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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject: 'BEE LINE (L.I.) # 614' |
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Thanks to renowned bus photographer Jim Husing, I have obtained the attached photo of Bee Line # 614 taken while on a charter assignment in October of 1979 (undoubtedly somewhere on Long Island).
The bus is a 1958 GM Model TDH 5106 and one of 20 (600 to 619) purchased by the Nassau County firm between 1957 and 1959.
Notice the rare passenger safety split windows sashes, and the fact that the coach is not in bad shape for a 21 year old!
I believe the transit operations of Bee Line were taken over by the Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority (MSBA) in 1973.
Note; at the time the photo was taken the writer is unsure as to whether #614 was still Bee Line or already sold to another operator.
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY
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S-60 To Smith Haven Mall
Joined: 29 Nov 2007 Posts: 1757 Location: Suffolk County, NY
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:17 pm Post subject: Re: 'BEE LINE (L.I.) # 614' |
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Mr. Linsky wrote: | Thanks to renowned bus photographer Jim Husing, I have obtained the attached photo of Bee Line # 614 taken while on a charter assignment in October of 1979 (undoubtedly somewhere on Long Island).
The bus is a 1958 GM Model TDH 5106 and one of 20 (600 to 619) purchased by the Nassau County firm between 1957 and 1959.
Notice the rare passenger safety split windows sashes, and the fact that the coach is not in bad shape for a 21 year old!
I believe the transit operations of Bee Line were taken over by the Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority (MSBA) in 1973.
Note; at the time the photo was taken the writer is unsure as to whether #614 was still Bee Line or already sold to another operator.
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY
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well seen as there is the tail end of a different type of transit bus in the background and on the left, i would say that most likely that it was taken out of transit service by the time that pick was taken. |
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asdfasdf
Age: 78 Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 47
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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The picture was taken on Banks Ave in Rockville Centre. To the right of the photographer is the MBSA (ex Bee Line) RVC shops.
Assuming the date is correct (and the lack of an "M" over the drivers window says it is), the bus is actually Alert Coach 614. Alert bought a number of TDH5106s from MSBA.
Bob K |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:46 pm Post subject: |
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I remember the Bee Line 5106's very well, and they were gorgeous buses.
You had to see them in the A.M. rush hauling heavy at speed coming in on Hillside Avenue for the 179th. Subway drop.
There was a slight turn in the road at about 185th. or so (where the triangle is or was with the statue) and I'd swear that they took that swerve on three wheels.
With Schenck's big 5106's and the city's 5101's, Hillside Avenue in the rush hour was a bus fan's paradise (although I wasn't a bus fan in those days).
Good memories!
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY |
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asdfasdf
Age: 78 Joined: 21 May 2007 Posts: 47
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:06 am Post subject: |
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Mr. Linsky wrote: | I remember the Bee Line 5106's very well, and they were gorgeous buses.
There was a slight turn in the road at about 185th. or so (where the triangle is or was with the statue) and I'd swear that they took that swerve on three wheels.
Good memories!
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY |
The curve was at about 175th Street. Hillside Ave from 179th St. east, is more or less straight. You are right, there was a million buses going through that curve. You can also add Schenck Tsp. going through there.
Bob K |
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HwyHaulier
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:03 pm Post subject: |
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Mr. Linsky wrote: | ...I remember the Bee Line 5106's very well, and they were gorgeous buses... |
Mr Linsky -
I most surely agree with your estimation of these coaches. Long after the fact, it becomes quite clear the GMC T&C, late production
51xx types were in the, "...As Good As It Gets..." category...
Memories of the superb late production coaches on PSNJ routes. Among other runs, when new they were reliably on the Newark
(PRR) - PABT Expresses. The coaches could also fill in on "long" over the road charters. Used to see them all the time, the Annual
Parade of NJ High School kids on the Class Trips to Washington. They would come down the road, five or ten at a time!
The D C Transit types of the class were especially flamboyant, in the color scheme contrived by the GM Design folks. Major domo,
O. Roy Chalk campaigned to show he was a new ideas kind of guy in his stewardship of the local transit...
.....................Vern................ |
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d.marra
Age: 90 Joined: 23 Jun 2008 Posts: 16
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 3:48 pm Post subject: |
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HI All;
Nice memories and nice picture. Yes, the GMC TDH-5106's were one of the best buses I ever drove. Bee Line #614 did go to Alert, who ran it on the S1 Amityville to Huntington Rail.
In the early 1980's, I lived in Farmingdale, and rode on 614 to Amityville and back. By then Alert had painted 614 all white.
Before MSBA, I drove for Schenck, and when I worked a weekend Night Car, we would try to meet the Bee Line drivers and leave the 179th St Subway together and race our 5106's to Francis Lewis Blvd. Of course we sometimes stopped for a red light.
Those 06's were smooth & fast takeoff, and when they shifted into direct (high) gear they would surge picking up speed. We had to be real careful to not get to close to a vehicle ahead of us.
Those were the Good Old Days!!
Daniel aka Mr. Schenck
P.S. How do I add a picture to my messages? Thanks for any help. |
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Hart Bus
Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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d.marra wrote: | HI All;
Nice memories and nice picture. Yes, the GMC TDH-5106's were one of the best buses I ever drove. Bee Line #614 did go to Alert, who ran it on the S1 Amityville to Huntington Rail.
In the early 1980's, I lived in Farmingdale, and rode on 614 to Amityville and back. By then Alert had painted 614 all white.
Daniel aka Mr. Schenck
P.S. How do I add a picture to my messages? Thanks for any help. |
I thought that the S-1 that Alert Coach ran terminated at the Walt Whitman Mall and that Huntington Coach did the Halesite to WWM part of today's S-1.
I remember seeing 614 many times on 110. According to Joe Saitta, that bus was the baby of a cantankerous old driver named Frankie. When Alert got new equipment and offered a new bus to Frankie, he told them where to park it. Frankie knew every inch of that bus. One frigid wintry morning, when the bus was left out overnight and didn't start, Frankie told one of the mechanics to bring something Imaybe either) opened up the rear and told the guy that when he gives a yell from the drivers seat the kid should spray in a certain spot. Frankie yelled, the kid did what he was supposed to. The bus started up, Frankie went in for coffee to let the bus warm up and he was off to the races, while any of the buses stored outside as well as most school buses, could be started that day due to the extreme cold.
According to JS, Frankie passed away about 10 years ago and 614 is in the hands of a private collector who he refused to name.
Also I think 614 had a manual transmission. Am I correct ?
Alan Aron a/k/a Hart Bus |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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If Bee Line # 614 had a stick shift it must have been installed after the fact because it did come through as a TDH (and I don't remember any Bee Line transits with standard shift).
One of you mentioned that the 5106 (and I would also include the 4512) was GM's finest hour in transit bus building - hands downs, that's for sure.
In fact, sales of the first New Looks started off rather slowly because so many operators felt that nothing could be an improvement over what they already had (in other words; 'if it aint broke, don't fix it!).
Boy, do I remember the deadhead races between Schenck and Bee Line (and a big city 5101 occasionally) back out to the city line in the A.M.
BTW; you're right about 175th. Street being where the curve is; I used to go with my father when he made rounds at the old Memorial Hospital which was just south of Hillside and it was at the time that the city was building the subway extension from 169th. to 179th.
When we would come back up to Hillside we had to run on wooden boards all the way past 188th. Street.
Here's a little history on the 175th. Street Statue;
Do not drive too fast by the Major John W. Mark Park at 175th Street and Hillside Avenue, because you will miss the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, sculpted in bronze by the celebrated Frederick Wellington Ruckstull, bought by contributions from Queens County residents and first installed in a traffic island at Merrick Boulevard and Hillside Avenue in 1896.
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY |
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frankie
Age: 77 Joined: 01 Feb 2011 Posts: 747 Location: St. Peters, Mo.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:11 am Post subject: |
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asdfasdf wrote: | Mr. Linsky wrote: | I remember the Bee Line 5106's very well, and they were gorgeous buses.
There was a slight turn in the road at about 185th. or so (where the triangle is or was with the statue) and I'd swear that they took that swerve on three wheels.
Good memories!
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY |
The curve was at about 175th Street. Hillside Ave from 179th St. east, is more or less straight. You are right, there was a million buses going through that curve. You can also add Schenck Tsp. going through there.
Bob K |
I remember riding those Schenck buses around that curve! And it was often that we would be side by side with a Bee Line bus - especially on Francis Lewis between Hillside and Jamaica. Here a Schenck outbound from Jamaica rounding the curve headed to Mineola on Hillside and Kingston Place.
Frankie
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:29 am Post subject: |
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Frankie,
Great photo and another one to add to our collection.
I always thought that Schenck had the best livery of all - the combination of black for the window belt (which was always very elegant) and the red and gray below just made something that was a delight to look at.
Thanks for sharing.
Mr. 'L' |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:30 am Post subject: |
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Frankie,
Great photo and another one to add to our collection.
I always thought that Schenck had the best livery of all - the combination of black for the window belt (which was always very elegant) and the red and gray below just made something that was a delight to look at.
Thanks for sharing.
Mr. 'L' |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:31 am Post subject: |
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Frankie,
Great photo and another one to add to our collection.
I always thought that Schenck had the best livery of all - the combination of black for the window belt (which was always very elegant) and the red and gray below just made something that was a delight to look at.
Thanks for sharing.
Mr. 'L' |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:32 am Post subject: |
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Frankie,
Great photo and another one to add to our collection.
I always thought that Schenck had the best livery of all - the combination of black for the window belt (which was always very elegant) and the red and gray below just made something that was a delight to look at.
Thanks for sharing.
Mr. 'L' |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:32 am Post subject: |
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Frankie,
Great photo and another one to add to our collection.
I always thought that Schenck had the best livery of all - the combination of black for the window belt (which was always very elegant) and the red and gray below just made something that was a delight to look at.
Thanks for sharing.
Mr. 'L' |
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