" are faintly visible under one side window, signalling the presence of a safety feature that was extremely forward for the 1960s. This bus would be retired from the fleet later the same year. [Athens High School yearbook, 1977]

#200, an identical 1964 Wayne/Ford model, features a notably-revised front body with a squarer and more modern roof cap. This amazingly well-preserved specimen has been sitting in place for more than 40 years, and it might be the oldest Mercer County school bus that's still in existence. [Photos by the author, 2013]

Fleet number 204 is plainly visible on the far end of yet another group shot of the school board's latest vehicles and their drivers. The mid-1960s saw Mercer County begin to alternate between Ford and Dodge chassis from year to year, with 1965's new buses falling into the Dodge camp. [Daily Telegraph, 1965-10-17]

A 60-passenger Wayne/Dodge, undoubtedly another of Mercer County's 1965-model buses. The school board repainted its vehicles occasionally, and this bus was updated in the 1970s with enlarged black flasher backgrounds. [Montcalm High School yearbook, 1976]

It is probable that the bus depicted in both of these images is #214, a 1966 Wayne/Ford example. A later Blue Bird/Chevrolet is visible in the background of the second picture. [Princeton High School yearbook, 1969 and 1972]

Yet another 1960s Wayne bus of unknown chassis and model year served as the backdrop for this yearbook photo of Athens school bus drivers. Again, note that a side emergency exit is visible just fore of the rear wheel. [Athens High School yearbook, 1967]

Newly-acquired Mercer County school buses with Wayne bodies await service in the summer of 1967. The fleet number "221" is visible on the fifth bus from the left, implying that the lot may have consisted of #217 through #225. One appears to be equipped with an air horn. All have Chevrolet chassis aside from #217 at the left end, which is a Dodge. 1967 was the first production year for this particular design of General Motors bus chassis, which had an incredibly long production life. Indeed, more than two decades later Mercer County would acquire some 1990 GMC buses that retained the exact same dashboard as these 1967 examples! [Daily Telegraph, 1967-08-31]

A closer view of #222, one of the Wayne/Chevrolets from 1967's lot. Note the Chevrolet "60" cowl insignia, which is specific to the 1967 and 1968 model years only. [Montcalm High School yearbook, 1976]

The challenge of marking buses in accordance with West Virginia's 1949 state law remained an issue without resolve. The state seemed to foster a new solution to its marking requirements every few years...and by the late 1960s, it was painting the word "STOP" across the central panel of emergency doors in a fashion identical to what is still done in Ohio today. Transportation director Randy Robinette is visible at left, posing with a Wayne bus in what feels like a re-creation of this photo from 1949. [Daily Telegraph, 1971-03-21]

At the dawn of the 1970s, school buses in West Virginia began to bear black contrast paint around the flashers in order to afford better contrast and visibility for the signals. This modification was also applied to older buses as they came in for paint and maintenance work. No fleet number is visible on this bus, but it's likely to be a 1967 66-passenger model built on a Chevrolet chassis. [Matoaka High School yearbook, 1972]

#231, a 66-passenger 1968 Wayne/Chevrolet model identifiable by the midship side clearance light first required in federal specifications that year. An earlier 1963 or 1964 Wayne with a fleet number in the 190s is visible in the distance. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1969]

Yet another Wayne/Chevrolet of unknown fleet number and circa-1968 manufacture, hailing from Mercer County. Black fenders had been a standard characteristic of West Virginia school buses from the 1930s on; however, this bus appears to have had its fenders repainted yellow for superior visibility in a mid-1970s refurbishment. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1976]

Q: When is a school bus not a school bus? A: When it's a 1970 International Travelall! This vehicle bore the fleet number 246, and also appeared in a photo published in the 1973 Bluefield High School yearbook. [Daily Telegraph, 1970-02-25]

The 1979-80 Montcalm Student Council pose in front of a 1971 Blue Bird school bus. The first two digits of the fleet number (25_) are visible, but the exact identity of this bus is unknown. [Montcalm High School yearbook, 1980]

Another early-1970s Blue Bird with an unknown chassis and fleet number. The body looks rather ragged with a prominent roof dent, and by 1982 it's likely that its days as a daily route bus were over. [Athens High School yearbook, 1982]

#258, a 1971 Blue Bird/International bus, appeared as a dusty background element in this 1981 yearbook photo. The county began adding front-facing fleet numbers to its buses at some point in the intervening decade, visible under the driver's-side headlight. [Bramwell High School yearbook, 1981]

#262 was another 1971 Blue Bird/International most likely identical in specification to the last. Typical for the buses the county had in service at the time, it was equipped with "half-out, half-in" doors and was later modified to have yellow fenders and a curbside crossover mirror. [Montcalm High School yearbook, 1978]

Lurking in the background of this group photo is a Blue Bird bus bearing the 4-way flasher arrangement, plain yellow flanks, and emergency door lettering that were all characteristic of West Virginia school buses at the time. The full fleet number is not discernable from the image, but it appears to be in the 260s...which pinpoints the bus as a 1971 model at earliest. [Matoaka High School yearbook, 1972]

Although this image is rather blurry and does not have a fleet number visible, it's a tantalizing glimpse at a rare configuration: A Dodge chassis with a narrow Thomas Mighty-Mite body, hailing from sometime between 1970 and 1973. This picture is the only evidence the author has found of Thomas buses being operated in Mercer County prior to the 2000s. [Matoaka High School yearbook, 1975]

#268, a 66-passenger 1972 Carpenter/International model. Carpenter school bus bodies through this year of manufacture featured a distinctive windshield design that peaked in the centre, and this is present here. Also visible is the Ohio-like "STOP/State Law" lettering that West Virginia was still keeping up at the time, though this practice had ceased by 1977. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1973]

Another 1972 International/Carpenter school bus appears buried in the background of this 1983 Princeton yearbook shot. The county turned over vehicles rapidly in this era, so it's a bit surprising to see that a then 11-year-old bus was still in active use! It also bears evidence of later modifications: This bus wouldn't have been equipped with a curb-side crossover mirror in 1972, nor would the fenders have originally been painted yellow. [Princeton High School yearbook, 1983]

Mercer County Schools went through so many configurations of vehicles in the early 1970s that quantifying all of them is almost an impossible endeavour. Period newspapers make mention of purchase bids on Carpenter/International, Blue Bird/International, and Blue Bird/Dodge buses, but not Carpenter/Dodge. Yet they certainly did have a few Carpenter/Dodge buses in their fleet, as this photo makes clear! [Athens High School yearbook, 1978]

A 36-passenger Carpenter/International school bus on duty in Bluefield in the mid-1970s. This bus appears to be specifically a 1973 model due to the level upper windshield edge and the lack of amber flashers. Though 8-way red/amber flashers were still a year away from being implemented in West Virginia, black backgrounds had already been added to the red flashers to afford better contrast. This bus appears to have borne the fleet number 274. [Bluefield High School yearbook, 1976]