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Steinway Transit and Rikers island

 
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MaBSTOA 15



Age: 70
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
Posts: 1056

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 10:56 pm    Post subject: Steinway Transit and Rikers island Reply with quote

Here we see a Steinway Transit #408, an AM General model 9640B Passing through security at Rikers Island on its way to Queens Plaza, route Q101


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Q65A



Age: 66
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 1764
Location: Central NJ

PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 8:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now that is quite a find! I routinely visit eBay Motors to check for bus literature, and there are quite a few AMG operator's manuals offered for sale. AMG's were popular with fleets mainly in the Midwest, South and West Coast, although WMATA had an AMG fleet. ST was the only NYC operator to have AMG's in their fleet: they had 10 units (numbered 401-410) which were 1978 Model 9640-6's (96" width, 40' length, 6-cylinder Detroit Diesel). I remember seeing these buses working ST express routes along Horace Harding Expwy. near 188 St. in Fresh Meadows or along Union Turnpike in Jamaica. According to Guy Martin's book, "AM Generals weren't very popular and all were retired by 1982." They kind of look like Orion V's with Fishbowl windshields, no?
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 2452
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 9:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I lived in Denver, the RTD bought a large fleet of them...I kind of liked them as a passenger.
It was amazing to me how a company like American Motors, could suddenly enter a whole new market, with a pretty decent product.

I suppose the sudden flurry of government grants for mass transit at the time, made the business irresistable for new entrants...

They also seem to resemble the GMC "Classics" somewhat...
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Q65A



Age: 66
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 1764
Location: Central NJ

PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 2:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Motor Coach Age covered the AM General story very comprehensively in their October '85 issue. AMG produced a total of 5834 buses from 1974-1978.
This included 220 trackless coaches (for King County Metro in Seattle and SEPTA in Philadelphia), 398 artics (produced jointly with MAN) and 5216 single-unit high-floor 35- and 40-foot diesel transit buses. The AM General transit bus design dated back to June 1972, and actually was based on a New Look design developed originally in Canada by Flyer (the early forerunner of today's very successful New Flyer). In Sept. 1973, Queens Transit evaluated an early 96" wide, 40-foot long demo (QTC 199) but sister company Steinway Transit did not purchase their 10 Model 9640B's (STC 401-410) until April 1978. These STC units represented the so-called "Third Series" of AMG's, primarily characterized by revised HVAC packaging and an Allison V730 tranny.
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 2452
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 5:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Googled AM General, and found the current business with that name...not sure just how it was ever connected or separated from American Motors, or later Chrysler...

In its website, they show a timeline, and completely ignore the bus manufacturing era....

http://www.amgeneral.com/our-story/track-record/
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Q65A



Age: 66
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 1764
Location: Central NJ

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

According to MCA, AM General basically was formed at Wayne MI in 1970 by American Motors (makers of such legendary cars as the Pacer and Gremlin, as well as former owner of Jeep). AMG represented the truck building businesses of Kaiser Jeep, which had focused on manufacture of postal vehicles and M-35 trucks for the US Army at a former Studebaker plant at South Bend IN. (Buses later would be manufactured at another former Studebaker plant at Mishawaka IN).This business was a lot more lucrative than auto making: apparently AM General accounted for more than 85% of American Motors' corporate profit in 1971. MCA theorized that as a U.S. federal government-approved supplier of heavy vehicles, AMG was familiar with public-sector competitive bidding practices on contracts for large numbers of heavy vehicles. Also contributing to AMG's decision to enter the transit bus industry was the fact that the USDOT had announced the "Transbus" program in Dec. 1970 with the following 4 broad objectives: 1. To foster competitively marketed improved bus designs; 2.To discontinue practices that allowed new purchases for buses of obsolete designs (i.e. New Look transit buses, which the Feds apparently regarded as not meeting modern standards); 3. To increased the number of competing transit bus manufacturers; and 4. To develop a "strong Federal role" in technical R&D. According to MCA, only AMG fully supported Transbus, while it can be inferred that established transit bus manufacturers (i.e. GM and Flxible) were less enthusiastic about supporting Transbus. DOT formally terminated the Transbus program in mid-1977. AMG management apparently felt that without Transbus requirements, the playing field in the US transit bus market would never be level, so in 1978 AMG decided to concentrate their efforts on truck manufacturing for various government agencies. "Hindsight is always 20:20," but one observation in the MCA article particularly jumps out: AMG thought transit buses would be (or should be) manufactured to a common standard for every US city. Because AMG had been the successful bidder on many other US government vehicle contracts, they thought transit buses also would be bid out and approved in a similar manner. As students of transit buses, we know just how incorrect an assumption AMG had made. As an example, the 2014 spec issued by NYCT DOB for 40' LF diesel transit buses is >150 pages long, and it can be assumed that complex specs also routinely are issued by other transit agencies, modified to reflect the specifications needed to produce buses well suited for their particular operating conditions. Modern transit buses are expensive, sophisticated machines, and most definitely are not "one-size-fits-all." Apparently AMG did not become part of Chrysler when that company bought AMC in the 1980's. Instead, AMG today is owned by MacAndrew and Forbes, who also owns, among other businesses, cosmetic manufacturer Revlon Inc.
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 2452
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for that very thorough explanation....much appreciate it! Smile
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