BusTalk

[timecruncher]

One of the things transit could always do - but is no longer allowed to do - is move lots of people to and from large events. Up in Indianapolis (well, its up from here, anyways), it was the Indy 500 every year during Memorial Day Weekend. Here in Louisville, it was the first Saturday in May every year, when the "Run for the Roses" occurs out at Churchill Downs. Derby Day.

This was the one day when Louisville Transit put on a show. There were lots of charters for very high-end groups such as the State Legislature, the Pendennis Club, and practically every country club in the region, and there was special bus service on Fourth Street. Fourth was traditionally Louisville's heaviest transit corridor, connecting downtown with middle-class working neighborhoods in south Louisville out near Iroquois Park. It still is heavy and carries a large percentage of our system ridership.

So here we have a 17 year-old timecruncher - a senior in high school - downtown on 4th Street with his trusty Yashica 35mm, getting a few shots of the fleet heading into the downtown area after the big race:

562 was one of 25 big TDH5103's delivered new in December 1950-January 1951 to replace trackless trolleys on the 4th Street Route. Loved riding them and enjoyed driving them as well for the couple of years after I was hired at LTC. This one is working regular service on the 6th Street route.



Here comes the parade. Fourth Street was buses and taxicabs only on Derby Day. The crowd surging out of the track made the drive east on Central Avenue a challenge, even with lanes cordoned off for both modes, but once you turned north on 4th, it was green lights and clear sailing all the way downtown! School crossing officers - deputized in Jefferson County - held down non-signaled cross-streets, and you'd best not defy one of them!



TDH5303 #905 was almost new, having come to Louisville in 1966. It shown heading back south in a hurry to make another trip into town. Cash fare was 45 cents back then, 75 cents on the specials, and LTC raked in the profits, even though there was a lot of overtime this one day every year. Louisville Transit was owned by the syndicate that also owned Indianapolis Transit System and Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Company, and when the new look era came along, all three systems got their fishbowls painted in orange 'n cream.



And for you wussies who drive them new-fangled buses with right side mirrors... please note that we learned to drive buses without 'em!

Just a little more. I got to drive 562 more than a few times, and had it one afternoon on the Walnut Street route out at the Dayton Avenue layover in St. Matthews. This is six years later, sometime in late Summer 1974 after the transit authority had assumed operations.
This and a few more were pulled out of the dead line because new AM-Generals couldn't be counted upon to run for more than a couple of hours at a time before breaking down! She's looking a bit rough around the edges, but still running good:



Note the homemade rear push door. Vapor apparently offered a retrofit kit for bus systems like LTC that were weary of drivers closing the back door on passengers who were trying to sneak in without paying!

timecruncher

[RailBus63]

Great photos, Cliff! It's almost as much fun to see the colorful storefronts as it is to look at those classic coaches.

Jim