BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

It's 1948 as we visit the Corona, Queens yards of the North Shore Bus Company to see a group of shredder bound relics from the early thirties that have been rejected by the newly formed Queens Bus Division of the City of New York's then Board of Transportation.

Our focus is fleet # 570 - a 1930 38 passenger Yellow Coach Model Z-BM-617 and one of four likenesses numbered from 570 to 573 and all of which saw service up to city takeover in 1947.

Introduced by Yellow in 1929, the Type Z-240 in various forms including the Z-BM-617 shown was the company's first move into the heavy duty purpose built transit bus market and incorporated numerous engineering improvements including a stronger and lighter frame built on a 240 inch wheelbase with balloon tires, four wheel air brakes and air clutches on mechanical shift models and nearly 600 were built between 1929 and 1934.

#570 carries a Yellow built body of Plymetl that was composed of thick plywood panels covered in sheet aluminum which was said to be as strong as steel.

Photo courtesy of 'Vintage-Vault75' and has been sold on eBay.

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

[Mr. Linsky]

The photo and story herein is less about a bus in a mishap and more about a little known and short lived precursor to many of the private bus line operations in Queens, New York in the days of yore.

Seen in Valley Stream, Long Island on an April evening in 1936 and waylaid by a minor fender bender while in route from Jamaica to Rosedale on the then Q5A line is fleet # 212N - a 1929 40 passenger ACF Model 511-2-H2 (aka the 'Metropolitan' design) and operating for the Nevin-Queens Bus Lines, Inc., of Jamaica, New York.

The Metropolitan, devised by ACF in 1928 to compete with the very successful Twin Coach Model '40' street car design (a bus that was often imitated but never duplicated) was grossly underpowered for its weight and was slow to accelerate to its top speed of only 30 mph.

About 325 of the model were built between 1928 and 1933 with the bulk going to three large operators including Nevin-Queens.

About Nevin-Queens Bus Lines;

Harris Nevin, owner and chief cook and bottle washer at his company, envisioned a nation wide presence and, in fact, had already established a strong foothold by the late 20's in transit both in northern and eastern Queens and parts of Brooklyn on one year permits as well as over the road operations that had already stretched as far as Pennsylvania and Ohio (in fact, one of his parlor cars was the first bus to traverse Manhattan's Holland Tunnel when it opened in 1927).

Unfortunately, Mr. Nevin was outbid by North Shore Bus Company in 1935 for long term franchises in Queens and, because he relied heavily on that revenue stream to build his empire, he and his company were never heard from again.

Note that the 212 fleet number in the photo is followed by a 'N' merely because on North Shore's Buses the 'N' preceded the number

Photo courtesy of 'cootsimagery-deluxe' and is available at eBay as item # 200994840773,

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

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen standing at rest sometime in the 50's and awaiting its next run from Manhattan's 2nd. Avenue and 60th. Street back to South Jamaica via Queens Boulevard on the Q60 line is fleet #102 - a 1954 45 passenger GM Coach and one of fifteen likenesses numbered 101 to 115 operating for Green Bus Lines, Inc., of Jamaica, New York.

Surprisingly, the very popular TDH 4512, an introducer of Air Suspension with a production record of 3263 between 1953 and 1959 and second only to the TDH 5105's 3630 during the same period, sold only the fifteen mentioned above to New York City based operators.

The reason being a saturation in the marketplace of the new paired window TDH 4509 model between 1949 and 1953 which served well to tide operators over until their need for the larger 5106's came about later in the decade.

There's an oddity about #102 that only this writer would still know about!; notice how deep the cream bib under the windshield is and how it looks as though something in missing.

What is missing are the two additional decorative stainless steel wings that all of Green Line's 4512's were originally delivered with which were lost by the body shop in Hoboken (NJ) where #102 was taken for repair after its involvement in a major fire at the Archer Avenue terminal in Jamaica.

Speaking personally, I can tell you that the 4512's were a sweet ride (on air) with improved steering and, in Green Line's case, light and airy interiors of medium peach that made it a whole new experience behind the wheel.

The company sold off all of the 4512's in 1966 with about half going to North Jersey operators and the balance to Kent State University in Ohio to begin their Campus Bus Service.

Photo courtesy of the Motor Bus Society.

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

[Hart Bus]

WCA:

Did you ever drive the Q60 and use the men's room at the Italian Restaurant (Eduardo"s ?) where 102 has pulled up to?

ECA

[Mr. Linsky]

Here's an interesting piece that appeared in a late thirties issue of Bus Transportation Magazine touting the advantages that traction operators will enjoy when switching to buses and using, among others, comments and comparison charts from Queens/Nassau Transit Lines of College Point, New York.

A nice slice of that company's history.

Photo along with five additional pages of testimonials courtesy of '4509bus' and is available at eBay as item # 350947174909.

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

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen in 1946 at what is now the location of the City's Jackie Gleason Depot at 36th. Street and 5th. Avenue in Brooklyn is fleet # 1227 - a 1941 40 passenger Twin Coach Model 41-GE (gas/electric) and one of 190 numbered 1100 to 1289 delivered to the then City of New York Board of Transportation's Brooklyn Bus Division (an additional sixty numbered 1300 to 1359 arrived later in the same year but were Diesel/electrics).

These Twins were destined to replace much of the aged equipment of the then defunct Brooklyn Bus Corporation and served well through the war years and until 500 new GM 4510's arrived in 1948 at which time the short lived Twins were junked (shamefully, the city spent the money to replace all 190 gasoline engines with Hercules Diesels immediately after the war).

#1227 is seen being tested on what was then known as an 'Otis Proving Stand' (now referred to as a Dynamometer).

An ad for General Electric also seen below shows the very cheerful and bright livery that these Twins arrived in.

Two depot photos courtesy of The Museum of the City of New York and were taken by Samuel Gottscho of Wurts Brothers Photography.
Lower ad courtesy of '4509bus'.

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

[Robert Carroll]

Just after the war ended They started or renewed the B22 Atlantic Ave.route between Parsons Blvd.and East New York B'way Junction. My best pal Tony and I took the B22 to City Line to attend a St.Anthony Feast and I had my first taste of pizza.Tony said to think of it as a tomato pie....Wow. I do remember I could not believe they had no clutch pedal,and that it was so slow,perhaps a governor.Atlantic ave. was brand new,or newly paved and smooth as silk. In those days any bus with a slanted windshield was considered modern. Only ones I had seen were Jamaica Bus and Triboro Coach's ACF's circa 1945.

[frankie]

I had to stare at that bus for a while to take in those colors. It's not often you see early NYC equipment with it's colorful livery in pictures. It's too bad NYCTA recolored all their buses with drab shades of greens. One thing that did carry on until the advent of the fishbowls were the split destination signs with the red "slit" destination.

Frankie

[Mr. Linsky]

[NorthShore]

The color scheme of the NYC Bd. of Transportation buses were bright red and
yellowy cream from 1940. Even some Bklyn. PCC cars were repainted red & cream. In 1947, when NYC acquired North Shore Bus the color scheme changed. North Shore was originally green & gray. After WWII, with the arrival of new Twins & GM's, North Shore modified their paint scheme to green & silver. NYC Bd. of Transp. adopted this paint scheme.

[Robert Carroll]

I read recently that the newly formed offices of a motion picture company looked down on the NYPublic Library and the adopted the lion as a trademark symbol,ie,MGM!

[Mr. Linsky]

NorthShore,

There must have been a great deal of confusion for passengers back when so many companies within the city carried very similar liveries such as Brooklyn Bus, Avenue B and the East Side and Comprehensive Omnibus Corporations.

Of course, Surface Transportation was also partial to red and cream but they used it within a recognizable design.

Now I'll tell you something interesting; Green Bus Lines livery before 1949 was a forest green roof with battleship gray under the window belt.

Somehow the city felt that it too closely resembled their livery and either asked them or ordered them to change it and that's how the angels wings and bib design in apple green and cream came about and all existing buses except the Mack CT's were repainted to those colors.

Regards,

Mr. 'L'

[Mr. Linsky]

In keeping with a company tradition at Green Bus Lines (NY) to photograph new sets of buses for its family album, and with a little help from a campaign by GM's sales department, we see ten just delivered 1965 53 passenger model TDH 5303 coaches numbered from 701 to 710 very neatly posing for the camera in front of the company's main facility at Rockaway Boulevard in South Jamaica (now JFK Depot).

The 700 series, of which these buses were the only group assigned to, were second phase New Looks as evidenced in part by the replacement of Art Deco corner markers with Old Look style bullet shapes and were the last of the non-air conditioned coaches purchased.

Photo, originally part of a three page brochure entitled 'The Green Bus Story' courtesy of Johnson's Auto Literature.

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

[Free-transfer]

I know there were only 10 (701-710), but I see 11 in the picture.
Am I seeing things or did they slip a 600 in there?

[Mr. Linsky]