Tennessee Coach Company

Tennessee Coach Company

Company type	Private
Industry	Intercity bus transportation
Predecessor	Southern Motor Coach Company, Safety Coach Company
Founded	1928
Founder	Onnie Bruce "O.B." Baskette, Al Kraemer
Defunct	1976
Fate	Merged into Continental Tennessee Lines (subsidiary of Continental Trailways)
Successor	Continental Tennessee Lines
Headquarters	Knoxville , United States
Area served	Tennessee, regional highway routes
Key people	Onnie Bruce "O.B." Baskette, Al Kraemer
Products	Intercity bus services
Parent	Tennessee Trailways, Inc. (from 1960), Continental Trailways (later)

The Tennessee Coach Company (TCC) was a regional highway coach operator established in 1928 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It continued operations until 1976, when it merged into Continental Tennessee Lines, a subsidiary of the Transcontinental Bus System, also known as Continental Trailways. At the time, Continental Trailways was the largest participant in the Trailways network, then referred to as the National Trailways Bus System.

Origin

TCC’s beginnings date back to 1928 in Tennessee through the consolidation of the Southern Motor Coach Company, which had been running since 1924 between Knoxville and Chattanooga, and the Safety Coach Company, established in 1925 to serve the route between Knoxville and Johnson City.

Background

The company’s foundation is linked to Ohio businessman Onnie Bruce "O.B." Baskette, who started his career in 1919 working with regional bus lines before moving to North Carolina around 1924-25. There, he briefly worked with Carolina Motor Coaches and met Al and M.H. Kraemer, who later joined him in Tennessee.

In March 1925, Baskette initiated service connecting Knoxville and Johnson City via US-11E. By 1926, he formally incorporated as Safety Coach Company, initially operating two Fageol Safety Coaches and expanding to nine by the end of that year. The company’s name was inspired by the Fageol brand, popular among early motor coach operators.

The Kraemer brothers departed from Carolina Coach Company in 1927 to collaborate with Baskette’s enterprise in Tennessee.

Development

In 1928, Baskette and Al Kraemer formed the Tennessee Coach Company by purchasing Southern Motor Coach Company and merging it with Safety Coach Company.

In 1929, Tennessee granted a joint operating certificate to TCC and Nashville-based Union Transfer Company (UTC) for service between Nashville and Knoxville along US-70 (later US-70S), passing through important towns such as Murfreesboro and Crossville.

[UTC was acquired in 1930 by Consolidated Coach Corporation (CCC) from Lexington, Kentucky; CCC was renamed Southeastern Greyhound Lines by 1936.]

TCC extended its Johnson City route to Bristol in 1929 and further to Bluefield in 1930. By 1938, it introduced routes from Knoxville and Chattanooga to Atlanta via less populated corridors, competing with Greyhound’s existing northern Georgia routes.

Additionally, the company offered extensive commuter routes from Knoxville to nearby communities including Kingston, Rockwood, Harriman, Oliver Springs, and notably Oak Ridge during World War II—the site of the Manhattan Project headquarters responsible for developing the first atomic weapons.

A sharing arrangement

The Tennessee Coach Company (TCC) collaborated with its partner—initially UTC, later CCC, and eventually Southeastern GL—on their shared certificate for the Nashville-Knoxville corridor through a distinctive alternating schedule: one carrier operated trips in one direction on a given day while the other covered the opposite direction, switching roles daily. This system remained until 1956 when TCC joined the National Trailways association. Following approval by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), TCC assumed responsibility for four out of nine daily trips each way; Southeastern GL managed the other five. TCC also introduced a daily service via US-70N through Lebanon, Carthage, Cookeville, and Crossville, competing alongside Continental Tennessee Lines—a Nashville-based Trailways affiliate.

During their cooperation with Southeastern GL in the 1930s, some TCC vehicles (Yellow Coach streamliners) were painted in Greyhound colors bearing the label "Tennessee Greyhound Lines," a brand that never operated independently.

Between Knoxville and Bristol

In 1929, coinciding with the year TCC and UTC obtained their joint operating certificate, Old Dominion (OD) Stages was established in Roanoke, Virginia. Its founders were Arthur Hill of Blue and Gray Transit, John Gilmer from Camel City Coach, and Guy Huguelet representing Consolidated Coach Corporation (which later became Southeastern Greyhound Lines), each holding an equal share. OD Stages provided service along the route from Knoxville to Washington, DC, passing through Bristol, Wytheville, Roanoke, Lexington, Staunton, and Winchester.

Later that same year, Blue and Gray Transit merged with Camel City Coach to form National Highway Transport (NHT), which aligned itself with Greyhound and was renamed Atlantic Greyhound Lines in 1931. In May 1932, OD Stages leased its Knoxville-Bristol section along US-11W to TCC, enabling TCC to operate both its original US-11E route and the newly leased US-11W corridor.

By the end of 1932, Hill and Gilmer purchased Huguelet’s shares in OD Stages and integrated the company into Atlantic Greyhound Lines. TCC continued managing the leased US-11W segment alongside its own US-11E route while collaborating on interlined through-schedules with Atlantic GL, Dixie GL, and Southeastern GL—facilitating connections between cities such as Birmingham and Bristol as well as Memphis and Washington.

This partnership concluded in 1956 when TCC joined National Trailways and relinquished the leased US-11W portion back to Atlantic GL as part of its separation from Greyhound. Following this change, TCC operated exclusively on its original US-11E route between Knoxville and Bristol.

Sale of TCC

In 1960, ownership of the Tennessee Coach Company transferred to Tennessee Trailways, Inc., an entity formed expressly for this purchase. This company was equally owned by three Trailways members: Virginia Stage Lines (Virginia Trailways), Smoky Mountain Lines (Smoky Mountain Trailways), and Continental Tennessee Lines. The latter was a subsidiary of Continental Southern Lines within the Transcontinental Bus System (operating as Continental Trailways), which was the largest participant in the National Trailways network. Despite the acquisition, TCC preserved its brand identity until 1976.

In 1966, the Transcontinental Bus System based in Dallas, Texas acquired most significant Trailways operators along the Atlantic coast—including Virginia Stage Lines and Smoky Mountain Stages—thereby consolidating control over Tennessee Trailways through Continental Trailways’ subsidiaries and investments.

Merger into Continental Trailways

By 1976, Continental Trailways integrated Tennessee Trailways—still operating under the Tennessee Coach Company name—into Continental Tennessee Lines. Simultaneously, Continental Crescent Lines was merged into this division to unify operations under a single corporate framework.

Conclusion

This consolidation signified the conclusion of Tennessee Coach Company’s status as an independent operator.

Addendum

In 1968, Holiday Inns of America purchased the Transcontinental Bus System (Continental Trailways), subsequently rebranding it as Trailways, Inc. (TWI). Holiday Inns sold TWI in 1979 to private investor Henry Lea Hillman Sr. from Pittsburgh.

In 1987, The Greyhound Corporation divested its core bus operations to Greyhound Lines, Inc. (GLI), a Dallas-based firm led by Fred Currey, formerly an executive at Continental Trailways. That same year, GLI acquired Trailways, Inc., its largest rival, merging the two companies.

After GLI declared bankruptcy in 1990, Currey was removed from his CEO position by creditors. Since then, GLI has experienced ongoing financial difficulties alongside reductions in service levels—cutting routes, frequency, and geographic coverage across numerous states.

Currently, vestiges of the Tennessee Coach Company exist only as indistinct elements within Greyhound Lines’ extensive operations.

See also

• The Greyhound Corporation
• Atlantic Greyhound Lines
• Capitol Greyhound Lines
• Central Greyhound Lines
• Dixie Greyhound Lines
• Florida Greyhound Lines
• Great Lakes Greyhound Lines
• New England Greyhound Lines
• Southeastern Greyhound Lines
• Teche Greyhound Lines

References

• Hixson, Kenneth (2001). Pick of the Litter. Lexington: Centerville Book Company. .
• Various editions of Motor Coach Age (published by the Motor Bus Society), including August 1977, May 1980, April–June 1995, and October–December 1998.
• Backfire, the corporate newsletter of Southeastern Greyhound Lines, spanning January 1938 to February 1956.
• Tennessee Coach Company featured on Jon's Trailways History Corner website, curated by Jon Hobein.

External links

• "Tennessee Coach Company" at Bluehounds and Redhounds
• Bluehounds and Redhounds, a history resource for Greyhound and Trailways
• "Northland Greyhound Lines" at Bluehounds and Redhounds, detailing early developments of The Greyhound Corporation
• "Greyhound Lines after WW2" at Bluehounds and Redhounds
• "The Scenicruiser" at Bluehounds and Redhounds