Motor Coaches (iv): The War Years in Kingston

[This is one of a series of articles written by Merrill Weekes for the newspaper Old Autos, starting in April, 2004. The series is written with the collective title of "Model T's to Motor Coaches."]

I became employed with Colonial Coach Lines and their subsidiary, Kingston City Coach Ltd. in February 1944.

The Kingston Shipyards were building corvettes for the Canadian Navy and Canadian Locomotive was producing steam locomotives for the various countries that were allies in World War Two. Canadian Industries (later Dupont) with a huge nylon plant in Kingston Township and the Alcan Aluminum works were working 3 shifts on wartime production.

The military bases, Barriefield, Vimy and Norman Rogers Airport were the temporary homes for hundreds of young Canadians training for service overseas.

With wartime rationing of tires and gasoline, plant workers depended on buses to take them to work and home after their shift was completed.

Military personal with free evenings required transportation to visit the city and to take them back to base before lights out.

The Kingston City fleet consisted of pre-war Macks, Yellow Coach and Leylands. Four Model 49B Fords were purchased in 1943 and four in 1944 under a wartime permit. They were all under 30 passenger seat construction, but very often had as many standing in the aisles.

A tip of the old hat to maintenance staff who kept the mileage weary vehicles running, not only in Kingston but in cities and towns across our great nation.

Merrill S. Weekes, October 2004