BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B;
Arrrrgghhhhh......the dreaded "dip " scheme!!!!!!!!!!

My kingdom for "Tee-Yay" green!

Though this MIGHT have been mentioned previously elsewhere long ago, I'm wondering if the "Tee-Yay"/FACL/ST ever at least experimented with two-way bus radios; I know these were already becoming commonplace on SMEE subway equipment...........

"NYO"

["TA"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Check out these two early 70's photos of "Sherman" #9000; one photo shows the bus with a radio "pod" on the roof, and, in the other, without.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154940

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154941

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["9000"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

I was thinking along the same lines; but, if this was the case (which seems logical, to an extent), wouldn't the removal of the "pod" mean that #9000's driver(s) would have had no two-way radio access prior to the bus being officially retired?

In "NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT SYSTEM BUS & TROLLEY COACH FLEET"(Greller) there is a color photo of "Sherman" #9054 running on a Staten Island route, circa-1970.

The caption reads:

"...........the very attractive 9000 series are now being transferred to Staten Island, as the NYCTA starts large-scale scrapping of older buses. Now the bus has no more gold numbers. On the roof is the bubble cover for the communications antenna............."

"NYO"

["9054"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Personal memory, here...........

Back around 1965, Mom and I were on our corner (13th St. & Hudson Boulevard) waiting to catch a northbound NHBL #5, for a shopping trip

Across the street, where the stop was for the #1's heading south to JSQ (and "the Tubes"), a NHBL "Patton", lurched up, making QUITE a bit of noise, even for a none-too-subtle "Patton"!

We saw the passengers stepping off, and, with the motor now off, the driver walked over to the now-gone auto showroom (on the corner opposite us) to, obviously, call the garage.

Interestingly, when Mom and I returned (about an hour or so later) the disabled "Patton" was just thyen being towed away from the bus stop, courtesy of a circa-1940's tow truck from a local garage!

"Pattons" (and WHITES) lasted on "the Boulevard" in NHBL service until around late 1966/early '67, when the first Fishbowls ("Bullets") began arriving............

"NYO"

["HUDSON COUNTY BOULEVARD"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Fleet age ("stoa" replacement parts, etc.)

We all know that when MABSTOA was created, the inherited fleet was, overwhelmingly, "long-in-the-tooth".

Recall, a number of buses dated to as far back as 1946 (you had some pretty "well-seasoned" ex-FACCo/FACL "Shermans" for sure)

Too, there were the TDH-4506s and 4507s, a number of which were nearly 20 years old; these were replaced by 325 TDH-5303's.

FACCo's newest "open-toppers"(aka "Blunderbus") dated to 1930; these buses, then, would have been 16 years old when they were replaced by new GM's in 1946.

Given this, the last oldest ex-FACCo "Shermans" would have then lasted a bit longer in service than the double-deckers which they replaced.

I am sure that, in later years, replacement parts had to be getting harder to obtain, for the oldest buses...........

"NYO"

["GO THE MOTOR COACH WAY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Thought...........

When "stoa" took the helm in 1962, it seemed that (from photos I've seen and what I've read here) that the ex-SURFACE buses were the ones that were the ones that were the most battered and time-worn, for the most part.

In 1962, the ex-SURFACE TDH-5104's were only 9 years old (far younger than many ex-FACL buses), and the TDH-5106's (with the distinctive front sign box) were then but three years old (these buses, at least, had "youth" on their side, when the "stoa" era began in '62; recall, also, that FACL had 50 similar models).........

["NYO"]

["3034"]

[B53RICH]

#9000 spent some of its last months at Fresh Pond around 1972, early 1973.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

EXCELLENT posting; again, I thank you for taking the time to share allof this tremendous wealth of info!

I STILL think it tragic that the "Shermans" with their distinctive front sign boxes were all retired and scrapped when they were a barely a decade old; I still wish that at least a few could have been purchased by one of the old Hudson County "indies" then still in operation.

For such solid, rugged buses, only a decade in service seems both sad and wasteful.

I also found it interesting (via Guy E. Martin's "NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT BUSES") that the TDH-5101 was used as a prototype for the "Bingham" MACKS .

400 of these impressive "Binghams" were built, and, not surprisingly, not a one was set aside for preservation.........

"NYO"

["5246"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

We hardly knew ye...............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?153792

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?153835

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?153790

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["WESTCHESTER AVE."]

[W.B. Fishbowl]