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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 05, 2011 4:10 pm Post subject: 'BEE LINE'S LONG ISLAND TOURS' |
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Bee Line, of Rockville Centre, New York, which was an early major player in the transit end of the business both in western Nassau County and the adjacent Queens part of New York City also operated their successful 'Long Island Tours' division with private charters, scheduled Manhattan express commuter services and runs to Saratoga Springs, New York during the summer racing season.
Pictured is one of eight 1930 ACF Model 901-1-P64's purchased by the company carrying Bee Line's unmistakable 'Bumble Bee' brand logo on the front door.
The 34 foot long 37 passenger P64's were top of the line weighing in at over 11,000 lbs. and featured power by a Hall Scott 707 cu. in. gasoline engine capable of a maximum speed of 80 mph which became ACF's largest power plant for the next two decades.
Bee Line's fortunes began a downward spiral when first they lost their 'Hub Master' ranking in Jamaica in the mid thirties to North Shore Bus Company due to labor problems and neglect of equipment and then to municipal takeover in the early seventies.
The company will be remembered as a very colorful and important part of Long Island's transportation history.
Photo courtesy of the Motor Bus Society.
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York
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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: Sun May 04, 2014 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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Surrounded by a scene of winter somewhere on Long Island in 1945 and supposedly on a Hempstead route is fleet # 183 - a 1932 37 passenger ACF modeled as a 901-1-P64 and one of thirty eight likenesses delivered to the Long Island Tours division of Bee Line, Inc. of Rockville Centre, New York.
What the P-64's were and what the company's original purpose was is purchasing them is described in detail in the above post but doesn't touch upon their eventual fate.
It seems as though these 38 intercity coaches were an attempt on the part of Bee Line to expand and create an image as a full service carrier but fell far short of that goal and, if not for their lucrative transit business to defray maintenance and financing costs, the buses would have been lost to repossession.
They were used extensively in transit service and many were gone from the roster by war's end with some finding new homes with New Jersey suburban operators.
Note; that the small shed that #183 is standing next to may have been either a police booth (very common in Nassau County at the time) or a passenger waiting room.
Photo courtesy of 'Vintage-Vault75' and is available at eBay as item # 171318339856.
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York
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