BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

ECA.

I was thinking along the terms of World's Fair myself but looking through the many pictures that I have of the exposition I don't find anything like it.

It's too bad the image isn't clearer so we could make more sense out of it.

Anyway, stay warm and go easy on the shoveling!

Best regards,

WCA

[Hart Bus]

WCA: The only shoveling I did was the few square feet on my porch so that
my storm door could open I'm waiting for my landscaper to arrive with his snow plow.

ECA

[Mr. Linsky]

It's back to Brooklyn again sometime in the late thirties where we catch this marvelous snapshot of fleet number 512 - a 1934 Mack Model 6-CL-3S and one of fifteen (510 to 524) delivered to the Brooklyn Bus Corporation Division of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Transit Company (BMT) in the spring of that year (one demonstrator CL numbered 500 was received in the previous year).

#512 is seen in a more rural section of the borough (possibly the Sheepshead Bay vicinity) and carries a cardboard windshield placard as a route designation probably because it has just been assigned to another of the many trolley lines that fell to the wayside at the time.

It was about this time that the city took over the entire BMT operation and replaced most of the company's older buses with almost 200 new Twin Coaches - Brooklyn's sixteen CL Macks were sold off to the East Side and Comprehensive Omnibus Corporations in Manhattan.

Note the typical city Bus Stop sign of the era which, in this case, was planted solidly in the concrete sidewalk to prevent theft.

Photo borrowed for educational purposes only.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[Mr. Linsky]

Taken as part of a promotional shot for a Texaco Lubrication ad, we see fleet number 425 - a 1931 Mack Model 'BT' and one of fifty (400 to 449) in operation for the Brooklyn Bus Corporation.

The 43 passenger BT is the big brother to the Model 'CL' (just above) and proved to be very capable of handling the heavy passenger loads on traction lines that it replaced throughout Brooklyn.

More technical information on the 'BT' can be found earlier in this thread.

Photo thanks to eBay.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[Mr. Linsky]

Many thanks go to member New York Omnibus for finding this great photo of a scene from the 1948 film production of 'The Naked City'.

Here we see two 1947 Surface Transportation GM TDH 4507's traveling in opposite directions along Seventh Avenue passing the famous Astor Hotel where Sammy Kaye of musical renown entertains in the roof garden.

Of note on the Northbound 4507 is the rare etched milk glass 'BACKING' fixture just to the right of the stop light on the left engine hatch (the only known examples appeared on this 100 bus order which included 25 that were diverted to Green Bus Lines).

Far off in the upper right of the frame and hardly discernible is a New York City Omnibus Model 740 from 1939.

Enjoy,

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[Mr. Linsky]

In a photo taken in the mid seventies at the Kent State University Campus Bus Service (CBS) facility in Kent, Ohio, we see fleet number 1745 - an ex Green Bus Lines 1954 GM Model TDH 4512 originally numbered 104 and delivered to CBS along with 101, 102, 103, 105, 106 and 108 of the same group in March of 1967.

Green's buses were the first and inaugurated the campus service and were very soon followed by eight more 4512's from Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines (5), M. K. & O. Transit Lines of Tulsa, Oklahoma (2) and Cincinnati Street Railway (1).

The service became extremely successful and turned into an operation that rivaled any public carrier and led to the construction of a modern maintenance depot and the ongoing purchase of new buses.

In June of 2004, the CBS operations ceased and were taken over by PARTA (Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority).

Also shown is # 1745's builder's plate which this writer is trying to pry away from its present owner!

Of note on # 1745 are the extra wings under the windshield which distinguished Green's buses from the others and the first federal trials of water filled front bumpers for which Kent State volunteered the equipment.

Photos borrowed for educational purposes only.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[RailBus63]

PARTA has kept the CBS tradition of employing student drivers. When I visited Kent State University a few years back on my son's high school marching band trip, I watched as several students were training in the football stadium parking lot using a 30-foot Gillig Phantom.

[Mr. Linsky]

R.B.,

Don't quote me on this but I think U.C.L.A. might still be using students as drivers in their campus service.

I know that they did for years.

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[Mr. Linsky]

The New York City Transit Authority 'Snow Fighter' # SF-12 pictured is a 1948 GM TDH 4507 and was originally numbered between 2200 and 2261 while serving the Authority's newly formed Queens Bus Division.

Several such conversions existed and carried crews to defrost bus stop aprons and hand manicure sidewalks leading to them.

SF-12 appears to be abandoned in the image as is evidenced by the already cannibalized headlights, rear view mirror and GM Badge.

Photo via track supplied by member New York Omnibus

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[Mr. Linsky]

I was undecided as to whether to place the following piece in 'Buses in Pop Culture' because it did appear as a clip in the film 'The Naked City' in 1948 or here at 'Vintage New York City' because it was rented footage from 1947 and had nothing to do with the production - as you can see, I decided upon the latter.

Seen on one of a number of its crosstown Manhattan routes is a 1935 28 passenger Mack Model 6-CL-3S and one of fifty-six numbered between 501 and 556 operating for the Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation.

While there are no recognizable landmarks in the photo (at least to me) I would say that its a safe bet that the bus is trundling the M3 line and heading either eastbound on 50th. Street or westbound on 49th. Street.

Of note in the picture is the early forties Hudson police car in original NYPD black and dark green with a white roof and the movie of the week which was 'High Conquest' featuring Gilbert Roland.

It was not more than a year after this picture was taken that Comprehensive Omnibus along with sister company East Side Omnibus fell into city hands.

Photo courtesy of IMDb

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[X-Astorian]

Mr. L.,

Great clip! Naked City is one of my favorites, however, the bus is an Avenue B & East Broadway M-9 trundling up Clinton Street toward Delancey near the "exciting conclusion" of the film on the Williamsburg Bridge.

[Mr. Linsky]

X-A,

My apologies - you are correct;

In examining the photo more closely, I do see the 'A' in the fleet number to the right of the destination sign which would make it a 1936 model.

Unfortunately, the liveries of both company's are very much alike and can be easily mistaken.

However, there is no mistake in the attached image of fleet number 502 - a 1958 Mack Model C-49-DM 'Suburban' and one of six purchased used in 1960 from Public Service of New Jersey by Avenue B and East Broadway Transit, Co. principally for use as race track specials.

# 502 is seen at the company's facility in downtown Manhattan in a scene from an episode of the 'Kojak' TV series.

Photo courtesy of IMDb.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

[Mr. Linsky]

Thanks go again to IMDb for this very interesting short clip from MGM's 1949 release of 'On the Town' starring Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly.

The scene, shot as the cab the boys are riding in turns up Manhattan's Broadway from 50th. Street, includes great shots of a Surface Transportation C-45-DT and a TDH 4507 traveling south on the great white way.

In the clip you'll notice, as the DeSoto turns the corner, that the rear door has been repainted with the logo of the fictitious 'Globe Cab' Company.

In an accompanying still photo also below we see an eastbound city Mack working the old M3 crosstown line that was once operated by Green Bus Lines (1933 to 1935) and then Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation (1935 to 1947).

Enjoy the film.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index.jsp?cid=201866

[RailBus63]

Amazing how the font used by Walgreens hasn't changed in over 60 years.

[Mr. Linsky]

The scene, taken from Columbia Pictures 1956 release of 'The Harder They Fall' starring Humphrey Bogart, is Manhattan's Broadway just north of Times Square where we see (top photo) no less than two GM Model TDH 4509's operating for the New York City Omnibus Corporation making their way through the usual snarl at the 'crossroads of the world'.

Also visible (with a close-up in the lower frame), and part of the story line, is a 'picture vehicle' in the form of a late forties Flxible Clipper hawking the prowess of 'Toro Moreno' as the 'Next Heavyweight Champion of the World.

In the story, sportswriter Eddie Willis (Bogart) is broke after the newspaper he works for goes under and is hired by a crooked boxing promoter to publicize his new boxer, a huge, but slow-witted and untalented Argentinian named Toro Moreno.

It may be that the DeSoto 'SkyView' cab so prominent in the lower frame is part of the production because the fixture on the roof has been covered over although there is what appears to be a legitimate Public Service inspection sticker in the right corner of the windshield.

The Harder They Fall was Humphrey Bogart's last film before his death.

Photos courtesy of IMDb.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York