........" Bus Driver's Digest "........

             
                                     December 02, 2012  by Robert Moore

            I just learned that our local Casa Grande, Arizona  Greyhound stop almost became yet another scheduled stop that would be in the "No Longer Serviced" schedule column.  The only thing that saved it was the owner of the Chevron station on the corner of Arizona State Route 287 (Pinal Avenue) and Florence Boulevard, who agreed to take on the local Greyhound bus stop ticketing and baggage handling concession from its long time former location, whose lease had expired, and was not able to be renewed due to the sale of the building where the bus stop had been for nearly 30 years, just one block from the historic Southern Pacific train depot, built in 1939.

   Illegal immigrants broke into the fenced-off train depot, which had been set aside for a ground-up restoration; they built a fire inside, which got out of control and spread, collapsed the old roof and quickly destroyed the entire building. The Art Deco, Santa Fe styled depot was already on the Register of National Historic Places. The illegal immigrants were caught fleeing the building shortly after the fire had spread and completely engulfed the structure. It was a total loss. The 1939 depot had replaced the original train depot, which was built in the mid 1800s, when Casa Grande was known as "Terminal", and the small desert town was the end of the Southern Pacific's line, hence its name.

   Now, the buses stop in Casa Grande twice a day, one each going east and west, next to the fuel pumps under the Chevron station's canopy. It's the best we can do at this time. This location is just a couple of blocks away from the former bus stop site on Sacaton Street, just off of Main Street, near Florence Boulevard in Old Town Casa Grande.

   It is anyone's guess how long this scheduled stop in Casa Grande will survive. Coolidge, Arizona lost its Greyhound and Trailways stops years ago. Without the Casa Grande location, the nearest Greyhound bus stop is in Tucson to the east, or Mesa, Arizona, to the north, both about an hour's drive away from Casa Grande. Casa Grande is the only scheduled stop for Greyhound in all of Pinal County. This is pretty sad in my view, especially with it being 2012. The only other bus service Greyhound offers near me is the CoachLink bus service that is directly tied to AMTRAK east-west passenger train service at Maricopa, Arizona, along the Union Pacific's southern route across Arizona.  AMTRAK does not currently service the city of Phoenix directly. It once did service Phoenix Union Station downtown, along with the once-separate Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe/Burlington Northern Railway (ATSF/BNSF).  How time has changed everything!

    Click on the links below to access the images. The photo is of the westbound daily afternoon bus stopped at Casa Grande, headed toward Phoenix from Tucson, El Paso and points east. The bus pulled out just after I took this photo.  The video clip shows the bus pulling out onto northbound Pinal Avenue. The loud 'noise'  in the video is from a junky old Ford Ranger with no muffler being started near me, as I shot the video clip of Greyhound  'neoclassic'-painted MCI D4500 #6488's on-time scheduled departure toward Phoenix.  -MC-7 Rusty