BusTalk

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Many thanks for this great info; this is something I was not at all familiar with....MOST interesting!

As a kid, I recall the "water coolers" aboard some of the old E-L coaches, especially the ex-ERIE Stillwells.

I remember the paper "Dixie" cups that you would use to drink from; Mom always remembered that the water was icy-cold; I can also recall a sign reading "ICE WATER" above the fixture itself, and the paper cups being in a long tubular dispenser (I'm going back 55-60 years now!)

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

VERY interesting....."Look Ma, no hands!"

On a related note, there is a photo in the wonderfully-dated 1954 children's book, "BIG CITY TRANSPORTATION" showing a young woman who had just purchased items from the food/drink vending machines aboard a modern PRR long-haul train.

The overhead sign above the aisle reads:

"AUTOMATIC BUFFET"

MILK/JUICES/COFFEE/CHOCOLATE DRINKS

CAKE/CANDY/ICE CREAM/SANDWICHES

(sure sounds like a good selection to me!)

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Another aspect of GREYHOUND (and other long-haul bus companies) that I've always found interesting to think about, is situations where a bus became disabled in an area that was remote, or, at best, a "one-mule town".

If said disabled bus could not be serviced by the local garage, the driver would, of course, call the company and report the the situation..

Would the bus be towed to another garage in a larger town (or city) to await the delivery of a replacement part(s)?

Regarding the passengers, how would the be accommodated?

Would GREYHOUND send another bus out from the nearest facility to "rescue" them?

There is an interesting 1967 photo in "GREYHOUND SCENICRUISER" (McNally/Rayman) showing a disabled EASTERN GREYHOUND LINES Scenicruiser being towed by a heavy-duty WHITE wrecker, near Cooksville, Ontario........

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Greatly appreciate both the QUICK response and the interesting DETAILS, regarding disabled buses "out on the road"!

I wonder how tour operators fare in such cases; I well recall my last DOMENICO tour (July, 1993) that took us to Myrtle Beach (with a side "day trip" to Charleston included)

The day before we were to leave for home, the a/c went on the blink (and you KNEW it!)

Our friendly, cheery, and knowledgeable driver, Mark Driver (the jovial Sidney Poitier clone!) had to drive quite a distance to some facility where the bus could be serviced (I never thought to ask Mark how far he had to go)

I DO know that the round trip took a good chunk of the evening, and it was not until the wee, small hours that he brought the bus back in to Myrtle Beach, where he was able to catch just a few winks before he had to climb behind the wheel again to start our homeward-bound trek.

Man, that a/c sure felt DANG GOOD, cranking again as it should........thanks, Mark! (RIP)

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

It would be interesting to find out what fellow held the record for the GREYHOUND driver with the most driving years under his belt.

From 1960's-era photos I've seen, a number of drivers were clearly older "veterans", who clearly went back to the days of "pullers" (man, imagine the tales they could tell?

One of these veterans was the late W. G. "Red" Vickers, who began driving for FLORIDA MOTOR LINES* in 1934, where he drove round trips between Miami and Jacksonville.

He was still on the job in the 1960's driving SCENICRUISERS!

In his always-enjoyable autobio, "A BUS OF MY OWN" (I LOVE that title!) the late Jim Lehrer recalled many old-time drivers, who earned their own colorful nicknames, and who, obviously, had "been on the road" for many a year, even way back when.

As with the railroads and the airlines, so many wonderful and fascinating stories are lost forever, when these "Veterans Of The Open Highway" make that one-way trip to that big garage in the sky.....

"NYO"

*FML became FLORIDA GREYHOUND LINES in 1946, after being bought out by GREYHOUND (this info from the Scenicruiser book written by McNally/Rayman)

[traildriver]

When I started in 1968, I met some driver's who had started in 1926, driving Fageol Safety Coaches...
I know of one EGL Syracuse driver, who retired when GL sold his Syracuse Watertown run to Adirondack about ten years ago...he had 49 years of service.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Thought:

Let's say that a present-day GREYHOUND driver has been driving for 40 years; this would mean he began driving for the company in 1980.

Though the last of the SCENICRUISERS had been retired by this time, this driver would be behind the wheel of some now-classic MCI's.

And, I'm sure, he'd have MANY an interesting "yarn" to tell, to anyone who was interested in hearing of driving an intercity bus for four decades.......

"NYO"

BTW:

I can heartily recommend a very interesting little book, "MEMOIRS OF A GREYHOUND BUS DRIVER", by Grady Hall Morgan (2005)

Mr. Morgan, indeed, had many interesting tales to tell, of years behind the wheel of a "Hound"........

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

It's not too often that you can come across a 1945 photo showing a "bit of an altercation" between a GREYHOUND bus and a STREETCAR!

Both the streetcar motorman and the GREYHOUND driver, I'm sure, had something interesting to discuss over their respective dinner tables that evening......

(at least, thank heavens, this "altercation" was not a serious one!)

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/odds/ab/htm/lmr02.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

interesting bit of "Hound" trivia from Grady Hall Morgan's "MEMOIRS OF A GREYHOUND BUS DRIVER":

"......GREYHOUND usually had a lot of chartered buses going up to Alaska during the summer months, and each bus assigned to one of these charters carried with it a special 'Alaska Kit'....."

".....these packages included extra fan belts, spare headlamps, fuses, and other items that you would be hard pressed to find along the road, should the need arise......"

"NYO"

[traildriver]

Greyhound Silversides were chartered to the Army's Northwest Service Command during WWII, to help transport contruction worker's and troops building the AlCan Highway. They were the only civilian transport allowed on that road, until the war ended, and it was ceded to Canada, who then opened it to the public.

Greyhound bought out Coachways routes from Edmonton to Fairbanks in the '70's, but gradually cut back service all the way back to Whitehorse, and recently abandoned all of Western Canada...