BusTalk

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

All:

Here is an excellent collection of ASV photos.......

"NYO"

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/psct.htm

(courtesy of Tom's Trolleybuses)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

All:

Worthy of note here is that, in 1950, two years after the last ASV pulled down its poles, PS experimented with a new generation of ASV, in the form of D900.

This bus, a 1950 TDH-4509, was built to operate as either a diesel or trolley coach.

Tests were conducted at the Bell Street barns in Montclair, then housing subway-surface cars of the #29 line, utilizing special overhead.

At the time, several surface car lines connected with the Newark Subway; there were plans to pave over the subway and replace the old streetcars with modern ASV's.

Under this plan, the ASV's would have only operated under wire within the the Subway itself; once on the street, they would have operated as straight diesels.

One of the reasons that this ambitious plan never came to be was that there was much dispute over who would have funded the paving of the Subway; without fanfare, D900 had its electrical gear removed, and operated for many years as a conventional diesel.

Two photos of this rare bus are seen in the photo collection whose link I posted in the previous post.......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In this late 1940's scene from PSNJ's Essex Division, we see two "modern" ASV's in the company of one of the older front-engined buses that had been rebuilt into an ASV.

Note that the two newer buses sport the new PSNJ gray......

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_yellow_014_newark_bv.htm

(courtesy of Tom's Trolleybuses)

[Mr. Linsky]

Reprized exclusively for this thread;


Pictured below is fleet # D900 – an experimental 1950 GM Model TDH 4509 (ser# 0699) and delivered to Public Service Coordinated Transport of New Jersey in May of that year.

This bus was not your father’s Oldsmobile (so to speak!). The D900 (dubbed by GM as a ‘Reverse All-Service Bus) was a collaboration between engineers and designers at both the factory and PSNJ to fabricate a vehicle which would actually be two independently powered buses within one body.

You can throw your ideas of ‘Hybrid’ or Diesel Electric (of any type) right out the window because when this coach plied a non-electrified route, it operated as a pure TDH having nothing to do with its second source of motive power.

However, when called upon for duty as a trolley bus (in this case to service the abandoned Newark subway system), the power poles were raised to meet the overhead grid and, simply put, a switch was toggled to shut down the Diesel and begin electric motive operation.

The secret of success in the development of the ‘RASB’ was the common drive rear axle which, in this case, sported two independent ‘drive’ bowls (one for electric and the other for Diesel).

The left hand bowl housed a conventional differential assembly while the right hand bowl (experimental) housed a double reduction 90-degree drive without differential and was connected to a large electric motor.

A sliding clutch was used as a means of transferring operation from one bowl to the other.

GM’s cost to PSNJ for its engineering, development and delivery of the D900 prototype was $55,000 but would be reduced to just over $25,000 per unit for an expected delivery of 72 production models;

Some ‘raw facts’ on the D900;

Seating; 43, Overall length; 35’8”, Width; 96”, Height 132”, Weight; 21,740lb, Diesel engine; 6V-71, Transmission; Hydraulic, Electric Motor; GE 1204B1.

Modifications; (as per New Jersey law and PSNJ specification);

Reinforced overhead and side steel panels adjacent to rear door and emergency door instead of aluminum, Wood passenger doors instead of steel, Rubber insulated stanchions, Rear bumper extended to clear overhead pole retrievers.

Because of both political and logistical problems, the D900 never actually saw revenue service as a trolley and was eventually stripped of its electric propulsion equipment and did serve for a number of years as a standard TDH 4509 from PSNJ’s Greenville Garage in Jersey City.

The complete story of the D900 may be found in the September/October 1992 Motor Coach Age.

Photos courtesy of the Motor Bus Society.

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

13154

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Mr. "L":

Thank you for sharing (once again!) this great info (and the photos) on this unique bus.....certainly NOT your average 4509!

One quick correction, if I may:

The Newark Subway was/is not abandoned; today it is now known as the Newark Light Rail (of course, since the old ex-TCRT PCC's were retired in 2001, every scrap of charm has been stripped from this historical line)

From my childhood on, I knew this line on an intimate basis; sure had much to offer the transit buff, back in the day!

What WAS abandoned, however, were the connecting subway-surface car lines; between late 1947 and March of 1952, the #21 (a trunk line and a branch), the #23, and the #29, were all converted over to bus.

Interestingly, there was even some discussion at one time for PS to purchases the fleet of Brilliner trolleys that were then running in Atlantic City, but nothing came of it.

As you and I both know, had ASV's replaced the subway streetcars, they would have only operated under wire in the subway itself; once at street level, they would have run as diesel coaches.

This D900 experiment does give us today a chance to think of what might have been, had PS decided to revive the ASV concept, if only in the Newark Subway............

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

It is interesting to note, that, while ASV's never operated in Newark's City Subway, they DID, in fact, operate in the Cedar St. Subway, with connected with the lower level of PSNJ's massive Newark terminal.

Originally built for streetcars (which last used the Subway in 1938), the facility also served ASV's (until 1947) and, lastly, diesel buses.

The latter operated through the Cedar St. Subway until well into the 1960's.

An intermediate underground stop served two major Newark shopping emporioums, Kresge's and McCrory's.

I remember this unique operation well as a youngster; I used to call the buses that used the tunnel "subway buses"........

http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/cedarst.html

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here we see YELLOW #9311 (ASV) operating on a Newark line, late 1940's.

Note the new PSNJ grey paint; these unique dual-mode buses wore this scheme for only a short time, before PS abandoned all ASV services.

As you can see, the amount of "hardware" on this vehicle certainly gives it quite a complex appearance......certainly would make for an intricate, eye-catching scale model!

Note the poles are not raised in this view.

As mentioned previously, ASV's ran in the Cedar St. Subway until 1947.......

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_yellow_9311_newark_bv.htm

(courtesy of Tom's Trolleybuses)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Seen here in 2004, this remarkably preserved sign in the long-abandoned Cedar St. Subway once alerted PSNJ operators.......

http://www.hopetunnel.org/subway/newark/040508/ncs4.jpg

http://www.hopetunnel.org/subway/newark/040508/ncs3.jpg

(courtesy of hopetunnel.org)

[traildriver]

Great stuff!
Thanks to both NYO and Mr. 'L' , for all the great info...
I recall the old Public Service Terminal in Newark....besides PS, Continental Trailways (Safeway Trails and American Buslines) were tenant operatior's from that terminal....there may have been some other's as well, before it closed down.

Beside's the D900, was there ever a GMC 'New Look' ASV type experimental?
I recall there were some 'New Look' trolley's
but not sure if any hybrid's...

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Just imagine if PSNJ decided to operate these on the City Subway, and its connecting surface lines (had such a concept been practicle at the time of D900, there would have been no need to haggle over the expense involving paving over the Subway)......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?10980

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?10981


(courtesy nycsubway.org)

http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/pw/htm/pw126.htm

(courtesy newdavesrailpix)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

GREYHOUND sign at Penn Station, Newark, partially obscured by modern, unispired City Subway sign..................

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?20470

(courtesy of nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Interesting reading on the Piublic Service Terminal, Newark's version of the PABT......in its prime, this was a true "intermodal" facility.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_Public_Service_Terminal