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The Civil Rights Bus at the Seashore Trolley Museum
Please Consider Making a Donation to Civil Rights Bus No. 6481
We are currently raising funds for the 1964 Historical Civil Rights bus from Washington, DC, No. 6481. Mechanical work is needed so that the bus will become an operating bus once again. Additionally, repainting the exterior and adding additional Civil Rights-related exhibit materials to the interior are also planned.
Donation Options to Help the Civil Rights Bus 6481 Project:
For the Museum to assign your donation to the Bus 6481 Restricted Fund Projects listed above, Fund 871, the amount of the donation must be a minimum of $100. Otherwise, the donation will be applied to the Museum General Fund.
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society
is the 501c3 organization that owns and operates the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, and the National Streetcar
Museum in Lowell (MA).
The New England Electric Railway Historical Society is registered with the IRS (EIN# 01-0244457) and was incorporated in Maine in 1941.
Check or Money Order ***** should be made payable to:
New England Electric Railway Historical Society
For a donation to help with the Civil Rights Bus 6481
Please write in the memo: Bus 6481 Fund 871
Mail to: Seashore Trolley Museum
P. O. Box A
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
Credit Card ***** donations can be a one-time donation, or you
may choose to have a specific amount charged to your card
automatically each month. Please contact the Museum bookkeeper via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone at 207-967-2712 ext. 2.
Online Donations - may be made by using a Credit Card:
Click Here to make an online donation through the Museum's website.
See the screenshot below
When at the Donation page: Fill in donor info, etc., when at
"To which fund are you donating? Scroll down to "Other" _____
Donating to the Civil Rights Bus 6481 Fund, Type: Bus 6481 Fund 871
then continue filling in the required information -
See the screenshot below
Donation of Securities ***** We also accept donations of
securities. You can contact the Museum bookkeeper via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone at 207-967-2712 ext. 2
to discuss brokerage account information for accepting donated securities.
BONUS ***** If you work for a company/corporation that will
"match" an employee's donation to an approved 501c3 non-profit
educational organization, please be sure to complete the necessary paperwork with your employer so that your donation is matched :)
See the screenshot below
Questions? Please contact the Civil Rights Bus 6481 project sponsor:
Phil Morse, p.morse31@gmail.com
Please consider joining the Civil Rights Bus journey to complete the work needed by making a donation today!
Thank You :)
Civil Rights Bus 6481 History
The Truck and Coach Division of General Motors (GMC) built over 44,000 "New Look" buses beginning in 1958 and continuing to 1977 in the U.S. and 1985 in Canada. The "New Look" buses were also called "fishbowl" buses because of their angled windshields. The buses featured lightweight aluminum construction and good visibility for the driver due to the windshield design.
The GM "New Look" bus was the most popular transit bus of its era. GM offered "New Look" buses in many variations, including 29-foot, 35-foot, and 40-foot lengths, transit and suburban configurations, and through four "generations."
No. 6481 is a model TDH-5304 bus indicating the following: T - Transit D – Diesel engine H - Hydraulic transmission 53 - 53 seat, 40-foot length 04 – series 4 D.C. Transit was formed in 1956 and was owned by O. Roy Chalk to take over the bus and streetcar operations of Capital Transit. To replace older buses during the 1950s and 1960s, D.C. Transit acquired hundreds of General Motors “New Look” buses, including Nos. 6400 – 6499 in 1964.
In 1973, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) acquired the D.C. Transit system. The Metro was formed in 1967 to build a subway system. The bus operations acquired in 1973 became known as Metrobus. In the early 1980s, No. 6481 was among a group of buses leased to New York City during a shortage of equipment. In 1983, the 6400 series buses, along with some other Metrobus “New Look” coaches, were rebuilt by the Blitz Bus and Truck Company of Chicago. Blitz rebuilt the drive train, suspension, and running gear and applied a new, red, white, and blue interior and exterior paint scheme.
Norman Down photo at Seashore Trolley Museum
No. 6481 continued running until its retirement about 2000. Upon retirement, a collector bought No. 6481 at auction and stored it in Richmond, VA. No. 6481 came to Seashore in 2004.
In 2010, Seashore installed the exhibit “A Seat for Everyone” inside the bus. The exhibit highlights the role of transit in the history of civil rights. An exhibit panel describes Freedom Riders on buses during the 1960s. Other panels reproduce drawings done by students from the King Middle School in Portland, ME, based on the biography, Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, by Phillip Hoose. Colvin was a teenager who refused to surrender her seat to a white woman on a Montgomery, AL bus in defiance of Jim Crow Laws at the time.
Seashore selected No. 6481 for this exhibit because the first “Freedom Ride” had started in Washington, DC, and the bus entered service in Washington in 1964, the year that the Civil Rights Act was enacted in the nation’s capital.
Builder: General Motors Corp.
Description: 'New Look' model TDH-5304, rebuilt in 1983
Type: Motor Buses
Year: 1964
Retired from Service: 2000
Acquired by the Museum: 2004
Note: No. 6481 is not currently in operating condition but is otherwise in good condition.
Fund: 871
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