Ex-Edmonton Transit #368 is a 1975 GM T6H5307N, delivered with units 322 to 396. This bus was one of the second group of retirements of T6H5307N buses in the last few years. Due to the fact that this bus had some accident damage and it's age, Edmonton Transit had decided to retire it in 2001 and sold it off to A1 Auto Salvage Limited of Edmonton, Alberta. 368 was purchased from Edmonton Transit sometime between May and September 2001, just before the bus auction on September 15, 2001. It sat there at A1 Auto Salvage for a good couple of years before it was eventually purchased by Canadian Premier Charters/More Better Buses of Calgary, Alberta as one of their first 3 buses purchased in July/August 2003. Their original plans with this bus was either to fix it up or to use it for parts. From August 12, 2003 until January 2005, it had sat in storage with Canadian Premier Charters/More Better Buses with the intention to continue to fix it up, even with plans to convert it to a Party Bus, but was used as a storage bus for the time being. Hoping to give this bus a chance to restore it to it's "as delivered" livery, I acquired this bus in January 2005 and took on the opportunity to restore it after I had completed restoring my 1969 GM T6H4521, Ex-Edmonton Transit #22. This bus will hopefully one day look like new with the accident damage repaired and repainted to it's original red and white livery.
368 was the last batch of buses ordered from Edmonton Transit to have the red and white livery and the last batch of buses ordered with the "Alberta" style destination sign with a route number indicator in the centre and two destination names to be displayed on either side of the route number indicator. My plan is to restore this bus in the red and white livery as shown with the photo of 326 above. 368 may or may not see the original "Alberta" style destination sign installed as it depends on which bus I decide to restore with that destination sign in it. Since I have acquired Ex-Edmonton Transit #30, the sign I wanted to stick into 368 may go to 30 instead. Once the bus has been restored, it will be a nice match to my 1969 GM T6H4521 that I plan on finishing the restoration project sometime next year.
Photos of the bus, April 28, 2001:
368 is shown here photographed on the north fence of the Ferrier Compound, just before it was sold to A1 Auto Salvage Limited. Although you can't see it in the photo, 368 had accident damage to the front already at this point.
Photos of the bus, July 20, 2003:
This was my first chance to take a look at 368 since A1 Auto Salvage purchased the bus. The bodywork needed on the front is an estimated $2500 to fix it and will hopefully be done sometime in the future when I begin working with this bus.
Photos of the bus, August 4, 2003:
This is the day we worked on getting the bus in operating shape and was the first time this bus had ran since it left Edmonton Transit. After filling up the fuel filters and some other preparations to getting the bus running, it came to life and we moved it around a bit. A week later is when Canadian Premier Charters came to take this bus back to it's new home in Calgary where it would be kept in storage until it would be repaired.
Photos of the bus, August 11, 2003:
After finishing up the cosmetic work needing to be done on this bus before transporting it to Calgary, Canadian Premier Charters began the journey bringing this bus back to Calgary. Because of this bus having some bad tires on it, we had to take it easy bringing this bus home. These 3 photos show the bus just before we left Edmonton with it.
Our first stop with the bus was the Husky Truck stop at Spruce Grove, just west of Edmonton. We stopped the bus for fueling and then continued on towards Calgary, with a supper stop in Devon, Alberta
Photos of the bus, August 11, 2003:
Still on the journey on the way back from Edmonton to Calgary with this bus, we took a rest break in Red Deer for snacks/washroom break and then continued on the way with the bus. Just before we got to Red Deer, we had a chance to witness a beautiful summer thundershower, and even spotted another GM Fishbowl heading the opposite way on the highway. Afterwards, we continued on to Calgary and parked the bus for the night.
Photos of the bus, August 19, 2003:
In this photo, 368 is shown photographed at a local shop in Calgary that repairs buses while the bus waited to get an estimate to get the bodywork and undercarriage work completed. The work never did get done as the focus went to get Ex-Edmonton Transit #946 and 965 onto the road before 368. 946 later became Canadian Premier Charters 331 while 965 became 330 with Canadian Premier Charters.
Photos of the bus, February 24, 2004:
Seven months later after it's original acquisition, 368 is shown photographed in Calgary, Alberta awaiting to be repaired. Cosmetically besides the damage on the front of the bus, 368 is in pretty good shape. There is some corrosion on the lower skirt paneling at the joints and near the wheels, but that is typical of GM's that I've seen. Most of the parts to repair this bus were included, such as the replacement windshield. This bus has very good speed on the highway.
Photos of the
bus, January 30, 2005:
After some time of waiting for better weather to work on the bus, I finally had a chance to go over the bus and begin assessing the work required to restore this bus. I have decided that most of the work needed will be the front end body panels and frame by the front door, followed by the undercarriage (Checking brakes, king pins, frame structure, shocks, bushings, etc), the engine requiring an injector or two replaced, and some minor bodywork along the lower skirt panels. The first two photos shows the interior the way it is today while the last two photos shows the accident damage from a couple of different views.
This page last updated on January 30, 2005