Pullman Coach 645 - Seattle 1976

While remembering the days with Metro Transit in Seattle, I went looking for a photo of me! The photo below shows me getting ready for a summer morning run with Pullman Coach 645. The coach was most likely manufactured in 1940.

Trackless trolley #645 was a Pullman. The fleet had fewer Pullmans than Twins in the 70's. There were perhaps 10 or 12 of them. They were a heavier, longer coach ... a full 40' I believe. An interesting aspect of the driver's console was that the steering wheel was 11 inches closer to the center of the bus. That took some getting used to! The regenerative braking on the Pullmans was not as effective as that on the Twins. As a result, the Pullmans were not scheduled for the Queen Anne route with it's extreme 17% grade. The paint job on this Pullman was very new at the time. It is sporting Metro colors, which match the driver uniform of the era.

Thank you Terri, for finding this photo! There are some obvious aspects of the driver's appearance which require no comment by me! But I caught a couple of details here:

• In my right hand is a stack of transfers. Clearly I was getting ready for a run.
• On my left wrist is a wrist watch! An important piece of driver equipment, but novel, since I haven't worn a wrist watch since I started carrying a pager in 1994 (and of course, subsequently a cell phone).

--Duane