BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B."

Now THAT is what I call a BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

GREAT portrait of my all-time favorite "Noo Yawk" Old Look!

By the time the last MACKS ran for the "Tee-Yay", the last MACKS in my area also vanished.

The ones that ran by our old apartment building in Union City (North Hudson Boulevard Lines) were gone by the summer of 1968, if my memory is correct (this company, through a good chunk of the 60's, also operated several models of Old Looks, two models of WHITES, and two models of MACKS.....ALWAYS a great show for Your's Truly as a lad!)

Fishbowls began to replace the WHITES around late 1966; once the WHITES were gone, then the MACKS were poised for extinction.

It was not until the 1986 that the very last NHBL Old Looks (there were only a few left by this time) vanished from the #1 LOCAL (JSQ-NUNGESSERS)

Man, talk about "paradise lost"...........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The "Tee-Yay" MACKS I knew best as a youngster were those assigned to Staten Island routes out of St. George; for a good chunk of the 60's, I can remember only Old looks and MACKS when Mom and I went to Staten Island on one of our many day trips.

I still remember my first Staten Island bus ride, back in '62....it was aboard a MACK........

"NYO"

[traildriver]

I did a fantrip to SI, also in the early '60's. Rode the SIRT to Tottenville, than back to St. George on the Hylan Blvd. bus. That was a long ride, in a Mack...
IIRC, they did not have air-ride like the GM's, and delivered a rather hard ride in comparison....

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's one of BLUE & WHITES's handsome "New Look" MACKS on a fan trip excursion in the Big Apple, back in 1973.

What a stunning museum bus this would make today, in ANY collection!

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?145

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?148

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

A battered (but still mighty fine!) SHBL Old Look (#B-8 ) seen here on what was obviously a fan trip/charter at Clifton (SI), nearly a half-century ago.

Note the stairway in the background leading up to the SIRT station (the old ME-1's were still running, then!); also, note the side wheel ferryboat on the "STATEN ISLAND SAVINGS BANK" billboard above the bus.

Also, note the other billboard (near the SIRT station) still using an old telephone exchange; such exchanges were, for the most part, pretty much relegated to the past when this photo was taken.

So much nostalgia. here..........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?665

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a wonderfully nostalgic portrait of YONKERS TRANSIT New Look MACK #163, dating back to 1964.

This handsome-looking bus might have been one of the buses that later was sold to "BLUE & WHITE" (note the Old Look heading in the opposite direction, and check out that sharp, super-cool '55 Chevy on the right!)

Had this photo been taken on the corner of 13th St. and Hudson Boulevard in Union City, that young lad standing by the bus easily could have been Your's Truly........


Ahhh, the good ol' days......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2951

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Brief note on MACK air suspension:

Air suspension was introduced as an option in 1955 as an option on the model C-49.

(Also, it is worth mentioning the modernistic, eye-catching, one-of-a-kind experimental MACK, the ADS-1, which was displayed at the American Transit Convention at St. Louis in 1956. This was MACK's last new bus design, and was known as the "Dream Bus" and "The Bus Of Tomorrow". The futuristic-looking bus never made it into production, and eventually was sold to the Schenectady Street Railway. Sadly, it was later destroyed in a garage fire.)

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

I have long since dubbed this MACK (HEMPSTEAD BUS) a "BRILLMACK".

It might be just me, but the windows remind me somewhat of those used on an ACF-BRILL.

A HANDSOME bus, nonetheless........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?632

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

[MaBSTOA 15]

This is a Mack C-47DT one of two demos acquired in 1960. These two, serial numbers 1342-1333 had Firestone air suspension, 96” wide and were fleet numbers 401, 403.

Fleet number 402 was a Mack C-49DT, serial number 2236 acquired in 1960 and it was 102” wide with air suspension manufactured by General Tire. It also had the Mack new look front end.

[MaBSTOA 15]

Bit of trivia regarding the Greyhound World’s Fair TDH-5303 buses... they had jack knife rear doors; air operated parking brakes mounted on a tower to the right of the driver and slightly behind the transmission lever; and an unusual destination sign arrangement - 1/4 had the fare or route; 3/4 was the destination.

When Triboro acquired the buses they installed 50/50 destination signs. The turning knobs were placed side by side on the destination sign cover door. But two perfectly round holes were visible where the original “Hound” knobs were located.

BTW, some if not most of MaBSTOA’s 6000 series buses had the air operated parking brake as well.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

MaBSTOA 15:

Again, greatly appreciate your input and data; always something of great interest!

MACKS were quite commonplace in my neck of the woods, back in the 60's.

They were part of the diverse NHBL fleet (which also encompassed GMC's an WHITES);

CENTRAL AVENUE also once rostered some MACKS (I remember riding these down to the old CRRNJ ferry terminal in Jersey City); LAFAYETTE & GREENVILLE also had some MACKS on the roster.

If memory serves me correctly, they (NHBL) rosteredC37/47's and a few C50's.

I also well remember the MACKS that were operated by ORANGE & BLACK.

I only wish I had known about the MACKS that were still running on the AVE. B & E. BROADWAY in the mid-70's; I would have SPED across the Hudson to ride and photograph these old warhorses!

As the "AVE. B" MACKS were the last to operate in New York, so were the "BLUE & WHITE's" New Look MACKS the last to operate in New Jersey. (at least, I was able to take some photos!)

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"A COMMANDING PRESENCE"......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?34

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)