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[CT] CT Transit New Britain Kind of an Update
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thehartfordboy



Age: 31
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 240
Location: Hartford, CT

PostPosted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 6:48 pm    Post subject: [CT] CT Transit New Britain Kind of an Update Reply with quote

Well I went down to Westfield Shopping Center Meriden. Nice mall and everything. The way there was fun as a busfan, but as a concerned citizen, it kinda shocks me. I first hopped on the 41-New Britain(formerly P1). The ride was ok. It was on 717, a 2007 New Flyer D40LF. Then on the 41-Hartford (formerly P) bound Dattco run bus, I seen it was it was a 9318, I think. Things get worst. I arrive in New Britain and guess what I see first? 9404 and 9425, 2 New Flyer D40HFs, with its old self. Here are the pics of them. I know they are kinda bad but it was my first time.





Things get bad to worse with the service. 2 NBT owned Chevys with no ADA accessibility were running on 2 routes. One of them was on the C-Corbin Avenue route. Here is the pic of one of them on C-Corbin Ave route.



Then when I see the AR-Arch Street bus pull up, it was another D40HF. However, it was 949, a 1994 D40HF Suburban bus. I was excited. Went to Meriden, came back and now guess what I C? A 1995 recent HART Danbury retiree Novabus RTS. I was shocked. Here it is.





Well, back on to 717 and the New Flyer infested Hartford I know. Here are some more pix.











Well, that's it for now.

-Daniel Mitchell
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 12:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dan,

Nice set of interesting pictures to introduce yourself, and let me take this opportunity to welcome you to BusTalk and say that we look forward to more of your valuable contributions.

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



Age: 31
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 240
Location: Hartford, CT

PostPosted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Linsky wrote:
Dan,

Nice set of interesting pictures to introduce yourself, and let me take this opportunity to welcome you to BusTalk and say that we look forward to more of your valuable contributions.

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


Thanks
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Bill D




Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 332
Location: Waterbury, CT

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 8:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dan,

Welcome to Bus Talk, and thanks for the New Britain update.

It is sad to see the current situation in New Britain. The "B" series RTS's have just fallen apart, and even before the economy hit the skids, the state was putting off replacement of the buses when they reached 12 years. Now the riders are paying the price. Just about every bus from the Connecticut Transit reserve fleet (D40HF's and a few Classics) has been put in service. The 6 HART buses purchased by the state have 500,000 miles on them, and will also have a limited useful life. It is appalling that the HART markings were not removed from the buses before they were put in service for New Britain, put I believe that shows how desperate the situation is. I've also heard reports that some routes operate with school buses, and that handicap riders never know if the bus that shows up will be accessible.

Unfortunately, the riding public puts up with this poor service, and it will continue and become progessively worse.

Bill
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bill,

Happy New Year!

Found another shot of CR&L # 909 from a different angle.

Photo courtesy of the Mack Truck Museum, Allentown, Pa.

Enjoy,

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

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HwyHaulier




Joined: 16 Dec 2007
Posts: 932
Location: Harford County, MD

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr Linsky -

You keep surprising me with great photos from various Archives! Thanks for the great Mack shot, above...

Not exactly on topic, but... Appreciated your exhaustive indexing of the work in "Manufacturers" topic area. Located our now
one year back exchanges, Pickwick Ponderings...

And, wandering a bit in Off Topic Land, too. About Mack: Have you seen any Archivals for the line of rail D/E or G/E motor cars
it built, for main line rail use? Snappy looking designs, though photos apparently scarce...

Thehartfordboy -

Good to have your photos up. Not to fret. Best rule with photography, I've been told, is practice, practice, practice...

...................Vern................
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vern,

Thanks for the compliment - the Bus Nostalgia index has been most helpful to me lately because every time I think I've come up with a new feature, I find that I've already done it!

I do remember the 'Pickwick' bantor very well.

Mack did dabble (rather unsuccessfully) in railroading through the early years both in light rail and locomotives (various photos below).

There was one interesting application for which I find no pictures on the Internet which was an attempt to emulate the PCC cars by putting a C-50 bus body on trucks - that one didn't look too bad - I'll try to find a picture on it.

Happy New Year.

Photos courtesy of; Lehigh Valley Rail Museum and Mack #4 Hughs Website.

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




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Mr. Linsky
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

And here's just a couple more;

Notice that in the picture of Wilkes-Barre and Hazelton Railroad # 204, Mack merely mounted a BK model chassis and body on railroad trucks.

Mr. 'L'





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Bill D




Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 332
Location: Waterbury, CT

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Happy New Year to you, Mr. Linsky, and to everybody at Bus Talk.

I'm sure that the bus passengers in New Britain wish the service was run the way that CR&L handled it back when they operated there. Times have changed, not always for the better!

Bill
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HwyHaulier




Joined: 16 Dec 2007
Posts: 932
Location: Harford County, MD

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 9:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr Linsky -

The New Haven design with the C-50 types? See: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/self_prop.html and http://www.northeast.railfan.net/motorcars.html
We'll have to guess the line thought it a good idea at the time, though it was not a success. It's too off topic to chase this item in detail here.

During the 1930s, Mack did build some heavier, EMC competitive units. Lehigh Valley may have had some, IIRC. Years back, I learned of them thru the
good luck of an engineering library with a large collection of Car Builders Cyclopedia annuals.

................Vern...............
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vern,

The New Haven car (pictured) is the one I remember seeing on one of my many sojourns from New York to Pittsfield Mass years ago.

BTW; I think we're not that far off topic if we're talking buses and this New Haven job was definately a bus!

Photo by Joe Testagrose.

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

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HwyHaulier




Joined: 16 Dec 2007
Posts: 932
Location: Harford County, MD

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Linsky wrote:
...The New Haven car (pictured) is the one I remember seeing on one of my many sojourns from New York to Pittsfield Mass years ago.

BTW; I think we're not that far off topic if we're talking buses and this New Haven job was definately a bus!

Photo by Joe Testagrose...

Mr. Linsky -

Great find! If we look thru the dusty pages, this Mack effort is exactly the sort of unit Merritt H. Taylor sought, for use on Red Arrow Lines. My own
conjecture is the Mack units for New Haven might have been a real problem with the operating unions. No matter. Likely nothing could have ever
satisfied the Cost Accounting folks, short of abandonment of a given line...

Well, to be precisely correct, the GMC product Taylor received later was, in fact, a dual purpose vehicle, and it could also run on paved highways...

As to your BTW. Ah, well! I do my part to try to uphold niceties of board protocols. I'll agree, we are dealing with a bus here, that just happens
to have a set of steel running shoes! <G>

..................Vern...........
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RailBus63
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1063

PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 11:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bill D wrote:
It is sad to see the current situation in New Britain. The "B" series RTS's have just fallen apart, and even before the economy hit the skids, the state was putting off replacement of the buses when they reached 12 years.


Hi Bill,

What's the situation in Waterbury - how are the RTS's holding up there?
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Bill D




Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 332
Location: Waterbury, CT

PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 7:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RailBus63 wrote:
Hi Bill,

What's the situation in Waterbury - how are the RTS's holding up there?


Hi Jim, best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Our RTS fleet is hanging in there. All 34 are still in service, and provide most of the service in Waterbury, as well as the Wallingford local route, and the Meriden "A" route. There is wear to the rear bulkheads, but nothing serious enough to sideline any buses. The worse case scenario would probably be a bus taking a hard hit to the rear quarter, which is always a possiblity in our hilly environment. This could potentially cause enough damage to sideline the bus permanently. Hopefully they will all last another year or two until the state can obtain funding to replace them.

The D40LF's are used in Meriden, and for tripper routes in Waterbury. Interestingly, in spite of the bad economy, some area manufacturing plants have been booming, and there are days when we have needed 5 buses to service the industrial park in Beacon Falls, as well as 3 for the Cheshire industrial park, but this is expected to slack off now that the holidays are over.

Here are some recent pictures of our fleet, taken on an October morning while I was working the early shift.









Bill
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thehartfordboy



Age: 31
Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Posts: 240
Location: Hartford, CT

PostPosted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bill D wrote:
Dan,

Welcome to Bus Talk, and thanks for the New Britain update.

It is sad to see the current situation in New Britain. The "B" series RTS's have just fallen apart, and even before the economy hit the skids, the state was putting off replacement of the buses when they reached 12 years. Now the riders are paying the price. Just about every bus from the Connecticut Transit reserve fleet (D40HF's and a few Classics) has been put in service. The 6 HART buses purchased by the state have 500,000 miles on them, and will also have a limited useful life. It is appalling that the HART markings were not removed from the buses before they were put in service for New Britain, put I believe that shows how desperate the situation is. I've also heard reports that some routes operate with school buses, and that handicap riders never know if the bus that shows up will be accessible.

Unfortunately, the riding public puts up with this poor service, and it will continue and become progessively worse.

Bill


Thanks Bill and what do you think will replace the junk piles B & C series RTS, the supposedly retired D40HFs and HART RTS, the well kept A series RTS, the D40HF suburbans in Hartford, and the Novabus Classic buses that I love the most in Connecticut. I have a feeling it is Gillig, but then again New Flyer might be the usual. As long as I see variety like the Van hools and El Doradoes, I might be happy.

Dan
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