Sifting Through Thunder Mountain

I visited a junkyard today named Thunder Mountain Auto Salvage in Olive Hill, KY. This place is about an hour west of me, so it wasn't too bad of a drive. In total, there were about 40 buses or so. Countless other vehicles.


Included are a few pictures of what I found there, some with captions. There are some pretty neat hidden gems in that place.

Cabell County Schools 571, a 1989 Thomas ER. This is the school district that I grew up in.

Three of six Southwestern Community Action Council Head Start buses originally from Huntington, WV. The AmTrans were 1996 models, but I did not get on the others to see what model years they were. There was another Carpenter Cadet similar to the one pictured (bus 97) as well as a early second generation IC CE and a Blue Bird Mini Bird.

A late 1970s or early 1980s Carpenter Cadet of unknown origin. It had "ASHLAND, KY" on the side, but that is all I could read.

A 1997 AmTran 3800 originally from Hardeman County Schools in Tennessee, btu later sold to who I presume is the Marathon Refinery in Cattlesburg, KY (CR-##). I pulled the 'AmTran Conventional' emblem by the door with my bare hands, as I had previously dropped my dollar store screwdriver somewhere.

Gallia County Local Schools, OH bus 49 - 1981 Superior Ford. This one changed hands at least twice, going somewhere in Chesapeake, OH as well as somewhere in West Virginia (hence the inspection sticker in the windshield) before ending up here.

Wayne County Schools, WV 9461 - 1995 Blue Bird TC2000 FE. Despite all of the black paint being rubbed off (or faded off), the factory names on the emblem were in great shape, making it a one of a kind emblem for me to add to my evergrowing collection.

A former Boyd County Schools, KY bus that was later sold to Ramey-Estep Schools and then ended up at Thunder Mountain. This is a 1989 Blue Bird S-1800.

I would love to know what happened to this 2001 International CE from Mingo County Schools, WV (bus 0152). Mingo County is quite a drive, making me think that this happened after the bus ended up here.