BusTalk Forum Index BusTalk
A Community Discussing Buses and Bus Operations Worldwide!
 
 BusTalk MainBusTalk Main FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups BusTalk GalleriesBusTalk Galleries   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

PSNJ: the last years........
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 5, 6, 7 ... 15, 16, 17  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BusTalk Forum Index -> Surface Transit - Eastern United States
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sat May 09, 2020 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More on Baltimore's lone ASV........

".......this all-service vehicle held thirty-six passengers, and made three trips in the morning on "#21 PRESTON" trackless trolley line, and then three trips on the "S-CROSSTOWN" line......."

"........in 1944, the gas motor was removed from the coach, and it finished off its service years as a conventional trolley bus. When the BTC purchased new ACF-BRILL buses in 1947, the former ASV was renumbered 2000, so as not to conflict with the new buses, which were numbered in the 2500's........."

(source: "THE BEST WAY TO GO: BTC" (by Fr. Kevin A. Mueller, 1997/2013)

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sat May 09, 2020 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is another photo of #2501, Baltimore's lone ASV.........

http://www.trolleybuses.net/bal/htm/usa_h_bal_yellow_2501_prestonstluzerneave_ge_jt.htm

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 1:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ASV advantages......

When the existing surface tracks connections to the PASSAIC WHARF and PLANK ROAD facilities were severed in 1938; with the severing of these once-important track connections, the remaining streetcar lines of the HUDSON and ESSEX Divisions were now physically separated from one another.

When a group of OOS "Compromise" roof streetcars at Passaic Wharf were recalled for wartime service in 1942, the only tracks and overhead that remained were those within the Passaic Wharf complex.

PS had to hire flatbed trailers to haul the cars to ROSEVILLE (Newark) for rehab; this included cars that were to be assigned to HUDSON Division routes.

When refurbished HUDSON Division cars were to be transported to GREENVILLE (Jersey City), they again had to be loaded onto trailers for delivery.

The ASV's, of course, had no such problems; if one of the vehicles had to travel without the use of overhead (say, to a different garage), they simply used their gasoline engines, in the manner of any other conventional bus.

If any ASV's were transferred between the HUDSON and ESSEX divisions, it was a simple enough move; of course, double overhead had already been in place since the ASV conversion of the "#43 JERSEY CITY" car line in 1938, which was the very last inter-divisional streetcar route operated by PS........

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sun May 10, 2020 1:17 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sun May 10, 2020 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's one of the older YELLOW front-engine ASV conversions, pausing for passengers, just out of the Cedar St. Subway in Newark, running on the "#43", bound for Jersey City.

Note that the streetcar rails, (unused since 1938), are still visible.......

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_yellow_009.htm

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 1:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PSNJ car houses........

PSNJ's car houses were more or less of the same general type that you would find in other cities of that era.

Though some PSNJ car houses were of modern brick and steel construction as early as the 1890's (built by earlier traction companies), most of PSNJ's more modern car houses were built in the late 1900's/early teens.

Two-level car houses were not to be found anywhere on the vast PS street railway network; car houses of this type were quite rare.

In Brooklyn, however, the B&QT had a two-level barn at 9th Avenue, in use by streetcars until 1956.

In New Haven, the CCo. also had a two-level barn at James Street, where, until 1947, the fleet of big open cars were stabled for many years, used to haul the massive crowds generated by the Yale Bowl football games (the elderly open cars last carried football fans to the games in 1947)

On the HUDSON Division, the largest PS of the car houses were UNION CITY and GREENVILLE (Jersey City); unlike UNION CITY ("WEST HOBOKEN" until 1925), GREENVILLE also boasted an outdoor storage yard.

On the ESSEX Division, ROSEVILLE (Newark) was the largest PS car house; this huge facility not only served a number of streetcar lines, but also, several ASV and bus routes (the last streetcars to use this facility were deadheading cars of the "#7 CITY SUBWAY" in 1952)

This now-demolished facility (used by NJT buses into the 1990's) also had two storage yards.

When the new repair facility at Penn Station opened (utilizing several of the former subway-surface car tracks and platforms), the streetcars stopped traveling (deadheading) to ROSEVILLE on Orange Street; the tracks were paved over after the new underground repair facility opened.

Though not the largest on the ESSEX Division, BELL ST. (Montclair) was still a large, multi-tracked facility; this car house (located on Bloomfield Avenue, and used until 1952 by the streetcars of the "#29 BLOOMFIELD" subway-surface line) was also the only car house on the PS system to have switches and curves within the structure, whose walls angled away towards the rear of the structure.

PS then used the former car house as a garage for the replacement buses; in later years, the (now gone) structure also served as the popular "BEL-CLAIR LANES" bowling alley on Bloomfield Avenue.......

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"ROSEVILLE" (Newark).......

This important and huge facility was also equipped with a waiting room and a luncheonette, both of which survived long into the bus era.

Located on the Newark/East Orange border, ROSEVILLE served, over the years, streetcars, ASV's, and buses.

It also served cars of three of the four subway-surface "trunk" lines:

"#7 CITY SUBWAY"

"#21 ORANGE"

"#23 CENTRAL"

In later years, a number of OOS cars were stored (and scrapped) at this location, including a group of "dead" 2600 series Compromise roof-cars, which were cut up on the spot sometime around 1950.

By 1952, as noted earlier, the only streetcars still based here were the cars of the City Subway.

ROSEVILLE also had one of the largest carpentry shops on the ESSEX Division, and was well-known for the excellent craftsmanship of its carpenters.......

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sat Aug 22, 2020 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From what I more or less gather, Your's Truly is one of the very last PSNJ historians, at least in my general area.

Virtually all others have long since retired to that big carbarn in the Great Beyond, RIP...... Sad

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 1:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of the interesting PSNJ "quirks" regarding the former Newark City Subway relates to the paint schemes of the PCC cars.

In the early 1960's, PS began repainting its Old Look transits into a handsome two-tone green; the City Subway PCC's, oddly enough, were not included in this repainting.

This meant that the PCC's were the last PSNJ vehicles to wear the classic grey/white scheme (the Bicentennial scheme replaced the old PS paint in the mid-70's)

Though I loved the old PS gray, the PCC's would have also looked quite attractive in the new 1960's two-tone green paint.

Interestingly, the cars also had a GM bus-sounding horn, which only a few operators ever used, at the Orange Street grade crossing.

The PCC's, thankfully, escaped the scourge of graffiti that afflicted the New York subways during the 1970's and 1980's; this was due, in part, to the cars all being stored underground at Penn Station between runs, as well as being under the loving care of the late City Subway Superintendent Bob Kittler, who made sure that the cars under his care were always well maintained, and well cared-for.

His dedicated work crew, likewise, took a lot of pride in keeping those classic streetcars in top-notch shape for many years.......

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 2452
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 11:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NYO--
This one's for you... Very Happy

Make sure your speaker's are on...

http://www.palisadespark.com/sounds_PS1.html
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

traildriver wrote:
NYO--
This one's for you... Very Happy

Make sure your speaker's are on...

http://www.palisadespark.com/sounds_PS1.html


traildriver:

Man, you REALLY know how to TWANG the chords of NOSTALGIA!!!!!!!!!!!! Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy

To this day (not surprisingly!) I STILL will sing the Palisades Park/PSNJ radio ditty Wink

I well remember Palisades Park car cards on and in the local buses in my area, as well as being carried on and in the City Subway cars! Very Happy

For several years in the late 1960's/early 70's, my late brother lived in a house that was right up against the chain link fence of the Park's parking lot; you could see the action and hear all the music from the various amusements (as well as the screams from those aboard the Cyclone, which was only about a half-block from his house!Shocked

I well remember the NHBL running a special service to the Park each season; this was the #2 (from JSQ), which was really only an extension of the #1, beyond its Nungessers terminal.

The buses (Old Looks) were always crowded; I still remember looking out from our front room window off Hudson (Kennedy) Boulevard, and seeing the crowded, yellow-lit buses heading back from the Park; you could hear the all laughter and chattering from across the street, later in the evening (recall, those were the days of open-window buses!) Wink

It's all so loooooong ago, now........

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 2452
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NYO--

I thought you would like that "rap music"... Very Happy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

traildriver wrote:
NYO--

I thought you would like that "rap music"... Very Happy


traildriver:

WITHOUT A DOUBT!! Wink

I can STILL hear the musical horn on the monorail, which, sadly, only lasted a few seasons before the park closed (it originally ran at Expo '67)

Dozens of times each day, from my brother's yard on Palisade Avenue, you'd hear the familiar "DEE-DEEDEE-DEEDEE-DEE-DEET!" signalling the approach of a monorail train It was, of course, even MORE fun RIDING it!!) Wink

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 12:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

From the earliest days of PSNJ streetcars, the company did a tremendous business catering to merrymakers bound for the Park.

Several busy PS streetcar lines (which connected with the PS-owned ferries at Edgewater) stopped near the Park until August, 1938, when PS bused the entire BERGEN Division (oddly, there were no conversions to ASV operation on the Bergen Division)

PS also did a tremendous charter business during the Park's season; for decades, it was not uncommon to see several dozen chartered PS buses filling one of the Park's parking lots.

Today, high rise towers dominate the former Park site; like PS itself, not a trace remains today of Palisades Amusement Park....... Crying or Very sad

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Note the Palisades Amusement Park ad placard displayed on the dash of PSNJ deck roofer #3515, at Hackensack, back in 1935; this inbound car would eventually terminate at the busy PS-owned 125th St. Ferry terminal at Edgewater.

The prominent "Golden Glow" headlight, used on PS cars that traveled on lines that utilized long stretches of private ROW, suggests a late afternoon run......

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/psct/htm/psct143.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22283
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 12:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This circa-1920 photo shows the famous "Horseshoe Curve" that allowed PS streetcars to climb up the the steep sides of the Palisades; from the Edgewater ferry terminal (this photo would have been snapped from the Park grounds)

Prior to the PS era, this route was a switchback.

For many years, PS tended a colorful flower bed within the curve itself; the powerful "Golden Glow" headlight beams on the cars would streak across the Hudson as Edgewater-bound cars swung around the tight curve, illuminating the apartments along Riverside Drive.

PSNJ retired the last of their deck roof, two-man open cars sometime around 1925; however, one-man open cars (built in the PS shops just prior to WW1) would soldier on until 1937, mostly on ESSEX Division routes.

This ROW still exists today (the last cars used it in August, 1938) but, for decades, has been buried under tons of construction debris from the high rise towers constructed on the former Park grounds, beginning in the 1970's.......

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/psct/htm/psct145.htm

(courtesy: newdavesrailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BusTalk Forum Index -> Surface Transit - Eastern United States All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 5, 6, 7 ... 15, 16, 17  Next
Page 6 of 17

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group