BusTalk

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:25 am Post subject: 'GREYHOUND'S TRACKLESS TRAIN'

In an earlier essay in 'Bus Nostalgia', I featured the Yellow Coach Model 1207's which were custom built for the Greyhound Corporation to service visitors on tours of the 1939/1940 New York World's Fair (see top photo below).

Greyhound also ordered specially made trackless trains for the fair originally meant to ferry dignitaries to both the opening ceremonies and on special tours thereafter.

Built on a shortened Mack model ED 1 1/2 ton chassis and sporting a familiar Mack front end, these tractors were powered by 210 C.I.D. 67 hp six cylinder gasoline engines with one forward and one reverse gear for low speed operation.

The very colorful canopy covered trailer cars, of which there may have been three or four in each train, carried up to twelve persons per unit.

After the fair had been in operation for some time, the tractor trains were reassigned to augment the 1207 fleet in pavilion to pavilion shuttle service charging 25 cents for adults and 15 cent for children.

The center frame shows Grover Whalen, a very important political figure in New York City and president of the World's Fair Corporation, at the wheel.

The bottom photo shows a group of very pretty young tour guide applicants posing before the opening.

Photos courtesy of 39/40 World's Fair Archives.

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

ripta42 · Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:46 am Post subject:

Greyhound ran similar trams at the 1964/65 World's Fair. I have a photo but I'm not sure if it's scanned.

Hart Bus · Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150

ripta42 · Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject:

[quote="Hart Bus"]

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:27 am Post subject:

This is about all I can come up with at the moment - but I'll keep digging.

Unfortunately, all of Bill Cotter's great photos of the 64/65 Greyhound trams are locked so they can't be copied.

I'm sure there are others around - stay tuned!

Mr. 'L'

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:26 am Post subject:

Mr. Linsky - what took you so long?

The difficult I do immediately - the impossible takes a little longer!

I am uncertain as to whether the vehicles pictured below (known as Greyhound Escorters) are the driving mechanisms for the tram shown above.

If not, than they are a third mode of transportation that Greyhound provided at the 64/65 New York World's Fair.

From reports, there were about 160 of these vehicles produced for Greyhound by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan (see builder's plate).

To me, it appears to be more like a private taxi for those rather discerning guests.

BTW; Each of the Escorters played the well known (at the time) "Go Greyhound and Leave the Driving to Us" tune via loud speaker.

Enjoy!

All photos courtesy of the World's Fair site.

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

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

Mr "L" -

Yeah, I recall the upscale golf carts. And, yes, that's right. In addition, Greyhound had the glorified Towmotor kind of design, pulling the
sightseer trailers, over regular routes within Fair grounds. The line also ran a number of road services with conventional big busses.

Back to the little golf cart like vehicles. Indeed! Single purpose. No "P hook" on the rear to pull anything. Also, I see when Kalamazoo
used a "51" in model designation, it didn't mean the same as the usage by GM T&C, Pontiac! <G>

BTW. A good bit of all this (and including Highway Traveler in other messages) in the most comprehensive, now dark, Strayhound site.
How and why that work just dropped out of sight escapes me.

"Those Were The Days!", Archie Bunker.

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

Hart Bus · Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150

All of theses posts and pictures are bringing back some memories after 45 years

Greyhound acutally operated four kinds of vehicles at the World's Fair.

1 - GM SDH - 5303 (not sure on last digit) with glass top roofs for tours around the fair. This is represented by Corgi 54307. The model is marked Route A, so there must have been at least one more route. I think these buses went to Gray Line as there is a post about these buses elsewhere on this site.

2 - GM TDH - 5303 providing shuttle service from the parking lots to/from the entrance gates.

3 - The trams for tours around the fair. Probably traveled on a route (oor routes).

4 - The "Golf Carts" that were rented by a block of time and went where the passengers directed.

I may be wrong but after 45 years the mind is a little fuzzy. I don't think my friend Al ( Al Zeimer ) has vistied me lately Very Happy

Hart Bus Al

ripta42 · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:47 pm Post subject:

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 2:00 pm Post subject:

ECA,

Actually, in counting the different modes of transit that Greyhound used at the fair, I bunched all the New Looks as one category.

However, the New Looks can be divided as follows; fleet #'s 200 to 204 and 206 to 259 were TDH 5303's, and 260 to 299 were SDH 5302's (don't ask me what happened to # 205!).

BTW; would Al Zeimer be anything like Sal Esman?

My wife's New York Real Estate license listed her as a Sal esman!

The gorgeous photo below for nostalgic purposes only and courtesy of Jim Husing.

WCA

Hart Bus · Age: 74 Joined: 24 Apr 2007 Posts: 1150

Not only is Al Zeimer a friend of Sal Esman, they both know Sal Monella.

To get back to a transportation topic covered in another thread, I once had a boss who swore that his new car out of college was a P-O-N-I-T-A-C due to a screw-up in quality control.

timecruncher · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:32 pm Post subject:

The trams didn't play the "Go Greyhound" jingle, that was the musical horn on them!

I too (with family, of course -- heck, I was 13 at the time), visited Flatbush in the Summer of 1964.

None of the transits or suburbans Greyhound ran at the World's Fair ever ran in scheduled service for the company, if I am not mistaken. Someone on another forum mentioned where they ended up -- several different properties. I want to say Omaha got the lion's share, but I may be mistaken.

The buses that ran the clockwise and counter-clockwise loops were standard TDH 5305s, while only the 'tour' buses were 40-foot suburbans, 102" wide, if I recall, with the windows in the ceiling, of course.

I know I have a photo from the trip somewhere...

Ahh, here it is! Taken with my trusty Kodak Instamatic:

Note that the driver's tie matches the wide Dulux Gold band of the bus' color scheme and the raised-letter tires had the lettering painted. After all, Firestone had a big part in the auto exhibitions that were part of the fair. Greyhound [used to be] a real class act!

timecruncher

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 11:12 pm Post subject:

T. C.,

Let me put a little better light on the subject for you! - great photo.

Some part of the fleet was diverted to other Greyhound divisions across the country, and some were sold outright.

Fifteen of the TDH 5303's went to Triboro Coach Corporation of nearby Jackson Heights, New York (the Greyhound fleet #'s of those would have been; 202, 203, 205, 208, 210, 215, 220, 224, 226, 239, 245, 252, 254. 255 (pictured) and 257 which became Triboro's 931 to 946).

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

roymanning2000 · Age: 75 Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 198

I don't believe that Greyhound ever used any of these buses after the fair. They were sold off and ended up going all over the country. Timecruncher mentioned Omaha getting some of the transits. Lansing, MI got twelve of them also. The suburbans ended up from New Jersey to Chicago, Houston and Vancouver.

In the mid-sixties, there couldn't have been many used New Looks around. I would imagine these buses would have commanded a good price in the resale market. Companies back in those days used to eagerly snap up former Greyhound buses of any type.

Roy

timecruncher · Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 3:13 pm Post subject:

In 1965, transit in most cities outside of the east and west coast was still a private, for-profit enterprise (amazing concept, eh?).

Greyhound would not have run them because they were automatics, and in 1965 the MC-6 or MC-7 models were not yet part of the Greyhound fleet -- everything was a gear-jammer, even coaches used in commuter service in the many places where Greyhound ran that type of service.

timecruncher