1936 National Park Bus

1936 White Motor Company Model 706 fourteen-passenger National Park Bus, Y.P. Co. 361. Museum Catalog Number 90071. This vehicle, like the Model 614, has a 6-cylinder engine, although a flathead motor (the mainstay of most auto manufacturers before World War II), as opposed to the more sophisticated and expensive overhead valve engine of the Model 614. It also has a noticeably different body style (most evident by the windshield and front end). Also present on the driver's side is a semaphore turn signal, a Wyoming requirement for buses operating in that state. A divided storage compartment, or "blanket chest" is located behind the rear seat and was used to store blankets for passengers' comfort.

 

A total of twenty-seven 1936 Model 706 buses were used in Yellowstone, and by 1939, a total of ninety-eight Model 706s of various years were in use (the largest number of National Park Buses operating anywhere). Buses of this style were also used in Yosemite and Glacier National Parks. Some of the buses were still being used during the late sixties and early seventies. They were very gradually phased out of use by the company. This particular vehicle was used in the park until at least 1958 (the date of the Montana registration and "last service" stickers). By 1967, the bus was listed on a Yellowstone Park Company inventory as an antique "not in service."

Photos:

(YELL 90071-1) 1936 White Motor Company Model 706 National Park Bus in the park's museum collection.

(YELL 90071-2) Visitors accompanied by a park ranger view Grotto Geyser in this circa 1936 Northern Pacific Railway photo. The bus is a 1936 Model 706 (note the square-cornered windshield), Yellowstone Park Transportation Company Number 366. (The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company).