BusTalk

[Mr. Linsky]

This is one Green Line special that even this historian has never seen before! - can you imagine that!?

Shown in 1947 at Avenue U and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn trundling its way back to Rockaway Park via the then Marine Parkway Bridge (now Gil Hodges) on the Q35 line is fleet # 607 - a 1937 37 passenger Mack modeled as a 6-CT-3S operating for Green Bus Lines, Inc., then of Cornell Park, New York.

# 607 is all gussied up to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary (1897 to 1947) of Far Rockaway High School with the accent being 'Fifty Years of Progress'.

It's unfortunate that the photo is not in color because # 607 probably would have been in much brighter hues for the occasion than the company's cavern green and battleship gray of the period - maybe it was in gold such as was the city 5106 # 7000 that celebrated Fifth Avenue's golden anniversary.

Note the windshield placard indicating a terminus at 116th. Street probably because the destination scrolls were never updated for the opening of the Q35 line in late 1937.

BTW; this writer dated a young lady from Far Rockaway High School that led to a 44 year marriage that could only have been made in heaven!

Photo courtesy of 'Vintage-Vault75' and is available at eBay as item # 181379789861.

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

[Hart Bus]

Amazing the changes to that corner in 67 years, The gas station is long gone and there is no trace (yet) of the Kings Plaza Mall.

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen in 1947 virtually brand new at its Castleton Avenue garage in Staten Island is fleet # 622 - a 1947 44 passenger White Motor Company Model 798 and one of thirty five likenesses numbered from 600 to 624 originally purchased by Isle Transportation Corporation (ITC) but did almost immediately fall to the hands of the City of New York Board of Transportation as per the livery shown.

The short lived ITC was founded in 1946 by employees of Staten Island Coach Company who purchased the assets of its former employer from its parent Associated Gas and Electric Company of Ithaca, New York.

The Whites were ordered at that time but shortly after their arrival ITC ceded operations to the city due to financial set backs.

# 622 and its gasoline powered siblings served only in Staten Island but did not fit into the city's plan for an all Diesel fleet and were sold off upon the arrival of new GM's and Macks in 1949.

At the time the image was taken the garage in the background still carried the Staten Island Coach flag along with a very patriot salute to those employees who were called upon to fight the battles of World War II.

Photo courtesy of 'Vintage-Vault75' and is available at eBay as item # 181379781090.

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

[Hankg42]

Thanks, Mr. L for the above photo. My dad had told me that when he first started as a bus driver in S.I. he drove Whites, but I believe this is the first picture I've seen of one of the Staten Island fleet.

The tires look like a testament to the many dirt roads, and muddy parking lots, that were still on the Island back then. I love to tell the story of growing up on a dirt road in New York City, and people say "no such thing!". But my street wasn't paved until I was almost 10 years old, and Staten Island is certainly one of the 5 boroughs of NYC!

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen looking rather shabby in this 1948 snapshot is fleet # 4 - a 1935 41 passenger Yellow Coach modeled as a 718 and one of ninety-four likenesses numbered 1 to 76 and 79 to 96 operating for the Madison Avenue Coach Company, Inc. of New York.

The Model 718, which was Yellow's first heavy duty rear engined coach, was the forerunner in a series of salvos that would flood the streets of Manhattan with almost 1,000 prewar buses carrying that manufacturer's badge courtesy of four affiliates of the Chicago based Omnibus Corporation which also included Fifth Avenue Coach, Eighth Avenue Coach and New York City Omnibus.

# 4 is shown traveling southward just passing 58th. Street in route on the #1 line between 135th. Street and Park Row downtown.

Of note on # 4 is the familiar encircled 'YC' at the center of the bumper, a sealing of what was once a large fresh air vent below the driver's side window and a sign on the fourth standee glass asking for donations to the worthy Greater New York Fund - a very important benefactor to the city's impoverished.

Photo courtesy of 'Vuntage-Vault75' and is available at eBay as item # 181379774114.

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

[X-Astorian]

[Mr. Linsky]

In another great shot of early forties Rockaway we see fleet # 630 - a 1937 37 passenger Mack modeled as a 6-CT-3S operating for Green Bus Lines, Inc. then of Long Island City, New York.

# 630 is seen traveling northward on Beach 94th. Street toward the Cross Bay Boulevard Bridge on the Q21 line between Beach 116th. Street in Rockaway Park and Liberty Avenue at Woodhaven Boulevard in Woodhaven.

In the background we see high points of the Rockaway Playland Roller Coaster (commonly known as the 'Atom Smasher') and on which this writer experienced his one and only ever such ride!

The bronze 'Doughboy' Statue standing guard on Beach 94th. that # 630 is just passing was erected and officially dedicated on November 12, 1927 to honor 17 servicemen from the Rockaways who paid the supreme sacrifice while serving their country during World War I.

Photo courtesy of 'Vintage-Vault75' and is available at eBay as item # 181379791312.

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

[Mr. Linsky]

It was the beginning of the hottest part of the cold war between the U.S and the U.S.S.R. and just as New York City's building department began to designate the basements of what were thought to be the sturdiest structures throughout the five boroughs as well marked emergency air raid shelters so did the Board of Transportation, under the guidance of its then chairman Col. Sidney Bingham, have designed and built 400 1950 Mack C-50 buses rigged for use as emergency ambulances in the event of enemy attack.

An ad below from Bus Transportation Magazine shows illustrations of the interior of the buses (now referred to as the 'Bingham Macks') and just how the novel system worked.

By the grace of the Good Lord, the C-50's were never pressed into their unique alternate duties but did offer some bit of peace of mind during a most stressful period in the city's history.

Photo courtesy of '4509bus' and is available at eBay as item # 371046771435.

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

[Mr. Linsky]

Most of us will readily recognize the attachment as being one of four GM Old Looks that include three TDH 5106's and one TDH 5101 preserved by the MTA's Transit Museum in Brooklyn, New York.

# 9098 is seen in 1994 at New Jersey Transit's old D.L.& W. Train Terminal in Hoboken participating in a festival that included a number of other vintage buses from the New York and New Jersey area.

What's odd about # 9098 is its right front destination sign showing '106 Watchogue' which, in preliminary research of city routes, turned up nothing familiar.

However, not to be deterred in my quest, I finally discovered the answer in Staten Island.

Apparently, the last assignment for many of the 9,000's was in that borough and #9098 in particular ran the R106 route between Victory Boulevard and Watchogue Road in Castleton Corners and Park Avenue and Richmond Terrace in Port Richmond.

I guess you learn something new every day!

Photo courtesy of 'ty12jk' and is available at eBay as item # 171302959896.

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

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen abandoned along Long Island's Route 110 sometime in the sixties or seventies with all hope of any restoration prospects lost is fleet # 2013 - a 1936 72 passenger Yellow Coach modeled as a 720 and one of sixty likenesses numbered 2000 to 2024 and 2125 to 2159 that operated for the Fifth Avenue Coach Company of Manhattan, New York.

# 2013 and its ilk (known lovingly as Queen Marys) had the distinction of being among the first truly low floor American buses built and were even an overall six inches lower than their standard height kissing cousin 735's so they could more easily pass under the low slung elevator structure along Roosevelt Avenue on the #15 Manhattan to Jackson Heights route in Queens.

Interestingly, commonly owned Chicago Motor Coach ran only 720's to negotiate the many low overpasses of that city.

Both the model 720 and 735 gained power from a Yellow built model 616 468 cubic inch six cylinder gasoline engine mounted transversely at the rear and tied to a semi automatic Banker transmission (akin to Chrysler's old Fluid Drive) via a patented angle drive.

A total of 141 model 720's and 100 model 735's were built between 1036 and 1938 with the latter exclusively for New York.

#2013 was purchased sometime in the fifties along with #'s 2124 and 2097 by Bornscheure Bus Company of Copiague New York - # 2124 was used for charter for some time and is now owned by New York's MTA Museum however, the fates of the other two remain unknown.

Photo courtesy of '4509bus' and is available at eBay as item # 351057753375.

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

[Hart Bus]

A sad follow-up to the picture. The bus is pictured in a stone and gravel yard on the East side of Route in Farmingdale LI, just north of the LIRR Ronkonkoma Branch as evidenced by the trestle in the background.

The bus was there for many, many years. It was then moved to an industrial area of Farmingdale, about two miles to the south. If memory serves me, it was Florida Street. There were pictures posted showing the bus in its new residence. Might have been this board.

I live about miles from the area. Haven't had a chance to get down there to check a rumor that the bus was scrapped. From the pictures that I saw, the bus was i much worse shape that in the picture our friend Bruce is trying to sell.

[Mr. Linsky]

ECA,

You are correct - I posted the attachment below some years ago and there is no question that there is a marked deterioration if, indeed, it is the same bus - it could be # 2097.

It's difficult to tell because one picture is of the driver's side and the other of the passenger side.

We'll have to wait for more views.

Many regards,

WCA

[Mr. Linsky]

Before the official opening of the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens, special private tours of the grounds and of the progress in construction were encouraged and arranged by the World's Fair Corporation.

In the image below in which the Hall of Science site in the background is still only a skeleton of what is was to become we see a temporary parking facilities for arriving and departing charter buses showcasing fleet # 5 - a late forties 40 passenger ACF Brill Modeled as a IC-41 operating for Butler's Charter Coach of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Statistically, #5 is most probably ex Southeastern Greyhound Lines who purchased 240 of the nearly 1400 of the popular IC-41's built between 1945 and 1950.

BTW; the hatch under the rear windows of #5 that is standing open is merely a trunk lid with no access to the engine which is, as with most ACF heavy duty buses, neatly placed underfloor amidships which was said by the manufacturer to better balance the load (except in stormy weather where a rear mounting afforded much greater traction).

Also in the image (far right) we see a corral of Greyhound GM New Looks awaiting their next assignments.

Photo courtesy of '4509bus' and is available at eBay as item # 371050032154.

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

[traildriver]

Great shot, Mr. 'L'!
Behind the Brill is an Edwards Motor Transit Company ('Lakes-To-Sea System'), GM PD-4104.
I used to watch the Fair construction daily on my way to High School in the early sixties....
One slight correction, the site was in Flushing Meadows, which is a few miles west of Fresh Meadows......

Besides Southeastern Greyhound, many of the Trialways carrier's used the ACF Brill's....a good example is the Safeway Trails IC-41 you posted in the Port Authority thread....

[Mr. Linsky]

Seen in 1934 standing at the Pelham Bay IRT subway station in The Bronx and signed for Tremont Avenue on the #6A line is fleet # 610 - a 1927 23 passenger ACF modeled as a 601-2-D9 and one of fourteen likenesses numbered between 600 and 613 operating for Third Avenue Railway System's New York City affiliate Surface Transportation System.

# 610 and its ilk, which were the only ACF products ever purchased by the division, were part of a trial phase for the fledgling company in which a number of different manufacturers wares were tested in the late twenties and led to solid orders for Macks, Twins and eventually Yellows from the mid thirties on.

No record of the ACF's final dispositions can be found but it's a safe bet to say that they were probably retired before the war.

Photo courtesy of 'Vintage-Vault75' and is available at eBay as item # 171318322177.

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