BusTalk

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Thanks, as always, for your input; for some reason, I had forgotten what I had read in my copy of "BROOKLYN TROLLEYS" (Greller/Watson):

"......on June 1, 1929, the BMT simplified the operation and ownership of all surface, bus, and elevated lines by forming the B&QT......"

"..........the BMT had already organized the "BROOKLYN BUS CORPORATION" on July 2, 1924, to operate the various bus routes which were created as feeders to the trolley lines....."

".....this company became a subsidiary of the newly-former B&QT in 1929....."

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Flatbush & 3rd, 1980.

Here, we see four Flex New Looks, sporting different paint schemes, with the "Tee-Yay" green, of course, being the oldest (quite late in the game to see any bus still in "Tee-Yay" green!)......

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154768

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Great stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!

How we all took such once-commonplace, now-classic signage for granted!

Such signs truly help "date" old transit photos, as does such long-departed, "old school" street hardware as two-light traffic signals and incandescent street lighting.

Getting back to the buses in that photo, it was indeed interesting to see that pack of Flexies all sporting different schemes; as I had noted earlier.

That Flexie still in 1960's "Tee-Yay" green had to be one of the last such buses still in service (paint-wise)......

"NYO"

[W.B. Fishbowl]

And to think it preceded the first of several "hooks" for the Grumman fleet (as in the old vaudeville "giving them the hook") . . .

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Marcy & S. 4th, circa-1950.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?118066

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[W.B. Fishbowl]

A photo from 1972 of 1969 Flx #4026 plying the B63 to Shore Road along Flatbush Avenue; it is farther along than the 1980 pic, as the Dime Savings Bank sign and jump clock are farther away in the background . . .

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154416

The sign seemed to have its first jump clock still in use if based on this 1972 pic taken at Flatbush and Prospect (with batwinged Fishbowl #8097 holding down the B41 to East 71st Street):

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154891

(all pics courtesy nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Pictures like these shows us just how much "street-scapes" have changed over the past several decades; there is so much, that we once thought as being permanent, that we took for granted, and is no longer in existence.

Again, as I have long said, the stores, shops, signage, street lights, traffic signals, autos, and fashions truly date these old photos, as much as the buses do......so much has now either vanished or has been changed to the point that it can no loner be recognized.....

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

October 31st, 1956; the last trolleys are disappearing from Brooklyn, and the beloved Dodgers will soon follow........

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bqt736.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)

[W.B. Fishbowl]

There were, however, still "trackless trolleys" moving around Brooklyn in the Dodgers' last year in that evergreen borough . . . somehow "Trackless Trolley Dodgers" doesn't seem to have the same ring to it . . .

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Given the fact the prewar B&QT trolleybus fleet was less than "modern" in 1947, plus, that the BoT was already replacing Brooklyn streetcar lines, had no new trolley buses been purchased at all, allowing the system to be converted to diesel bus prior to 1950, it would have been (IMHO) a true "modernization" project.

Too, the BoT (later Tee-Yay") would have been spared the expense of maintaining the overhead, line poles, etc......

"NYO"