Night Park

When we bring our coach to rest in the yard, we are to log off on our radio and secure our coach.  It’s interesting how sloppy we can get in doing this after a long day.  I pulled-in last night with rain in the forecast and did not see the tale tell parking lights on in the two buses in front of me. When we turn our Master Control to Night Park, we should see the parking lights remain on as a signal to the Yard starter and Shop crew that the coach is charging overnight.  If a bus is turned off, it makes for a bad morning for the next operator. The new recruits are trained on motor coaches and obviously were not reminded to put the trolley in night park. The coaches were dark and had no lights on whatsoever. 

I went in to the bus ahead, and turned it to Night Park. The blowers came to life, and the wipers started up. Accessories were left on. I turned off the blowers and wipers. This makes for a dead coach in the morning and a battery charge necessary. The coach in front of this one also had no lights on. When I went up to check Master, it too was off. I turned it to Night Park, and the blowers came on. This would have made for a bad morning and late pullout.

Another important duty in overnight securement is closing the windows. We have just left a long period of drought here in California, so we have not had to worry about rain for a long time. Not true today. The windows on the windward side need be shut else the seats are soaked in the morning. The same goes for the roof hatches. 

We have blowing wind and rain from 7,000 uninterrupted ocean blue miles, and when the low pressure cyclone hits the California coast, it makes for a good drenching.  Its money in the bank for roofers, as the water travels horizontally into every nook and cranny on the roof and around skylights and windows. So too, in the buses, every hatch and window must be shut. 

Fortunately, at the Presidio Division, our buses have been re-caulked and resealed to keep the rain out. Not true at Potrereo or Woods, where the water can come gushing in behind the operator’s chair or down the front windscreen! Seeing a pool of water along the floor baseboards is a sign that the water has traveled down the side of the bus until it reaches the floor. As a roofer for five years, I have become a leak specialist, and practiced at the art of stopping leaks. Not so for our mechanics, who may have not had any roofer training on leaks! 

Being told the Complaint Department is closed at the Potrero Division, I transferred to the Presidio. I was told that at Potrero, resealing the roof was an unnecessary expense. The buses there would not be sent down to San Carlos to be waterproofed. Okay, fine. I’ll go to a Division where I don’t have to worry about water flooding in my compartment or on the seats!  After all it’s only 600 volts of direct current above on the wires! 

During dry times, fine, no one is the wiser. But as we are now in a three year wet cycle, thanks but no thanks. God bless the brand new hybrid motor coaches from the Flyer Corp. in Winnipeg, Manitoba!  These beauties are a pleasure to operate and don’t leak! 

Stopping the crickets is also a favorite of mine. The buses chirp like crickets after a minute of being left out of direct power mode, and it is necessary to reset the alarm to hush them. Although this sound may lull some of the neighbors to sleep, I like to believe that silence is golden when it comes to being next to a bus barn!

Turning a coach off and shutting the windows and hatches is a great way not to lose the Zen in the morning before coffee!

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