BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

While I am an avid reader and collector of the Motor Bus Society's 'Motor Coach Age' (MCA) magazines and use them extensively in my research, I find one flaw in their coverage of spotlighted New York operators and that is the failure to indicate in most cases where their surplus buses have gone (except, of course. to the scrap yard).

In the case of my alma mater Green Bus Lines (NY), I am fortunate to have certain very prized Public Service Commission 'Equipment on Hand' reports which indicate the final disposition of every bus through the early sixties.

Any other tidbits of such information is gained by 'reverse engineering' - in other words scanning rosters in MCA to see what and from where operators had purchased their used equipment.

Therefore, I have initiated this thread in the hope of gathering more information that will be interesting and helpful to us on the subject.

My first focus comes from the pages of the April 1969 MCA which features 'Chicago Suburban Bus Reviews' in which we see fleet number 2764 - a 1957 51 passenger GM Coach Model 5106 operating for the Chicago and Calumet District Transit Company (C&CDT).

#2764, shown in the metallic olive and white colors of the American Transit Group chain, is ex fleet #713 originally purchased by the Triboro Coach Corporation of Jackson Heights, New York and sold to C&CDT in 1969 along with four 1959 5106's from commonly owned Green Bus Lines renumbered in the 2300's.

Some brief C&CDT history;

Between 1931 until 1971, local bus services in the Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago suburbs were provided by the Chicago & Calumet District Transit Co. Bus routes in the area generally had been introduced or acquired in 1925 by Gary Railways, which in 1926 formed Shore Line Motor Coach Co. as a subsidiary to operate the bus routes.

The Chicago Suburban Bus Reviews issue of Motor Coach Age is available through '4509bus' at eBay as item # 350852529344.

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

[frankie]

Great new thread Mr. L!

From Chicago, we'll head north to Milwaukee where we see two interesting fishbowls.

Milwaukee acquired 20 buses from Triboro Coach in 1965, all of them 1960 vintage. Milwaukee 1751 thru 1760 (ex-Triboro 751-760) are TDH-5101 models while 1761 thru 1770 (ex-Triboro 731-740) are the narrower TDH-5102 models.

To promote special charters and summertime sightseeing tours, Milwaukee added skylight windows to two of the buses - 1761 & 1762.

1761 below looks like it's doing sightseeing duty passing the Schlitz Brewery, but may very well be in revenue service as evident by the Route 57 Walnut side destination. 1762 is on a charter run.

Photos courtesy of the MBS

[Mr. Linsky]

[quote="frankie"]Great new thread Mr. L!

From Chicago, we'll head north to Milwaukee where we see two interesting fishbowls.

Milwaukee acquired 20 buses from Triboro Coach in 1965, all of them 1960 vintage. Milwaukee 1751 thru 1760 (ex-Triboro 751-760) are TDH-5101 models while 1761 thru 1770 (ex-Triboro 731-740) are the narrower TDH-5102 models.

To promote special charters and summertime sightseeing tours, Milwaukee added skylight windows to two of the buses - 1761 & 1762.

1761 below looks like it's doing sightseeing duty passing the Schlitz Brewery, but may very well be in revenue service as evident by the Route 57 Walnut side destination. 1762 is on a charter run.


frankie,

This is a great start and, as usual, thanks so much for your support.

Just a couple of minor corrections; Milwaukee's # 1751 to 1760 are actually ex Triboro TDH 5301 New Looks (Triboro never bought any of the city's 5101's Old Looks).

And their 1761 to 1770 were Triboro's TDH 5302 New Looks (the 5102 that you mention was a one and only Old Look of its kind which went to Fifth Avenue Coach.

BTW; Milwaukee was the only company aside from NYCTS that bought 102 inch wide 45 passenger jobs which were modeled as a TDH 4511.

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[frankie]

Typo!!! You won't believe how many times I recheck the text before hitting the submit button! And I still missed it. Good grief!! I did mean 5301 & 5302.

Thanks Mr. L for pointing it out.

Frankie

[Mr. Linsky]

Speaking of Triboro Coach, here's one that came the other way to Jackson Heights from south Jersey.

Pictured sometime and somewhere back when in the environs of Trenton, New Jersey we see fleet #606 - a 1944 40 passenger GM Coach Model TG-4006 and one of fifteen likenesses numbered 'only evenly' as 600 and 628 (not uncommon among 'superstitious' operators) and delivered to Trenton Transit Company in April of 1944.

After eighteen years of faithful service with Trenton, #606 and siblings 628, 604, 616, 626 and 600 were sold to Triboro in 1962 and renumbered between 1161 to 1166 with #606 as 1165.

The buses, which arrived exactly as seen in the image but with Diesel engines installed soon after the war, were stripped down and completely redone by the artisans at Triboro and included. among other things, the removal of the Jersey window bars and the installation of intermediate steps at the front doors and post war GM wings and badges under the windshields along with updated directional signals.

The TG-4006's were war babies carrying steel bodies in lieu of scarce aluminum as evidenced by the double sideswipe moldings between the wheel wells.

Photo courtesy of the Motor Bus Society.

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

[ripta42]

Second (and later) lives of equipment also fascinates me (as I'm sure no one has picked up on yet). I know I started a couple of lists of disposition of NYC buses; I just need to find where I saved them. Of course, I think most of the info comes from Mr. L's posts anyway .

Are those Equipment On Hand reports something that can be scanned and posted?

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen in May of 1991 negotiating a turn to Madison Avenue from 42nd. Street in midtown Manhattan is fleet # 7962004 - a 1976 53 passenger Flxible Model 53102-6-1 operating for the United States Postal Service.

#7962004's original fleet number was 7633 and was one of 160 likenesses numbered 7500 to 7659 delivered to the New York City Transit Authority (TA) of Brooklyn, New York.

In order to expedite the movement of letter carriers to their appointed rounds and to make deliveries of mail to local distribution boxes amid New York's congested traffic, the Post Office Department bought several well used but still street worthy buses from the TA which remained in the custody of the TA for maintenance and storage services under government contract.

Photo thanks to Glen R. Rowe and is borrowed for educational purposes only.

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

[ripta42]

At first glance, the stripes make it look like one of the borrowed WMATA buses that ran in New York during the Grumman crisis.

[ripta42]

This 1966 TDH5303, possibly 8005, found its second life with the Department of Sanitation. At the time of the photograph in 2004, it sat abandoned on private property at Westchester and Wilkinson Avenues in the Bronx.

[traildriver]

[traildriver]

I recall seeing letter carrier's riding City buses (and private...as in Queens Transit) with their mailbags to their routes. The operator's didn't collect a fare from them, to my knowledge. In recent years, they seem to provide each carrier with their own delivery vehicle, (at least in my area), so they no longer ride the bus.....

[Tiny Tim]

As far as I can recall usps paid the ta for the buses and had nothing to do with them after that.They were used to ferry carriers due to the closing of one of the major po that was being rehabbed The buses ran out of the station in the mid 50s and second ave.And they were parked there or at the vmf(garage) on 11 ave. A po driver was trained to drive them. There was a story about them in one of the bus mags bus world I think.

[Mr. Linsky]

[NorthShore]

USPS owned and operated the buses after the NYCTA disposed of them. They were operated out of the postal facility along the West Side Highway near 23 Street.