Here's where you'll find any photos relating to the Kenworth Pacific SchoolCoach and the entire Kenworth bus division, which was purchased by Gillig in 1957. Newer additions will be posted at the top of the page.
Photo submissions from Roy Ellingson

These photos were sent in by Roy Ellingson, a school bus driver for the Mercer Island School District, a known former operator of Kenworth-Pacific School Coach buses. Details about each photo will be posted underneath its link.

1953 Kenworth-Pacific Coach (Photo taken in 1992)
This bus was actually owned by Mr. Ellingson himself (along with two others nearly identical). It hailed from the Stanwood School District in Stanwood, Washington originally. It was originally a model T-3 Pacific School Coach but was re-engined to an International RD501. He sold this bus in the mid 1990s, and regrets selling it. The caption, which Ellingson handwritten and supplied with the photo, reads "My 1953 just before I sold it. Of my three buses, this is the one I wished I would've made the effort to hang onto. I repainted it to look like Mercer Island School District Bus #1, also a 1953."

(More photos of this bus follow, along with photos of the two other Kenworth-Pacific buses he owned)

Left front view.
(Handwritten caption provided by Mr. Ellingson) "One of my favorite shots of my '53. In 1960, as I was waiting for my usual Crown to pick me up to take me to kindergarten when instead KW #1 showed up, it was the first time I had ever seen a KW and have been Pacific BrainDamaged ever since"

With his fleet. #1 (Left to right: 1955 ex-Tumwater School District #7, RD501; ex-Longview/Mercer Island #19 RD450; ex-Stanwood T-3)
With his fleet. #2
With his fleet. #3
With his fleet. #4

Buddy Holly Tour Bus
This bus was a 1955, and was repainted to resemble Buddy Holly's tour bus. This photo was taken by Ellingson in 2008. Some time ago, this bus was photographed by Zack Willhoite when it was part of a restaurant building in Eastern Washington (restaurant's name was aptly titled "Gasoline Alley"). The restaurant no longer exists. (See below for the photos sent in by Zack Willhoite)

Mount Baker School District fleet photo.
This photograph was featured in the Saturday Evening Post and was taken in 1953.

Mount Baker School District #507, Bus #14, Bellingham, Washington.
This photo appeared in a 1953 issue of the Kenworth Craftsman, an industry trade publication by Kenworth Truck Company.

Unidentified Kenworth fleet

An unknown-year Kenworth for sale in Fife, Washington, photographed in 1982

A converted Kenworth-Pacific School Coach in Everett, Washington, photographed in 1999

A derlict Kenworth-Pacific School Coach in Ashford, Washington, photographed in 2001


Issaquah School District bus #17, Issaquah, Washington.
According to Ellingson, who took this photo in 1967, this bus was headed out for a high school football game @ Mercer Island.

Bellevue Christian School.
This photo (which I could not adjust in Photoshop without compromising its quality) was taken in 1986 of the fleet of buses owned and operated by Bellevue Christian School in Bellevue, Washington. Fellow GilligCoaches.NET contributor John Laughlin of Duvall actually rode one of these buses in his youth!

Algona, Washington, unidentified church bus.
This bus was photographed at a church in Algona in 2004. Recent observations of that area indicate this bus no longer exists, and may have been scrapped. It appears to be a 1953-1957 model due to the lack of a visible dashboard (earlier models had a visible dashboard just above the smaller windshield pane). Note, however, that it is missing its clearance and marker light cluster up front.

1952 "Kenworth Craftsman" trade publication cover image.
The same Kenworth used to advertise the Pacific SchoolCoach here was also used in the Brochure Cover shot a few entries below. It also appeared in several dozen Kenworth trade publications at the time.

Gasoline Alley Restaurant.

This Kenworth was a 1955 that got repainted to resemble Buddy Holly's tour bus, and was part of a restaurant named Gasoline Alley in Dayton, Washington (Eastern, Washington; there is a Dayton, WA in Western Washington but it did not have such restaurant). Other photos of this bus exist on the internet. These photos were taken by Zack Willhoite of Busdude.Com on January 19, 2004.

As part of the dining room decor...
The interior of the bus. Hey, at least they kept it *fairly* intact!
The interior - looking forward
The instrument panel
The right hand side of the bus, serving as the inside wall of the restaurant. (Note the Econolite Bullseye round door traffic signal!)
The right hand side, again...
...and again
The rear end of the bus sticking out of the building...
...and from a different angle
The left hand side of the bus.

Wahkiakum School District Bus No. 6, Cathlamet, Washington (retired)

I'll save the details about this bus on this page here, and instead direct attention to the "My KW T-216" section located in the  "The Museum Fleet" tab, as this bus is now owned by your surly webmaster. This photograph was discovered by a member of School Bus Fleet's forums while perusing the Wahkiakum School District's website. It's a photo of #6 in service, picking up a student, apparently photographed in the late 1990s.

Left side photo, with student crossing the road.

South Kitsap School District No. 402, Port Orchard, Washington.  Kenworth bus fleet

The following photograph link, taken sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, shows a fleet of over two dozen Kenworth-Pacific School Coach buses in operation for the South Kitsap School District in Port Orchard, Washington. This photo was submitted to GilligCoaches.NET by Bob Dalton, Transportation Shop Manager for South Kitsap School District. GilligCoaches.NET is working on obtaining a higher-resolution copy, as well as information on these buses.

Photo taken from above, looking down on the fleet

Shelton School District Kenworth-Pacific School Coach buses

While attending a local car show in Shelton back in June, I decided to take a peek into the Shelton/Mason County Historical Society's Museum building in downtown Shelton. In there are scores of old Shelton High School yearbooks, which I decided might be a good source of good Gillig photos (since Shelton was once an all-Gillig fleet). While peering through the 1954 Shelton High School yearbook (known as the Saghalie, since that's the title of their annual yearbook edition), I located an even better find - that Shelton once operated KW-Pacific buses! In 1954, they operated a mix of conventional and transit style models, which are evident in both the main image and the inset. It is unknown as to where these buses are now, nor if they even exist anymore.

Two-page spread on the transportation department
Closeup of inset at top right of spread

Unidentified Kenworth-Pacific/Reo parnership?!

This is quite possibly the most unique find ever submitted. Sent in by Tim Bentz, this is a very late 1940s or possibly a 1950s-era Kenworth-built Pacific SchoolCoach. What makes it unusual, however, is that it bears a Reo badge, and shares the exact same sheetmetal as the Pacific SchoolCoach. There are moderate differences in front and rear-end styling, however, such as a vastly different rear window design (and the lack of a radiator intake cooling scoop), and more sharper corners around the front windshield. (High res versions coming soon)

Right front view (high res version)
Left front view (high res version)
Right rear view (shows the differences in windshield design) (high res version)
Closeup of the emblem (high res version)

Wapato Assembly of God church bus

This unique find was sent in by Tim Bentz, a transportation director for Cascade School District in Eastern Washington. It is a 1954 Kenworth-Pacific School Coach, and it is unknown as to what school district this bus originally served. It was photographed in the summer of 2003 in a field next to the Wapato church whose name is painted on its sides. (High res versions coming soon)

Left front view (high res version)
Right front view (high res version)
Left rear view (slightly overhead, possibly photographed from the roof of a building) (high res version)

1946 Kenworth-sponsored Rand McNally Atlas advertisements

These photos were sourced from a 1946 Rand McNally U.S. road atlas that was sponsored by the Kenworth Motor Truck Company in Seattle. Throughout the atlas are scores of Kenworth truck photos, as well as a few photos of Kenworth-built school buses of the era. Judging by the school bus featured, I suspect that the Pacific School Coach design like that of my Kenworth T-216 didn't come out until the very end of the 1940s or the very early part of the 1950s.

Kenworth school bus photo
Kenworth charter bus photo

Camas School District Bus No.'s 3 and 5, Camas, Washington

These buses are an early '50s Kenworth Model T-126 SchoolCoach manufactured by the Kenworth Truck Company out of Seattle, Washington. Both were equipped with an International Red Diamond engine and have since been retired.

Bus No. 3 - Right front view
Bus No. 5 - Right front view (at close range)

Grants Pass School District, Grants Pass, Oregon

Not much information is known about this Pacific SchoolCoach, and it has since been retired. These photos were taken in the early 1980s.

Head-on view
Interior view looking in from the main entryway

Pacific "Carcoach" school bus

Here's a model that never sold, and only 20 were produced. The CarCoach is an early example of a modern type B school bus.

Pacific CarCoach right front view

Pacific SchoolCoach Advertising Images

View of the front from the inside
Instrument panel photo showing the unrivalled visibility of the bus.

Miscellaneous Images.

Row of seven Pacific SchoolCoaches with a few Crowns

*Note Four are T-126 transit models, the others are unknown conventionals bearing the Pacific body.

Kenworth Pacific "Bruck"

Only 12 of these units were built, and they were built for the Great Northern Railway for use in Montana. This one here, featured at a train station in Whitefish, Montana, has been totally restored and placed on an outdoor museum-like display. For more information, read the text of this article which was originally published on October 27, 2005 by the Daily Inter-Lake.  The front half of this unit is a standard Kenworth Model T-126 SchoolCoach body and the rear half is a custom modification done by Kenworth for a baggage storage area.  Special thanks go to Zach Willhoite for these photos.

Right semi-profile view
Right front view
Pacific badge emblem
Great Northern Railway logo and Kenworth badging below the lower front window panels
Front head-on view
Left front view
Left front view #2
Rear head-on view
Right rear view
GilligCoaches.NET, the Glass Block logo pattern, and all designs and content contained herein are Copyright (C)  2001 - 2006 Steven A. Rosenow, GTCA Productions, Incorporated and its contributors. All Rights reserved. The Gillig Logo, design, and all related indicia are registered trademarks of the Gillig Corporation.

GilligCoaches.Net is best viewed and developed using Internet Explorer 6 with a 4:3 desktop screen resolution setting of 1024x768
Pacific SchoolCoach