BusTalk Forum Index BusTalk
A Community Discussing Buses and Bus Operations Worldwide!
 
 BusTalk MainBusTalk Main FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups BusTalk GalleriesBusTalk Galleries   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

"It's just a big, boxy, new bus...so what?"
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BusTalk Forum Index -> New York City Buses
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Q65A



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

PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
Back in the day, I'd never have thought that a scene like this could ever be recalled with any sort of nostalgia......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?502

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

Indeed; our beloved Mr. Linsky probably is nodding approval for this one...
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Q65A wrote:
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
Back in the day, I'd never have thought that a scene like this could ever be recalled with any sort of nostalgia......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?502

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

Indeed; our beloved Mr. Linsky probably is nodding approval for this one...


I was thinking the SAME thing, when I came across this photo.

I know that our "Lord High Grand Exalted Expert On New York Buses" would have had a lot of interesting historical information to share with us (as well as personal memories) regarding these buses.

His tremendous and vast wealth of information would have indeed been the "icing on the cake", here........


"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

St. George, 1981.

I particularly like this photo, as it shows a GRUMMAN behind one of the WAMATA buses, which trekked up north from DC to "pinch hit"........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2308

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

.....given the fact that the GRUMMANS went down in the books as the least-successful bus purchased for service in New York, it does make one think that "on the road testing" (before the buses were delivered to the MTA) could have been at least a tad more rigorous (recall, too, that the streets of New York were not in the best of shape back then, but, then again, that, pretty much, seems to be a given in New York, anyway)

One can only wonder what the future of the GRUMMAN might have been with the MTA had the buses not been plagued with so many issues, early on.......

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Q65A



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

PostPosted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 7:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is very true.
I suspect that NYCT learned some hard lessons from the 870 mess.
It was very good that the RTS-04 was already using a well-tested technology platform by the time NYCT came to GM with their checkbook in hand Smile
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Q65A wrote:
That is very true.
I suspect that NYCT learned some hard lessons from the 870 mess.
It was very good that the RTS-04 was already using a well-tested technology platform by the time NYCT came to GM with their checkbook in hand Smile


Agreed.

That that the RTS-04's were already using a proven technology, the NYCT could easily see that this bus was THE bus to choose.

Wisely, they went on to roster many hundreds, and, like the Old Looks and Fishbowls before them, went on to become of of the most long-lived bus types in the city.

The later METRO-B's (no matter where they operated) operated reliably and safely, for many years afterwards; this EASILY could have been the original GRUMMAN......IF the buses had been designed differently, and had the fates been kinder.......

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I still have to chuckle when I recall a TV news report (it might have been on WNEW 5) that was reporting on the GRUMMAN fiasco, nearly four decades back.

There was footage showing "stored" buses lumbering out of a dept, led by a Flex New Look that (if memory serves me correctly) was still decked out in "Tee-Ay" green.

What really sticks out in my mind was the reporter making this comment:

".....the MTA is bringing out stored decade-and-a-half-old clunkers to help fill the gap in the active fleet....."

Funny, that the reporter referred to the old buses (which never had the issues that plagued the GRUMMAN) as "clunkers"!

This also gets me to wondering just how many stored buses were recalled to active duty, to fill in for the GRUMMANS, and what depots they had been stored at?

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MaBSTOA 15



Age: 70
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
Posts: 1055

PostPosted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've searched my files and found the following photos that appeared in the Daily News, Sunday, December 5, 1982.

Note that all the buses are GM TDH-5303.

In 132nd Street Depot photo, the second bus from the left you can see part of the bat-wing.

The second photo shows derelict buses at the old Brooklyn Army Terminal. The dogs look more like wolves!



IMG_8290 (3).JPG
 Description:
 Filesize:  191.61 KB
 Viewed:  16903 Time(s)

IMG_8290 (3).JPG



IMG_8293 (3).JPG
 Description:
 Filesize:  196.23 KB
 Viewed:  16903 Time(s)

IMG_8293 (3).JPG


Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MaBSTOA 15



Age: 70
Joined: 27 Feb 2013
Posts: 1055

PostPosted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is one of the reasons why the derelict GM new looks were back on the streets...

BTW, the Washington, D.C. buses that were leased by New York, in order to combat the shortage brought on by the 870 fiasco were withdrawn from service in December 17, 1981



IMG_8294 (3).JPG
 Description:
 Filesize:  220.98 KB
 Viewed:  16902 Time(s)

IMG_8294 (3).JPG


Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GREAT STUFF (as always!!!!)....thanks for sharing here! Wink

Seeing those forlorn and battered Fishbowls huddled together, as if to console one another, was a real tear-jerker for yours truly. Crying or Very sad

(Sad, how so many of of us once took an all Fishbowl/New Look fleet for granted!) Sad

Also, thanks for posting the date when the WAMATA buses left New York; I do not recall seeing them here all that long.

As I have mentioned elsewhere on the forum, there was one lone ex-WAMATA Flex New Look operating on the old NHBL #1 local (Nungessers-Journal Square/PATH station) from about 1995 through 1997.

I rode this bus almost every morning for quite awhile as part of my inbound commute; sadly, I never thought to take a photo, or jot down the number Sad

I DO recall, however, the bus using an ancient Johnson "D" fare
box.....and, man, those thick bucket seats were COMFY!!!!! Very Happy

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Mon Jun 24, 2019 3:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 12:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Edgewater garage, 1981.

The "Pinch Hit Fleet" from DC just snoozin' away.......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?278

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
W.B. Fishbowl



Age: 57
Joined: 02 Oct 2014
Posts: 2368
Location: New York, New York, USA

PostPosted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
Edgewater garage, 1981.

The "Pinch Hit Fleet" from DC just snoozin' away.......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?278

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

Wasn't that just before two of 'em fell into the river, leading to the 'Tee-Yay' sending two of their own fleet to WMATA as compensation? Plus the Edgewater depot itself, being shuttered as unsafe?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B. Fishbowl wrote:
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
Edgewater garage, 1981.

The "Pinch Hit Fleet" from DC just snoozin' away.......

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?278

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

Wasn't that just before two of 'em fell into the river, leading to the 'Tee-Yay' sending two of their own fleet to WMATA as compensation? Plus the Edgewater depot itself, being shuttered as unsafe?


W.B.:

Thanks for bringing this incident up; I totally forgot about it (I believe there were photos in the papers of this)

I can recall a photo(s) long, long ago showing buses stored there literally falling "into the drink".

IMHO, it was short-sighted, to say the least, to park ANYTHING there, be it a food-vendor cart or a city bus.

I guess Luca Brasi (much-feared Corleone family henchman) wasn't the only one to be "sleeping with the fishes"....... Rolling Eyes

Watching the recovery efforts had to be interesting, to say the least......Wink

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Though the GRUMMAN/METRO B was basically a "shoe box on wheels", it still was a design that a bus enthusiast could eventually grow to like, even the most "classic-minded" enthusiasts as yours truly. Wink

Hard to believe that is now about 15 years since I last rode.....or even glimpsed......a METRO B, let alone a GRUMMAN....... Sad

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:49 pm; edited 2 times in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22161
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Several years before the caravan of WAMATA buses trekked north to pinch hit during the infamous GRUMMAN fiasco, we see a suburban Fishbowl (note "METROBUS" herald on side, snapped at 6th Avenue & Bleeker St., in 1975.

Clearly, this was a charter run.

Note the classic early 60's DC TRANSIT era "AIR CONDITIONED" legend under the windshield.......that alone really dates this now-classic, 45 year old photo......Wink

"NYO"

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?279

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org0
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BusTalk Forum Index -> New York City Buses All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5  Next
Page 3 of 5

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group