BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

I guess that every so often I have to return to my own roots/routes!

In a picture taken in the early fifties, we see Green Bus Lines fleet number 352 on Sutphin Boulevard just below Jamaica Avenue and heading south bound to Baisley Park on the Q6 line.

Number 352 was a 1952 GM TDH 5104 and one of 15 (351 to 365) delivered to the company in September of that year (a sister to 352 is seen heading in the opposite direction).

Dubbed 'Gondola Cars' by their drivers because of their 40 foot lengths, the 51 passenger 5104's were a narrow facsimile of the 5103 and were built almost specifically to meet a New York law prohibited the use of 102 inch wide coaches.

An improved version designated as the 5106 made its appearance in the following year and featured upgraded steering gear and 'Air Suspension'.

On a personal note; I drove virtually all of the 5104's during my three summers with the company and I remember them as being more agile and responsive than the shorter 4509's.

Photo courtesy of the Motor Bus Society.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[Hart Bus]

A great piece of nostaglia. Nice to see a 'Whelan Drugs" on the corner. A forerunner of CVS, Walgreens, etc.

[Mr. Linsky]

Thanks to R. Mc Connell of Canadian Discussion, we see his own 2005 shot of the same intersection featuring handsome Green Line MCI Classic fleet number 714.

Of the 16 new MCI Model TC40102A' Classics that Green Line received in 1989 numbered 701 to 716, twelve were two door versions split almost evenly between transit and suburban interiors, and all were used mostly on Express routes.

Missing from this later shot (among other things) is the Jamaica Avenue El and the World War II air raid siren atop the Queens County Court House in the background.

I wonder whether 'Needick's is still on Jamaica just east of Sutphin?

When we were kids, we'd take the Metropolitan Avenue trolley (which eventually became a 4510 city bus) from Kew Gardens to Jamaica and Sutphin, grab a couple of great frankfurters and orange drinks at Needick's and then walk the few blocks to the Loew's Valencia at 165th. Street to catch a Saturday afternoon matinee - those were the days!

BTW; next to the Whelan's Drug store that Hart Bus mentions above was a pawn shop where I bought my first Waltham gold pocket watch (that I still have!).

Mr. 'L"

[Hart Bus]

To WCA:

Sorry to say that Nedick's does not exist anymore. Even the famous one at 34th St and Broadway, on the corner of Macy's is gone. The Riese Organization did buy or own one franchise that is in a stall on the LIRR concourse of Penn Station, but its buried in the back of the unit with other fast food outlets in the front part. Don't know if the dogs and relish and Orange Ade (if sold) are up to the old standards.

ECA