Thank you for the update, it has been at least a decade since I have been anywhere near there. In fact, I rarely even drive past there anymore.
About the last time I was down there, my now ex-wife and I looked at a forty acre parcel outside of Seligman in northern AZ. We decided that the moon would be colonized before either place became a fully developed city. (Full disclosure- we were talking about Arizona City rather than the town of Maricopa, but they seemed very similar back then.)
Did not realize that trains were so prevalent there, hope you were able to get some good pics. I love the idea of freight trains because my folks talked about them with so much respect when I was a kid and made us all aware that it was the trains that kept every industrial town relevant. I still see freight trains and remember how they formed our nation (including making the cattle drive a thing), but passenger trains were a completely historical entity with even more romance and the aura of a bygone but somehow better world to me. So this morning I watched the poker game scene from The Sting as a small tribute to the Amtrack run you witnessed.
The rub rails are still there – they are generally built-in as the bus body is constructed.
But when it comes time to repaint the bus at some local paint shop, it takes more time (thus more cost to an underfunded school system) to paint the black stripe on the rails. So it’s pretty common to just see the whole bus painted yellow. without the striping work. (And of course, the painters, and sometimes even the school officials, often don’t even know of this functionality for the rub rails.)
You really minimize a lot of the work involved when you just say “You tip the cabin over”. There’s a whole lot of work involved in that.
Remember that long-haul drivers live in these cabs for long times, often 2-3 weeks. So they have lots of ‘stuff’ in the cab that has to be removed and then replaced.
A friend is such a driver, and here is some of the ‘stuff’ he’s mentioned as being in his truck:
multiple changes of clothes (various types, since you could be in a North Dakota winter one day and in Arizona heat days later).
various outerwear (jackets, gloves, winter hats, etc.)
footwear (from tennis shoes to snow boots)
GPS unit
cell phone charger
small (dorm size) refrigerator-freezer
food storage unit
pills & medications
All this is ‘loose’ (not permanently mounted) in the cab, so it has to be removed when the cab is tipped.
[This is in addition to all the controls in the cab having to be flexible or disconnected when it is tipped.]
In Europe, where length limits make cabovers the norm, there is nearly always a bunk, or two behind the seats equipped with a net at the front to stop stuff from falling off.
There is usually plenty of closed stowage for the ‘clutter’ that a long-haul driver carries, but since servicing is only every four or six weeks it’s no great problem to secure all the loose stuff in advance.
Okay, I’m a professional motorcoach operator checking in. I also have lots of experience in school buses.
I learned to drive buses in hood-front school buses. These were universally diesel-powered. I live in Texas. The short trips described above for school buses are absolutely not the norm here. The district where I spent most of my career had bus routes that easily ran over an hour each morning and afternoon. A nearby football game would be 30 to 60 minutes away. A far away game could be two hours or more. A typical football game would take seven buses or more to haul the football team and coaches, band and directors (that’s me!), cheerleaders and drill team. Our buses hit around 200K miles at the end of their tenures with us.
The district where I retired was roughly the area of New Hampshire, but with only around 2000 residents. Some bus routes only had a couple of kids and would take hours. Almost all the buses in that district were pushers with flat fronts. It took me a while to learn to drive comfortably while sitting forward of the steering wheels. I also had a tendency to drift to the right when driving a flat-front bus. I have since overcome that bad habit.
I now drive for a motorcoach charter company. We operate (mostly) two buses, both pushers. They are the MCI J4500 and the Van Hool XS45. They have eight wheels on three axels. The forward axel, which is behind the door and roughly even with the front passengers seats, has two wheels. The drive axel has four wheels and the “tag” axel has two wheels. That third axel allows for a bit better weight distribution and allows for better braking. On the MCI, the tag also steers at speeds under 20MPH. This allows for a bit tighter turn in parking lots. However, it’s main purpose is to reduce wear on the tires. Otherwise, the tires just drag across the pavement during a turn.
All of our motorcoaches have seatbelts for the passengers. However, few people actually use them. As the driver, of course, I use the seatbelt without fail. It is required by law and, let’s face it, I’m just a hood ornament. I told a group the other day that I’ve found that safety glass is not good for my complexion.
Which takes me to another thing about the windshields. They are basically disposable. Our buses run around 100K miles per year and the windshields are almost flat into the wind, so they are constantly being battered by debris. A new OEM MCI windshield costs our company about $250 each (for $500 total per bus). The passenger windows are all much heavier. They consist of two sheets of safety glass with a vacuum between. This allows for safety and quiet. They make a popping sound when broken (yeah, unfortunately, I got to break one).