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Double-decker demos in Manhattan
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

.....the ex-London "RT's" that went to Colombo (Ceylon), today's Sri Lanka, soon looked like rolling wrecks......these once-proud buses were bent, battered, beat up and chewed up, but STILL managed to get the job done.....these buses were TOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ex-FACCo Queen Mary types, I'm sure, could have also served likewise.......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding the "Queen Mary"-type:

What were the last routes to use them (did all routes lose them on the same day?)

What bus made the last double-deck run?

What replaced them? (GMC's/MACKS)

Appreciate any info on the "Queen Mary" phaseouts......

"NYO"
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

From what I understand, the #5 Fifth Avenue/Riverside Drive line was the very last to run Queen Marys (in 1953), and regular GM's replaced them (I.I.N.M., only Jackson Heights depot had the Mack and White buses that FACCo ran).

This was in preparation for Chicago's Omnibus Corporation to unload both FACCo and NYCO, which occurred the next year. A similar situation happened in Chicago where their Queen Marys were all retired by 1950, and two years later Omnibus sold their properties in that city to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B.:

Many thanks.......this is just what I wanted to know.....thanks! Wink

Did not know that Chicago's "Queen Mary" fleet had been retired three years before their FACCo counterparts; from what you are telling me, the FACCo double-decker retirement came in phases, not en masse.

Again, too bad that no foreign buyers were found for thee once-proud buses.......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

........am curious as to when the "Queen Mary" replacements began; I know that the last of the old FACCo open-toppers were retired in 1946......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As the last open-top FACCo buses were retired in 1946, I'm guessing that they were replaced by the TD-4507's......

"NYO"
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
As the last open-top FACCo buses were retired in 1946, I'm guessing that they were replaced by the TD-4507's......

Close - TD-4506's. The 4507's hadn't yet arrived at that juncture . . .
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W.B. Fishbowl



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PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote:
........am curious as to when the "Queen Mary" replacements began......

Probably around 1950-51, when FACCo ordered Macks and Whites for use on their 15 Jackson Heights route . . . plus the TDH-4509's a-comin' (for FACCo, the 1950 order of 2363-2437) . . . and in '52, 50 TDH-5104's (2502-2551) . . .
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

W.B.:

As always, greatly appreciate your always interesting input....thanks! Wink

When the new MaBSTOA Fishbowls began arriving, I would guess the oldest square-window Old Looks (like the 4507's) were the first to go.

I have an old postcard somewhere, showing a square-window Old Look running past Radio City Music Hall; I can date the picture to at least 1964, going by the new Mustang alongside......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another quick question.....

During the last few years they were in service, were the square-window buses still being used in base service, or, by that late date, relegated to rush hour runs only.....

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:28 pm; edited 1 time in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 01, 2021 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

......I still have a warm spot in my heart for square-window Old Looks (the last vanished from my area in late 1966/early 1967)

They were OLD and NOISY and TOUGH......yes, fellows, these were REAL buses!!!!!!!!!!! Wink

"NYO"
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MaBSTOA 15



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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

With the rising cost after the war and riding decline the two man double-deckers were uneconomical to operate. As well as the slow loading and acceleration of the Queen Mary’s. FACCo was not interested in duplicating the capacity of the double-deckers and so the open top deckers were retired on December 29, 1946 and replaced by new GM TDH-4506 single deckers.

Some 300 new diesels were purchased between 1946 and 1952 (GM TDH-4506, TDH-4507; TDH-4509 and TDH-5104 plus Mack C-50). The White 1150 did not arrive till 1953

The last FACCo double decker “Queen Mary” was retired on April 27, 1953.

Chicago Motor Coach replaced their Queen Marys (models 720) with 100 GM TDH-5502 and with first batch of 50 TDH-5103. The last Queen was retired July 25, 1950
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MaBSTOA 15:

As always, I greatly appreciate the "in depth" historical info you provide......thanks! Wink

I can see why two-man crews became expenses that FACCo. wished to eliminate; in London, the last conductors vanished when the very last of the famed "ROUTEMASTERS" were retired in 2005.

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

......am also curious as to when FACCo hired its last conductors; also, how long did a conductor have to work before he could become a driver?

Thanks......

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 11:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

.....earlier, I'd mentioned that a good many ex-London Transport double-deckers were sold for further use overseas; some prewar buses were sent to Iraq, where they put in still more years of service.

Many prewar London buses were used as "learner" buses (for new driver training), mobile LT staff "canteens", and tree-loppers.

Some were also converted into "breakdown lorries", to haul disabled buses back to their garages.

Still others had their bodies cut down, and became service vehicles for maintaining the trolleybus overhead (trolleybuses ran in London until 1962)

A number of the streamlined, single-deck "Q" types (dating from the 1930's),also were sold to overseas operators after their "LT" and GREEN LINE days were over; some of these even saw service for military base personell, in locations as far remote as Malta......

"NYO"
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