BusTalk

[timecruncher]

32nd & Portland Loop is the last bus turn-around from the Louisville Transit era still in use. The turnaround at the west end of Broadway is still used, but it is pretty much a wide dead-end street with ample room for buses to make a "youie" in the street.

As Nabinut's photos show, many bus loops remain in Baltimore (BTC was famous for having multiple short-turn loops on many of their longest routes). There are a few here and there in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, but mostly transit agencies have sold the property for development or abandoned the service areas entirely.

That is what happened in Louisville, at least.

Anyway, here are some photos from the timecruncher's archive, showing Portland Loop over the years of my experience. It is about to be given up to a church group that wants to build a new facility on the grounds. I, for one, don't like to see it happen, but my opinion and a dollar will get me a cup of coffee at White Castle!

This turnaround was one where two routes used it in different directions. Hill Street buses (now Route 27) looped clockwise, and Portland-Shelby buses (formerly Route 11, now Route 43) looped counter-clockwise. It required bus operators to hug the railing in both directions or the buses couldn't pass... Did I mention that Portland Avenue is one-way west? Yep - so even after the street was made one-way, the bus routes kept on looping in opposite directions.



One of the ex-Louisville Transit TDH4507s inherited by TARC, as I prepare to pull an eastbound trip around 7:00am on a warm Spring day in 1974.



A year later, the same place from across the street. I was again on the Route 27 bus, while my good friend Steve Cowan was driving the Route 11 Portland-Shelby bus. Can't advertise cigarettes or rotgut bourbon on buses anymore...



Pretty sure I've posted these pix before. Here is one a lot more recent. Again, its a 27 and this time a 43.

The small building is the only brick shithouse ever built for LTC, and is the last one standing. Soon even this will be history.

So anyway, more bus loops, anyone?

timecruncher

[Hart Bus]

Its very interesting that Fishbowl 875 had a sign frame attached to the a/c unit. Never saw that before on any NYC area buses or other places I've been to. Great idea to generate some revenue, but how did it affect/not effect the airflow to the a/c?

[dsevil]

Great phoos as always, Cliff! Especially the second one (918 and 875).

Also, use of "brick shithouse" = win.

[HwyHaulier]

[timecruncher]

The "canopy" billboards were removed when the a/c unit was set up for operation in late Spring every year. You can barely tell it, but the rooftop fan had a cover over it when this photo was taken in the Fall or Winter.

As you can see, the ad was a pretty flimsy affair. No, they didn't bounce around, but they could be added and removed fairly quickly.

Here is 802, TDH5303 from the original order, without the ad flap:



Looks as if they used the mounting holes for the evaporator cover to mount the arms that held the ad in place. Never noticed that before...

LTC was very particular about the a/c working on their new look fleet. Before Derby Day every year, every one of the new look coaches had been through the unit shop and the air conditioning system charged and checked for any problems.

The pre-1968 a/c units had a hydraulic compressor clutch that would not engage until the motor had warmed up sufficiently to allow oil pressure to drop when at idle. There was an oil pressure switch somewhere on those 6V71 Detroits that when working, prevented a driver from flipping the air conditioning on when the engine was revved up (this was a bad idea, because those big Carrier 3-cylinder compressors could be ripped out of their mount pretty easily and end up scattered in pieces all over the road if you did this. The hydraulic system also had to be checked out and filled with Dextron II before the unit could be turned on.

Oh, and for the rivet counters on this board, those taillights were made necessary because the original part became hard to get by the mid-sixties for some reason. I think they were originally Cats Paw lenses. At any rate, either they were too expensive or were hard to get, so LTC found an aftermarket taillight that fit on the engine doors and what you see is what we got. Ehh - they worked...

timecruncher

[RailBus63]

Buffalo still has a number of bus loops in service - there's a good list on the NFTA wiki page.

Syracuse has two loops left that I'm aware of, and only one of these (Nedrow) is still in everyday use.

The MBTA in greater Boston has several off-street terminal loops still in use (other than the numerous busways located at rapid transit stations). Watertown, Clarendon Hill and Arlington Heights are all located at former carhouse sites (the latter two sites were sold off and had large housing complexes built there). Charles River Loop in West Roxbury and Haskell (Woodlawn) Loop in Everett are two of the few remaining non-carhouse loops that are still being used.

[thaitransit]

Just a friendly question: What is a bus loop?
is it just a place where the buses turn around?
Or is it a small bus terminal?

Would this be considered a bus loop?



Its a terminus of a major bus route in a narrow dead end street with a boat pier at the end of the street. the buses have to do a multi point turn to turn around.

[timecruncher]

Loops at the end of transit routes generally were first built for streetcars as a way to turn them around. Most street railways did not use two-ended or bi-directional cars in the modern era (post-1930, when most cars were being re-configured for one-man operation).

Some places used a wye track to turn the cars, others had both (Cincinnati is a good example of this).

When streetcars were replaced by rubber-tired vehicles, motor buses or trackless trolleys, the loops generally were kept in place. Many transit systems would have rudimentary restroom facilities at these turnarounds as well. Louisville transit had very crude outhouse-type facilities at most of theirs, except for the Portland Loop, which had a nice brick building with heat!

Public transit authorities replaced private companies in the U.S. mostly during the sixties and seventies, and generally sold the property that these bus turnarounds sat on, because services were extended beyond them, and because transit managers of the era often as not did not understand the purpose or need for the bus loop.

Nothing like sitting down on a commode seat on a 20-degree winter day to make you feel all warm 'n fuzzy inside...

timecruncher

[ripta42]

[B53RICH]

I've seen that photo of yours of 918 and 875 on another site some years ago.

NYC New Look Flxibles in the 7000 and 9000 series had ad racks mounted to their AC grills throughout the Manhattan depots during the 1980's. Many migrated to various other depots throughout the other boroughs during bus transfers. Fresh Pond Depot was one that received many. While at Fresh Pond, I recall a one-time ad change advertising the NY Knicks. Most of the other times, as many bus fans will remember, the AC ads racks read," Bus Ads Fit!"

Here is a photo from the BusTalk galleries of 7753, the only NYC Flxible with Busorama ads, on the M102 in June, 1982. Photographer unknown.

[thaitransit]

[RailBus63]

[HwyHaulier]

[RailBus63]

[HwyHaulier]