BusTalk

[timecruncher]

Here in Louisville, we have a unique setup with the only bus loop left "on" the property, down at 32nd & Portland Avenue.

Historically, Portland Loop served the Portland-Shelby and Hill Street bus lines (Louisville Transit didn't add route numbers until the new look era, although printed schedules from around 1955 on had the numbers on them).

Here's what it looked like when I began my career:



798 is a TDH4507 delivered new to Louisville Railway Company in 1948 and still being driven (by me) in late 1974. Note to you younguns -- no right-side mirrors. Had to know how to drive a bus back then...

A few months later, I happened to be down there with a new look bus -- don't recall which one I was driving, but this is how the loop was supposed to work:



Route 27 Hill Street goes clockwise and Route 11 goes counter-clockwise. Portland Avenue is one-way west, and has been since the late fifties, of course.

Today, Route 11 exists as a part of Route 43. The program is still in place, but this past Saturday I was suprised to find two of our operators actually running it the way it was designed:



When these two buses were gone, I then drove our [kinda] new Nova/Cummins demonstrator into the loop for a photo op. A couple of my former colleagues from Metro in Cincinnati were along for the event. This bus is testing a particulate trap that burns urea or some such chemical during the 'cleansing' process. I don't know what it is good for, since if every freakin' bus on the earth were zero emissions, it wouldn't make a measurable difference in the air quality unless I were to break wind while posing the bus for a photo.

Nice bus, though some of the controls are in French, making it a bit more fun for me since my mother was a war bride from France. Certainly was not built as a US unit. I especially like the way the controls are set up on this bus. Oh, but that overhang in front!



Needless to say, our people didn't spend any time dressing this one up, since its the only Nova on the property, and it isn't going to be here for more than a few months.

For comparison: The 4507 had 40 seats in its LRy configuration with single seats on the driver's side to the center door. The Nova LFS has 35 seats, in all directions, with two in front of the front left wheel well so that the driver's girlfriend has a place to sit.

timecruncher
Les autobus nouveaux et le ville par les chutes

[Mr. Linsky]

It's about time that someone thought about the pretty girls (we called them 'uniform lovers') that used to sit right behind us on the bench over the wheel trying to make small talk through the draw shade late in the evening.

I remember one night especially well - I was doing a PM run on the Q10 heading to a layover at Richmond Hill Circle and had thought that the talkative young lady seated behind me had gotten off at 130th. and the Belt which was the last stop.

Two things I always did as soon as the doors closed after my last stop were dousing the dome lights and lighting a cigarette in that order.

Anyway, when I arrived at the dark and secluded spot between the school and the sanitation garage where we always parked, I got up from my seat to check the bus for leftover change and there she was still sitting there and giving me 'the smile!'.

The rest of this story is not rated 'PG' so you'll have to draw your own conclusions - but I will say that it was one great layover!

(no pictures available with this one!).

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[timecruncher]

Hmmm. Been there, done that, except that in Louisville, the scheduled layovers were always very short, so things had to happen fast.

*Ahem*

I also thought I was by myself one late afternoon heading west on the Broadway route down at 41st & Broadway, and having my annual bout of hayfever going on, was gaseous and bloated. Long story short, I leaned forward and let loose a block-long fart that would have been an award-winner in competition. Easing back into the driver's seat, satisfied that all was well and that there was no one to appreciate my efforts, I heard rustling behind me, then the familiar buzz as someone signaled to get off.

The little lady who had been sitting right behind me, out of view of my mirrors got up and hurried to the center door to exit at Western Parkway. As she went out the door, I heard her exclaim "SH*T!"

It took my entire next trip to wipe the grin off of my face. I laughed so hard I damn near couldn't compose myself for the return trip, and I couldn't open my mouth without laughing out loud. My regular passengers, who long had suspected that I was a nut case, were assured as such after that day!

All of which has nothing to do with the nifty bus loop at 32nd & Portland in the western corner of Louisville, but ahh the memories!

timecruncher
"I'm sorry sir, we prefer the term 'crepitate' as opposed to 'fart.'"

[HwyHaulier]

timecruncher - Mr "L" -

We have all been warned! Best to lighten up on the flatulence! Shortly, it will be a misdemeanor offense, at least, so as to assuage the little Greenies...
Sliding scale of fines, I might add... We'll likely have it on the books first here locally!

.....................Vern..............

[roymanning2000]

Mr. L and Timecruncher,

Great stories, guys. Started my day with a laugh.

Mr. L , you reminded me of a great time with an old girlfriend on the back seat of a nearly empty Greyhound one evening between Cincinnati and Dayton. If the driver knew what we were doing he didn't let on. No pictures of that one either, darn it. Wonder what happened to her?

And Timecruncher! Block-long, eh? Most impressive! Sounds like it would have been a gold medal winner if the Olympics had some real manly events.

It's not surprising the lady got off the bus right away. Women have no appreciation for the talent, concentration and timing required to execute such a delicate maneuver.

Roy

[RailBus63]

I have no comment, but thanks for starting my day off with a good laugh!

[roymanning2000]

Timecruncher,

Was the single seat on the driver's side found on other Louisville old-looks? St. John here in Dayton had some 4007's (or 40-something's) that came from Louisville. I can't recall if they had that feature or not. Only rode on them a few times and the memory is vague.

I do remember they had LTC stickers mounted on the interior window posts telling passengers not to stick their arms out the window or something like that. They also ran around here in the Louisville paint for a few months, too, before being repainted.

Roy

[Hart Bus]

I understand that today you must be careful of flatulence if you are driving a CNG bus as the sensors might get tripped and disable the bus.

[timecruncher]

Louisville's TDH 4007 and TDH 4507 coaches all had the single-seat treatment on the driver's side with the exception of the 25 "almost new" ex-Cleveland 4507 units that were recieved in trade for our brand-new PCC cars in 1948. Those were set up with 45 seats in a normal transit configuration.

Interesting to know that the infamous Roland St. John ended up with some of those 4007s. I just saw some photos at the Cincinnati Transit Historical Assn. meeting last week of some nondescript St. John service up in Dayton in those heady years of the mid-sixties when he had four or five different bus lines with different names operating out of his various facilities all over central Ohio. I never knew that any might have been ex-Louisville coaches.

As for the flatulence, fortunately for the Air Quality Management people here in Louisville, we now have miracle prescription meds that eliminate much of the seasonal allergy problem. There aren't enough carbon credits in Washington to pay for the methane I have been known to produce...

timecruncher
Here I sit, broken hearted...

[Dieseljim]

The Old and New Looks that Buffalo had on NFT had the bench type seat directly behind the driver on the left side, which made for all sorts of fun possibilities on layovers between trips. Same was true of the Macks. However, the premerger Buffalo Transit Company was a different story from the NFT. That company preferred drivers to be married men with families, while the NFT would go for someone who could (preferably)safely jockey a bus through Buffalo City streets, whethter he was married or not. Such loops as Windermere Loop at Main and Kenmore avenues at the Buffalo City Line right across from the University of Buffalo Main Street Campus sometimes operated as a double loop and often did with buses pulling in off of Main Street in opposite direction. It was used by 19-Bailey as well as 8-Main buses. Even though NFT bought BTC in 1961, the two companies continued to operate separately for two or three more years before they were operationally merged into one. I am sure things got interesting at Windermere Loop when a BTC driver saw his NFT counterpart with his girlfriend on the NFT bus. Well, the merger between the two companies took care of that LOOPY business.

[RailBus63]

I remember one time back in the early 1980's when a few of us were busfanning in the northern suburbs of Boston. We came upon one of the MBTA's 5700-series T6H-4523's on layover at the Wonderland station. The driver was sitting in the first forward-facing seat and looked like he was taking a nap. We thought it was odd that the bus was parked away from the usual parking spots where drivers took their layover, but didn't think anything of it and snapped our pictures. As we walked away, one my friends said "I think we might have interrupted something" and I looked back to see the driver and a female looking at us with horrified expressions. I guess Wonderland was a little more wonderful than normal for him that day!