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Scrapping Brooklyn's trolleybuses/infrastructure
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:31 pm    Post subject: Scrapping Brooklyn's trolleybuses/infrastructure Reply with quote

Fellows:

Am curious as to how the Brooklyn trolleybus network was dismantled in 1960:

1: Where were the coaches themselves scrapped? (were any pieces salvaged for preservation by enthusiasts of that era?)

2: Where/when did the removal of the overhead begin? (and end)

3: Do any line poles/flashboards/wire hangers remain at any location? (perhaps at Williamsburg Bridge Plaza?)

4: Was there any interest at the time in preserving one of the coaches?

5: When in operation, what depot were the coaches based out of? (does it still exist today?)

Thank you in advance, for any and all input.......

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few classic views from the waning days of Brooklyn trolleybuses.....

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?288

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?305

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?3112

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?3124

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
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MaBSTOA 15



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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

According to James Greller's book, New York City Transit System Bus and Trolley Coach Fleet... the St. Louis Car trolley buses, if not all, some were asssigned to the Bergen Street Depot.

Note of interest, these buses had fluorescent interior lights.
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MaBSTOA 15 wrote:
According to James Greller's book, New York City Transit System Bus and Trolley Coach Fleet... the St. Louis Car trolley buses, if not all, some were asssigned to the Bergen Street Depot.

Note of interest, these buses had fluorescent interior lights.


Appreciate this info.....thanks!

I had read awhile ago that these particular buses had fluorescent lights, quite ahead of the time for those days! (the same for the new R-10 subway cars)

Hard to believe that the trolley coach fleet has been gone from the streets of Brooklyn for nearly 60 years now.......

"NYO"
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Q65A



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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also from Greller's book:
All 200 units were built by St. Louis Car in 1948.
Seating 43 pax, they were 37'1.5" long, 102" wide, 120" tall.
Riding a 240" wheelbase, front overhang was 93" and rear overhang was 112.5"
#3000-3099 had GE electrical equipment
#3100-3199 had Westinghouse electrical equipment
Trolley coach operation ended July 27, 1960.
As a very young kid, I remember the trolley coaches that ran on the B48 along Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. They had a distinctive low-pitched "mooing" sound as they accelerated away from a stop (not unlike the sounds made by IND R1-9 cars as they accelerated from a stop).
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Q65A



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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For images of trackless coaches of Brooklyn, plus route, roster and a "wire map" (showing the trackless routes in detail) check out this link:
http://bus.nycsubway.org/trackless.html
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Q65A



Age: 66
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Interesting to note that there were only 7 routes operated with trackless coaches. They ran out of both Crosstown and Bergen Street depots. The former was a surface car house in Greenpoint which was built by Brooklyn City RR (later part of Brooklyn Rapid Transit, then BMT, then BOT) in 1896. It was converted to a bus depot in 1951, and much later was converted into a DOB paint shop. Bergen Street depot also was a surface car house built in 1884 by Nassau Electric RR (later a part of Brooklyn Rapid Transit, then BMT, then BOT).It survives today as the MTA's Bergen Street Sign Shop (which produces signs for Dept. of Subways).
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Q65A:

Greatly appreciate your input; glad that you at least got to ride those now-classic electric buses!

I knew that there was a Bergen St. car house (last streetcars served were in 1931, according to "BROOKLYN TROLLEYS", by Greller/Watson)

At least the facility still stands, and is used for transit-related work.

It's interesting to imagine what trolley buses in Brooklyn would look like today, if the system had been retained to the present; I am thinking they might be similiar to the newest coaches on the MBTA's Cambridge trackless lines.......

"NYO"
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N4 Jamaica




Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:08 pm    Post subject: Brooklyn trolley coaches Reply with quote

Although I was a railfan, the introduction of trackless trolleys fascinated me. Several items of the wiring intrigued me: the overhead switches to move poles to diverging routes; the existence of a passing siding "in the sky" on Court Street; the double-flow front doors; the metal curves in the wires; and the Midwestern habit of omitting "Street," as the destination "Box" in Greenpoint.
---
Dad and I rode some of the lines, and recently I have taken buses on the same or similar routes to refresh memory of old times. I never rode Cortelyou Road.
---
Shaky memory, but I thought Bergen St trackless depot was a new concrete paved lot with a new building adjacent to it, not an old streetcar barn.

Joe
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 9:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Joe:

Thanks for sharing some great old memories; sure wish I had been around then! Rolling Eyes

I rode the MBTA trackless routes during my Boston visits during the summers of 1991 and 1997; the 1991 visit was my first chance to see trackless operation up close, and, man, what a sight to behold!

LOVED watching those double poles in action; I was also most fortunate to have ridden the now-retired Flyers....I remember being impressed by both their quietness and smooth ride.

I especially loved where the coaches went underground at Harvard Square; reminded me of old photos I had seen of PSNJ dual-powered ASV trolley coaches in the lower level of the old PS Terminal in Newark!

In any city, I think trolley buses indeed make for some interesting "fanning"..... Wink

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rubber tires under wire in Brooklyn and Staten Island, long, long ago......

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

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also of interest.....

http://www.thejoekorner.com/lines/bklyn-trackless/

http://www.thejoekorner.com/lines/bklyn-trackless/index-trackless-album.html

(courtesy: The JoeKorner)
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Q65A



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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This link takes you to an interesting website devoted to trackless trolleys of many cities:
http://www.trolleybuses.net/
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Q65A



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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

And this link takes you to a collection of pix devoted to Brooklyn street railways:
http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/brook.htm#bvb
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Q65A wrote:
And this link takes you to a collection of pix devoted to Brooklyn street railways:
http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/brook.htm#bvb


Q65A:

That site has proven to be an invaluable research tool for me for a number of years now, as well as providing me with an every-ready "Wayback Machine", which quickly transports me back to the days when a huge, complex, and far-reaching streetcar network still served Brooklyn.

Streetcars, trolley buses, subways, elevateds. the LIRR.......indeed, Brooklyn had SOMETHING for EVERY transit buff, back in the day....the sheer variety of the equipment then commonplace (above, on, and under the streets) indeed made for a transit enthusiast's paradise!

Paradise lost..........

"NYO"
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