02/09/2025
Even as a non-profit charitable organization, it’s not every day you get to make someone’s day/week/month/year so far. But on Monday, CC&T volunteers Jovan Jones, Trevor Logan, and Montigue Magruder set out on a mission to do just that.
Since September of 2023, we have been in relatively secretive talks with Metro Forward about the donation of a New Flyer D40LFR. There were a couple reasons to be quiet about this: for one, as a practice we generally do not discuss acquisitions until they’re solidified; but more importantly, there was one CC&T volunteer in particular who would have given his left foot for one of these, as shown below.
Sergio Najarro rode these buses practically daily, literally until the very end of their active service life in early 2024. As their numbers dwindled, he could identify them individually based on the intensity of their axle sounds or the bass of their exhaust note. If recollection serves, he actually was on board two of them at THE ends of their individual service lives, after they were hobbled by critical failures deemed too costly to repair. Their retirement took a little bit of the excitement out of being a busfan in the DC area, as these were about the last of the buses that didn’t meet newer noise emissions standards - they were the last buses that sounded like buses - and at one point looked like they’d be the last major group of straight diesel buses in the WMATA fleet (vs. hybrid or CNG). They’re certainly the last WMATA buses we could practically maintain, lacking complicated and computerized emissions controls, so the time was right to make something happen. And very early in the process, many of us decided we would make it a surprise to the subfleet’s #1 fan.
So, when the stars finally aligned on Feb 3, Jovan, Trevor and Montigue got into gear very quickly, arriving at Metro’s Andrews Federal Center bus garage to pick up the vehicle they had selected months prior. They very quickly hit a snag in a WMATA policy requiring retired vehicles to be towed off the property. We had missed a memo on this somehow and were unprepared for it, both logistically and financially. But, so committed to the bit were the three that they even pulled together around the issue, found a tow company, gathered some cash amongst themselves, and got the bus off the property that same day. We truly could not announce this acquisition without their help.
But, a surprise can’t go without proper planning – so special thanks also to Elyse Horvath and Kyle Garcia for helping drag Sergio, crutches and all, out of his house and over to Van Dorn St Station, where we teased him with mysterious sounds of Cummins diesel and Meritor axles a couple times before making our grand entry.
Sergio could not have been more excited.
WMATA #6181 is a 2006 New Flyer D40LFR with a Cummins ISM engine, a Voith D864.3 transmission, musical Meritor planetary axles, and the bassiest exhaust in the CC&T fleet. 6181 joins the CC&T fleet in good condition, needing only some cleaning - and possible lexan window replacement - before it can fill a critical gap in our fleet, being a low floor bus we can immediately use in our low- and no-cost transportation programs.
After a brief rest in the DMV area for some minor repair work, 6181 will make the trek to its new home in Roanoke later this spring.
Thanks Metro Forward!
You can support 6181 and all the other buses of CC&T by visiting our donation options: https://linktr.ee/thebuseum
