BusTalk

[Dieseljim]

I got this interesting e-mail in reference to Empire Trailways and the son of Mrs. Chris Park, the company's final president and owner denied that she was clueless about how to run a bus company, let alone a travel agency, this despite what friends of mine, who were insiders in a position to know said on the subject. What has been established via a back issue of Motor Coach Today I bought from Motor Coach Society sometime ago, was that everytime Empire got into a cash bind, they sold off a bus or two, which was fairly often. Mr. Park evidently got wind of it from someone who bought Volume 1 of my New York State Bus Lines Book, and Empire Trailways happens to be one of the companies covered. In the piece on that company, I said, to the effect, " Empire T railways has been FRENCH FRIED" By Mrs. Park. Five of Empire's remaining buses, all of them MC9s wound up at New York Trailways and all had Spicer 5 speed transmissions. The plot sure thickens, doesn't it?

[RailBus63]

We as bus enthusiasts should be careful about repeating opinions like this that we hear from others. In many cases, the person who accuses a company or its managers have an axe to grind.

[Dieseljim]

I usually am careful about this sort of thing, but you have a good point. I did talk with one or more insiders who was or were in a position to know and will revise the text accordingly if necessary. Slander is the last thing I want to do under ANY circumstances. Actually, all I did was work with the f acts and information available to me at the time I first began putting this set of books together. They are available either as a 3 volume set or individually.

[JA]