BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

BE FOREWARNED:

This is one of the SADDEST and most TRAGIC stories related to transit collectibles.........

Back in the mid-1990s, I had my own monthly "nostalgia" column in an "out West" (home printed) public transport collectors newsletter ( found out that this column was quite popular with fellow members)

The fellow who put it out was then a bus driver out West (he also owned a retired (Santa Monica?) Fishbowl an an ex-GREYHOUND 4106)

I also believe he was toying with the idea of purchasing an Old Look.

We became close "phone friends" over time, and, in 1997, and he later made plans to come out East for a visit (with a side trip up to Boston, for transit-related activities)

To make a long story short, I was sorry pretty fast that I even invited him out; he had mood swings, for certain, he could be talkative and sociable one minute, and sullen and silent the next, for extended periods

I was not at all comfortable with his "true persona", and, indeed, breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when he went home, after a visit of several days.

In the VHS tapes he had sent me over the past couple of years, a lot of focus centered on his transit collection, which filled the HUGE loft of a large restored barn on his property.

To say this MASSIVE collection was priceless and mind-boggling is an UNDERSTATEMENT.

He had sign boxes from several classes of PE cars, not to mention LARy cars and MTA buses, not to mention headlights and markers from PE cars.

Also, fareboxes, fare registers, gongs, whistles, timetables, transfers, etc.

He had station signs from the PE, quite a few old LAMCo/LARy signs, roller curtains beyond count......the collection was BEYOND worth a king's ransom............

(CONTINUED IN FOLLOWING POST)

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Continued.........

Fast-forward now to 2002; I was MORE than shocked (after no contact since 1997) to get a phone call from this fellow, whom I'll call "Mel".

Seems he had retired, and had gone through a messy divorce (can't blame his wife at all, from what I came to know about her husband)

Seems 'Mel" "had had it with everything", and carted his ENTIRE TRANSIT COLLECTION (which also consisted of TOYS and MODELS) off to a local junkyard and DUMPED IT ALL, like it was so much useless trash!!!!!!

The Orange Empire Museum would have been ASTOUNDED to see what "Mel" had....and TRASHED (he never even considered the OEM, or any other museum, for that matter)

This collection was easily worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars (he never even thought to send me some items, knowing how greatly I'd value them)

The videos I saw of "Mel's" vast collection literally left me speechless; it was beyond awe-inspiring.

To this very day, I am truly disgusted......and saddened.....to see what had to be the FINEST collection of Wast Coast transit memorabilia........TRASHED by a grown man throwing a massive temper tantrum that was light-years beyond destructive.

To be totally honest, I find myself sickened just typing these words.

Again, this is a TRUE story.........

"NYO"

[W.B. Fishbowl]

I've heard of people who went off the deep end after a marriage - not to mention during a mid-life crisis - but this is ridiculous! Not to mention a total gosh-durned shame.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further.........

COMMON SENSE (as well as having a MATURE outlook) would have had "Mel" either contact the OERM (or any other transportation museum) OR arrange to have his vast collection auctioned off.

'nuff said................

"NYO"

[Cyberider]

Pretty sad.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

...what I've related here has always had a profound affect on me; as I love and cherish every item in my large transit collection, it is nothing short of a insideous nightmare, when I recall the inconceivable events that took place well over 20 years ago, on the otter side of the country, where so much priceless transit history was ruthlessly discarded.

No wonder I love and value my collection as much as I do, and always will, for the rest of my life..........

"NYO"

[traildriver]

Reading this thread has got me thinking of my own (very modest collection), as I just turned 78.

What will I do with it? My wife and her family has absolutely no interest in preserving any of it...not even sure if they would take the trouble to try to sell it on ebay. I thought about just sending it to the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, now a part of the AACA, but with the change in ownership and personnel there, I am not sure if I will, or won't, as they seem more interested in their core antique automobile collection. I would trust the Smithsonian Institute, but not sure if they would even be interested in what I have. I would prefer to give it to a museum, that I believe would be long lasting, but nothing is certain.

Most likely, when I fully retire (I'm still driving part time!), I will begin selling off what I have slowly on ebay or wherever I can. At least, someone might find my stuff desirable, or even if they just turn it for their own profit, it would be better than just trashing everything...

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

GOOD TO SEE YOU again, my friend!

(and a VERY HAPPY belated birthday to you!)

My collection, as you know, literally fills several rooms; most is public transit related (buses, streetcars, trains, cable cars, maritime, aviation, etc); my vintage toy bus collection us, as you know, is quite extensive (ditto the toy trains and trolleys)

Then, too, are my rollsigns, curtains, signboxes, assorted vintage transit hardware (subway/streetcar/bus), and other such items.

Being a lifelong bachelor, I have no family who would be interested in preserving my "archives" (my nephews have no interest in transit, either)

I have thought of the Bus Museum (but now am having second thoughts), and Shore Line and Seashore for my trolley items (toys, models, books, memorabilia, etc)

Right now, I'm just "laying low", taking it one day at a time, and considering myself VERY fortunate to owning the diverse collection I have amassed in my nearly 50 years of collecting

Ahhhh, such is life.........

"NYO"

["TO ALL BUSES"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

For quite obvious reasons.......

The late (and legendary) Jim Lehrer is now coming to mind.

I recall reading that his vast, diverse, and truly magnificent bus memorabilia collection, as well as his prized and beloved 1946 FLXIBLE "Clipper" went to the National Bus Museum, upon his passing.............

"NYO"

["FLXIBLE"]