(first posted 3/16/2012) I guess the title gives it away to some extent, but you’ll have to watch this two-minute video to see what that really entails. And it took me a couple of minutes to figure out how exactly it worked; this is no typical tramway, for sure. Pictures and explanation follows:
Son Edward (devoted Hood skier every weekend) first sent me a link to some pictures of the Skiway, but they weren’t very clear, and I was having a bit of trouble figuring it out, especially the wheels. But as this sharper one makes clear, these were self-propelled trams, relying on the bus’ under-floor engine to turn the rear wheel, which had the cable wrapped around it, as well as the idler front wheel. Wild. The buses were modified Kenworth Model T-216 Pacific School Coaches.
Unfortunately, the Skiway was a financial bust; the road to the Timberline Lodge was improved the following year, and the shuttle bus to it was 50¢ compared to the Skiway’s 75¢ fare. After three years, the Skiway went bust. Makes one wonder what happened to the buses; did they get converted back to transit use?
Thanks to MikePDX, here’s a link to a Popular Science article that explains it in greater detail.
more Skiway history here at pdxhistory.com
I think the intent of the Georgia Department of Education in distributing this was to show schoolkids in Georgia how crazy those Yankees in Oregon were (“hanging a bus from a wire…who thoughta that?”).
If the bus company isn’t GM, the only others I know are Thomas and Blue Bird.
I would assume that Warner Brothers offered custom intro branding if states ordered enough physical filmstrips at one time and there was a default generic one that went to places where such things were purchased one copy at a time.
Wow. This little history lesson makes you appreciate our modern roads. I drove up to Timberline last winter (in our Subaru Legacy, of course) and don’t recall the road from the main highway to Timberline being anything unusual. I feel sorry for the folks who invested in this–who would’ve known that an improved road would be put in the next year? I do loves me some ’50s busses!
Fabulous! I’ve stayed up at Timberline Lodge many times, it was a treasured part of Christmas when my daughter was little. I’ve seen pictures of the Skiway but figured it was some sort of ski lift. Didn’t know it was how to get from US26 up to the Lodge. Wild! So here’s the full scoop:
According to the School Bus geeks (and you thought we were weird)
http://www.schoolbusfleet.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17368
the Skiway coach was kit-bashed out of a pair of Kenworth Model T-216 Pacific School Coaches. You see it’s dual-control, can’t exactly turn around up there, so they combined two front halves and stuck engines underneath.
There’s a great Popular Science article all about it, see my next post.
Popular Science, August 1951, p. 114.
http://books.google.com/books?id=lyEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA10-IA4
By Richard Neuberger, who became a US Senator from Oregon a few years later.
They actually built two coaches, each cost $40,000.
I love this cover illustration, it looks just like one of Bruce McCall’s fantasies.
Mike; I should have known you’d find the whole scoop. I know I’d seen that distinctive lower-glass fronted bus design somewhere. And of course, Kenworth was a home-town builder; who else? Thanks for the PS link; really explains it all.
Truck and Bus manufacturing was very region specific in those days with the equipment optimized for the road conditions and weight laws of each region. You would rarely see PACCARs (Pete & KW) in the east or Macks out West.
Makes sense. Brockway used to be very popular here (central new York, with trucks made in Cortland) and I still see some being used around or being restored. Very cool trucks and I’ve never seem them around anywhere else in the country. There are a couple more examples as well…
I rode KW buses like that when I was in high school.
I knew Timberline was used for the opening shots of The Shining but I did not know of the busses. That is pretty wild!
Actually, Timberline has a heck of an interesting history overall.
Yep, the Timberline exteriors were used for The Shining, I’ve been there like 3 times and have throughly punished whatever rental car I was driving on both the trip up and down the mountain.
Ha! That’s why rental cars were created.
I absolutely ran away from a Jetta with California plates going down from Timberline in my old Outback back in 2006. Hint to the Jetta driver, don’t overcook it into a corner and then nail the brakes midcorner. Haha.
Here is a photo from that trip.
Never heard of this but hanging buses of a cable way is a pretty ambitious idea putting a road in would look easy and easier to maintain.
Fascinating story. I have been to the Timberline Lodge several times and I never had a clue that there used to be a bus route in the sky on Mt Hood.
I really enjoyed the story about bus/tram/thing. Before the roadway was put in, it was an excellent solution.
What I’m curious about is the fact that this was built and the road was improved in such a short amount of time after the building of the tramway. I’m sure if a similar condition existed today, someone would be lobbying whatever government units to prevent the improvement of the road below.
Of course, like one of the other posters, why was this the subject of a short for the State of Georgia? Were they possibly considering something similar for Stone Mountain?
But Paul, this bus never got anywhere near a curb!
Here’s a puzzle: is this a four-wheeled bus or a no-wheeled bus?
A very noisy ride, the cable passing around eight pulleys on the bus, but what a view.
Does anyone know where these buses are today?
Rube Goldberg strikes again!
What a fascinating video and article. Whoda thunk it…
One can only imagine what the Russians could or did come up with for something similar.
That’s about the coolest thing I’ve seen this week!
Seems smart, creative, odd and fun.
Nothing that smart, creative, odd or fun would ever today get by the weenies who work for the state of Oregon or the federal government (OSHA, Department of Labor, DOT, etc.).
The idea and the execution is just too entrepreneurial for any government weenie to allow in this century.
For those who have ridden this system – enjoy the memory. For those thinking this could somehow be the spark of your own unique application – forget it; the governments will destroy you.
What was the perceived advantage of this approach?
I have to wonder if part of the reason it failed is that it simply looked dangerous. I would not be surprised if a significant number of people who saw this for the first time said, “No way am I going on that thing!” Skinny cables, might snap or roll off the wheels…
Thank you. As someone who has a moderate fear of heights, I’ve been on gondolas and chair lifts before without issue. I took one look at this thing and went “Nope” pretty damn quickly.
bet the bus drivers liked it! it would make rowdy passengers easy to control;
“one more word out of you and you can just get out and walk the rest of the way!” 😉
The entire look of your website is magnificent, as well as the content!
Highly thought out! Everything feels nice.
I want to make love to your concept.
Wow.. Amazing.. … It is really shocked to know that in 1956 mount hood skiways bus..when technology was low as compare to modern technology.. But I wish i can see it live..
3 1/2 construction period. Opened 1951. Idled by 1956. De-structuring and conversions all in here: http://portlandhistory.net/mounthoodhistory/2016/01/05/skiway-tram/
Now, does anyone no more about the restaurants related to it all?
Another Mt. Hood timeline which includes the Skiway: http://www.shredhood.org/resources/history-of-mount-hood/3-a-storied-history?showall=1
“Despite these discussions (to revive the operation), further attempts were made to save the Skiway tram throughout the remainder of 1958 and into the next year. By June of 1959, despite repeated efforts to carry out experiments for a redesign, a Liquidating Committee was formed. Over a year later, the lower terminal building was sold in 1960 to stockholder William Simon, for $25,000. In December of 1960, Zidell Machinery & Supply Company bought the two buses, a jeep, an engine, and other tram parts for $10,080.”
source:
https://www.ohs.org/blog/most-extraordinary-of-busses.cfm
(doesn’t say anything about their disposition, though)
The first CC post I came across many tears ago – a great story! I saw a little more in-depth video on Youtube recently….
A classic “gadgetbahn” where the technology used had no real advantage over already-existing tech but it looked good.