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'THE BUSES OF BEE LINE - LONG ISLAND'
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:48 am    Post subject: 'THE BUSES OF BEE LINE - LONG ISLAND' Reply with quote

Pictured below is a 1932 ACF model 901 operating as Bee Line fleet # 184 and signed to 'Grant Park' in Hewlett sometime in 1945.

Notice what may be an early North Shore Bus Company Twin Coach parked at what appears to be a bus terminal in the left side of the photo.

Interestingly, Bee Line lost most of its 'northern zone' Queens franchises to North Shore Bus in the mid thirties due to the dilapidated equipment it was operating.

Mr. Linsky
"The Green Hornet"
Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica & Arverne, NY



Last edited by Mr. Linsky on Sun Oct 06, 2013 3:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pictured below are two extremely well preserved Bee Line specimens;

To the right is # 565 which I believe may be a TDH 4517 and which does not appear in the OMT record as being originally purchased by the company.

However, the TDH 4517 record does show that fleet #'s 566 to 570 were purchased in October of 1961 - 565 could have been a demo or bought used.

The second bus is very obviously a perfectly restored Bee Line ACF circa very early thirties.

Enjoy.

Photo borrowed from BusTalkIII Picture Gallery for educational purposes only.

Mr. Linsky
"The Green Hornet"
Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica & Arverne, NY


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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:30 am    Post subject: 'Another Vintage Bee Line' Reply with quote

Pictured below is Bee Line # 622 - a 1959 Mack model C-49-DT featuring a 'New Look' front end used on most Macks delivered that year, and originally designed by Niagara Frontier Transit System - a major Mack customer.

NFT paid for the special dies used to form the front end and Mack profited by offering the feature as an extra cost option.

However, most operators preferred to stay with the traditional design and only 219 of these buses were manufactured.

1959 marked the end of production for Mack buses and the specific factory where they were built was converted to truck building in January of 1960.

An attempt was made to resurrect the Mack name on Renault made buses in the mid eighties but was short lived.

Photo borrowed from BusTalkIII Picture Gallery for educational purposes only.

Mr. Linsky
"The Green Hornet"
Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica & Arverne, NY

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Cyberider




Joined: 27 Apr 2007
Posts: 501
Location: Tempe, AZ

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All great looking buses that I'd love to ride. Thanks for sharing, Mr. Linsky.
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Hart Bus



Age: 73
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

They also had at least one old-look stick shift. It was numbered in the 61x series. Eventually sold to Alert Coach of Amityville, and used on their Amityville to Walt Whitman Mall route. Eventually Suffolk Transit took over the route and combined it with Huntington Coach's Halesite to WWM route and calling it the S-1

The bus was painted an off gray by Alert but the old fleet # was kept. It was driven by an old-timer by the name of Frankie, who wouldn't trade for a new bus. He just wanted that old-look with all its fault's.

According to Joe Saitta, Frankie died several years ago and the bus in the hands of an unnamed collector who is supposedly restoring the bus to BEE Line colors. This info is several years old, so I don't know the progress of the restoration
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Mr. Linsky
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
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Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hart Bus wrote:
They also had at least one old-look stick shift. It was numbered in the 61x series. Eventually sold to Alert Coach of Amityville, and used on their Amityville to Walt Whitman Mall route. Eventually Suffolk Transit took over the route and combined it with Huntington Coach's Halesite to WWM route and calling it the S-1

The bus was painted an off gray by Alert but the old fleet # was kept. It was driven by an old-timer by the name of Frankie, who wouldn't trade for a new bus. He just wanted that old-look with all its fault's.

According to Joe Saitta, Frankie died several years ago and the bus in the hands of an unnamed collector who is supposedly restoring the bus to BEE Line colors. This info is several years old, so I don't know the progress of the restoration


Hart Bus,

The stick shift Bee Line old look that you mention does not show up as an original sale to the company by GM - so it may well have been bought used - interesting story though!

Once I finish Schenck (and it seems to be going on and on!), I'm going to attempt to put a Bee Line roster and history together - any help would be appreciated.

In the meantime, I was correct in my supposition that # 565 (above picture) was a TDH 4517 (ser# 0069) and that it was a demonstrator delivered to Bee Line in April of 1960. 566 to 570 followed in October of 1961.

Mr. Linsky
"The Green Hornet"
Green Bus Lines, Inc., amaica & Arverne, NY
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Mr. Linsky
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another priceless find to ad to our collection of vintage Bee Line (L.I.) images is this 1928 ACF Model 503 with fleet number 74 and seen before delivery in a factory pose at Detroit in August of that year.

The conventional 29 passenger Model 503 chassis which probably carried either a Bender or Lang custom body was powered by a Hall Scott 110 h.p. gasoline engine with a displacement of 468 cubic inches.

Bee Line, a once major player in Jamaica, Queens, was devout ACF from their early twenties inception until a switch to White in the late thirties.

Photo courtesy of eBay.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

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frankie



Age: 77
Joined: 01 Feb 2011
Posts: 745
Location: St. Peters, Mo.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 10:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's my contribution to this great subject!

Top photo is 101 again. The black & white photo gives this a vintage time period look even though it was taken around the same time as the color photo above.

Middle photo is #507, a Mack C-45 DT in Rockville Center. This photo was taken before 1956 as evident by the non-standardize size license plate.

Bottom photo is #349, a White 798 also in Rockville Center. Not sure when this was taken.

Bottom two photos courtesy of eBay.

Frankie





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Mr. Linsky
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2011 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Frankie,

Looks like the last time we posted on this thread was four years ago - that's got to be some kind of a record! - I'm glad we're back.

Pictures are great! have one question about the photos;

How does a 'NYCTA' 5101 get to Rockville Centre in 1956 because that's what's standing behind the Mack?

Also, what's the New York City lamp post doing in the White picture?

I think it's possible that both of these pictures were taken in Jamaica although I don't recognize the Bus Station - I only worked Archer Avenue.

Maybe N-4 can fill us in.

Thanks for sharing,

Mr. 'L'


Last edited by Mr. Linsky on Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:56 pm; edited 1 time in total
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frankie



Age: 77
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Location: St. Peters, Mo.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 9:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You are right Mr. L! It's been a long time when I downloaded these photos along with the description provided. I'm willing to bet that these photos were taken in Jamaica. The devil is in the detail and I completely ignored it!

Frankie
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Mr. Linsky
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Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a couple of different angles taken of Bee Line (L.I.) # 74 - a 1928 ACF Model 503 - spotlighted earlier in this thread.

Notice that in the frontal view the roll sign is set for St. Albans in Queens.

The legend 'Air Brakes' in the rear view was not so much to advertise the feature to its passengers but more to warn other drivers that this bus could 'stop on a dime!' (and give you nine cents change!).

Credit within image.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

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upperharlemline4ever




Joined: 26 Oct 2007
Posts: 60
Location: New York State

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Frankie,

Re your photos; they're great photos. However, the first one is somewhere in Nassau County, perhaps Sunrise Highway; note the LIRR right of way with the power transmission towers.

The second and third photos are in NYC (Queens). Look at the lamp posts in the last photo.
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frankie



Age: 77
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Location: St. Peters, Mo.

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You are probably right. The "Rockville Center" locale on the first photo was probably correct after all when I first posted the photos and mistakenly labeled the other photos with the same locale.

The lamp post is definitely a dead giveaway!

Eagle eyes abound on this forum! Great detective work.

Frankie
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frankie



Age: 77
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 4:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's two more Bee Line buses to add to this portfolio! 1955 TDH-4512's #557 & 560. Location and date unknown. Photo from the "Old Look Buses" book (pg 23) by William Luke & Linda Metler. Used for educational purpose only.

Frankie

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Mr. Linsky
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Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2011 1:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A little maintenance was done to this post thanks to Jeff Marinoff of GM OldLookBus who has graciously shared with us the much better quality photo below.

While Long Island's Bee Line dabbled in a number of makes of buses through the years including White, Mack and eventually GM, they started out in the late twenties as a devout buyer of ACF equipment.

Shown below in an ad that appeared for ACF in the April 1930 issue of Bus Transportation Magazine, we see not only a testimonial to ACF by Bee Line's then president H. B. Carter but a couple of interesting examples of Bee Line's earliest coaches and a first real glimpse of their late twenties roster at the bottom of the page.

Photo courtesy of eBay.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York


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