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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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 Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2025 11:52 pm Post subject: |
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W.B.:
Appreciate the info.
Man, imagine seeing photos of the "gen-u-wine" Jackie Gleason Bus in "soivice!" 
Some Kodak-equipped bus enthusiasts back then, I'm sure, HAD to snap off a pic or two of this noteworthy bus......... 
"MYO"
['GOTHAM BUS COMPANY"] |
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W.B. Fishbowl
Age: 59
Joined: 02 Oct 2014
Posts: 4650
Location: New York, New York, USA
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2025 12:48 am Post subject: |
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| NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote: | W.B.:
Appreciate the info.
Man, imagine seeing photos of the "gen-u-wine" Jackie Gleason Bus in "soivice!"
Some Kodak-equipped bus enthusiasts back then, I'm sure, HAD to snap off a pic or two of this noteworthy bus.........
"MYO"
['GOTHAM BUS COMPANY"] |
I don't know if there were that many such enthusiasts living around 86th Street in the 1950-67 period . . . the earliest I've seen on nycsubway.org was taken in 1970, and by then it was all Fishbowls. We know one of its cousins, #2966, put in a brief appearance in BUtterfield 8.
Incidentally, the name change from NYCO to Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc. - on June 1, 1956 - occurred one day before the airing of the Classic 39 Honeymooners episode "Alice and the Blonde," Audrey Meadows' favorite of that batch.
[" . . . and I'm calling Bellevue, 'cause you're nuts!"] |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2025 8:51 am Post subject: |
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W.B.:
I SHUDDER to think how Ralph would react to the sight of one of today's insipid, oversized milk cartons, or giant, mutated caterpillars........
"HomnaHomnaHomnaHomna"(!!)
Today, there is not ONE sitcom that could even HOPE to come within light-years of "The Classic 39" (small wonder I watch little television, except for a few select shows)
Somehow, the thought of a modern-day "Ralph Kramden", piloting an ultra-bland "BINO", and working in a politically-correct "co-ed" job just doesnt cut it (for me, anyway) 
Once again, too bad we never got to see a b/w "Honeymooners" episode with "Ralph" behind the wheel of a "Gotham Bus Company" Old Look.............. 
"NYO"
[".....you're the man who brives a dus......"(!!) |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2025 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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Just was thinking...........
During the "Color Honeymooners" tenure, just prior to the "Jackie Gleason Show" going off the air, it's interesting to think of a "farewell" episode having "Ralph" retire after some 30-odd years of "briving a dus".
Imagine the publicity photos, showing "The Great One" as "Ralph", posing with a Miami Fishbow,l lettered "GOTHAM BUS COMPANY"? 
"NYO"
["AND AAAAAWWWWWAAAAAAY WE GO!"] |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 8:53 am Post subject: |
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Thought................
In 1952, the CMCCo was taken over by the CTA.
A decade later (1962) in "Noo Yawk", FACL also vanished forever, now under the auspices of "MaBSTOA".
Now, this took place after the 1962 FACL strike.
My question is this.......
Had there been NO strike in 1962, how many more years do you think FACL could have remained an independent company, without takeover by the NYCTA/MTA?
"NYO"
["FIFTH AVENUE COACH LINES"] |
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W.B. Fishbowl
Age: 59
Joined: 02 Oct 2014
Posts: 4650
Location: New York, New York, USA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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| NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote: | Thought................
In 1952, the CMCCo was taken over by the CTA.
A decade later (1962) in "Noo Yawk", FACL also vanished forever, now under the auspices of "MaBSTOA".
Now, this took place after the 1962 FACL strike.
My question is this.......
Had there been NO strike in 1962, how many more years do you think FACL could have remained an independent company, without takeover by the NYCTA/MTA?
"NYO"
["FIFTH AVENUE COACH LINES"] |
Some would say the real question was, what if Harry Weinberg hadn't taken over FACL in February of 1962 as he had? Because one factor in their failing finances was trying to head him off. I'd've given the company 2-3 years at best. |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2025 11:30 pm Post subject: |
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W.B.:
I would tend to agree.
I would say (IMHO) that FACL would have been taken over by the "Tee-Yay" ("Stoa") by about 1966; personally, I don't think FACL could have lasted much beyond that date...........
"NYO"
["FACL"] |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 10:35 pm Post subject: |
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An interesting photo from John F. Doyle's excellent "IMAGES OF AMERICA" book, "CHICAGO MOTOR COACH COMPANY"......
On page #123, we see NYO "Kramden" #2719, at the West Shore (NYCRR) ferry terminal, at the foot of W. 42nd Street.
The caption reads as follows........
"......Bus No. 2719, lettered for the 'New York Omnibus Corporation', is shown here in 1949, assigned to the West Shore Ferry run............"
"......by 1956, Fifth Avenue changed names to Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, and, by 1962, they were bankrupt....................."
".......and, by 1962, all operations were taken over by MaBSTOA, a public agency....."
"......in retrospect, ten years earlier (1952), Chicago Motor Coach sold at the right time......."
"NYO"
["GO THE MOTOR COACH WAY"] |
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W.B. Fishbowl
Age: 59
Joined: 02 Oct 2014
Posts: 4650
Location: New York, New York, USA
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| Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2025 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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| NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote: | An interesting photo from John F. Doyle's excellent "IMAGES OF AMERICA" book, "CHICAGO MOTOR COACH COMPANY"......
On page #123, we see NYO "Kramden" #2719, at the West Shore (NYCRR) ferry terminal, at the foot of W. 42nd Street.
The caption reads as follows........
"......Bus No. 2719, lettered for the 'New York Omnibus Corporation', is shown here in 1949, assigned to the West Shore Ferry run............"
"......by 1956, Fifth Avenue changed names to Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, and, by 1962, they were bankrupt....................."
".......and, by 1962, all operations were taken over by MaBSTOA, a public agency....."
"......in retrospect, ten years earlier (1952), Chicago Motor Coach sold at the right time......."
"NYO"
["GO THE MOTOR COACH WAY"] |
Likely means NYCO #2719 (one of the 1947 lot, apparently TDH-4507) was assigned to the #16 - 34th Street Crosstown, which had two "branches" - that to the 42nd Street pier as here, the other to 34th and 12th Avenue. The former is now the M34A+SBS (terminating at 43d between 8th and 9th), the latter M34+SBS.
The history of these routes is in and of itself a story. In those days, the 16 to the 42nd Street pier turned at Tenth Avenue (this was a year after the first phase of the one-way conversions of 9th and 10th Avenues was effected - eastbound buses ran on Ninth in that stretch) on to 42nd. In the mid-1970's another branch to the "Pier" turned on Eighth Avenue for those going to the "Pea-Yay-Bee-Tee." As the years went on that was the only such variant of that branch. |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 12:19 am Post subject: |
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W.B.:
Appreciate, as always, further historical info.
Though we have discussed this in my "TO THE PIERS" topic, it would seem that the 42nd Street crosstown line lost ridership at the Western end of the line, first in 1959, when the NYC abandoned the West Shore Ferry to Weehawken, and, again, in the 1970s, when the Day Line ceased operations.
Recall, through the 1964 season, the Day Line also called at the 125th Street pier (the Edgewater Ferry had been shut down since December, 1950).............
"NYO"
['CROSSTOWN"] |
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W.B. Fishbowl
Age: 59
Joined: 02 Oct 2014
Posts: 4650
Location: New York, New York, USA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 2:05 am Post subject: |
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| NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote: | W.B.:
Appreciate, as always, further historical info.
Though we have discussed this in my "TO THE PIERS" topic, it would seem that the 42nd Street crosstown line lost ridership at the Western end of the line, first in 1959, when the NYC abandoned the West Shore Ferry to Weehawken, and, again, in the 1970s, when the Day Line ceased operations.
Recall, through the 1964 season, the Day Line also called at the 125th Street pier (the Edgewater Ferry had been shut down since December, 1950).............
"NYO"
['CROSSTOWN"] |
Practically keeping all the bus routes to the pier afloat at this "pernt" is the Circle Line. |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2025 10:28 am Post subject: |
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W.B.:
Agreed.
As the crosstown runs (like the 42nd Street corridor) were not at all "tony", I wonder, over the years, if such routes warranted older buses, in place of of the "new and shiny", at least at one time?
"NYO"
["RIDE THE SURFACE LINES"] |
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 31732
Location: NEW JOISEY
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2025 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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Going by the old photos whose links I posted in previous response, that, at one time, an interesting variety of buses were to be found, at the foot of W. 42nd Street.
Am curious now as to when the last "Kramdens" and "Pattons" served the 42nd Street corridor.........
["NYO"]
["RIDE THE SURFACE WAY"]
["OA"]
["New York City Transit Authority"] |
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W.B. Fishbowl
Age: 59
Joined: 02 Oct 2014
Posts: 4650
Location: New York, New York, USA
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2025 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 wrote: | Going by the old photos whose links I posted in previous response, that, at one time, an interesting variety of buses were to be found, at the foot of W. 42nd Street.
Am curious now as to when the last "Kramdens" and "Pattons" served the 42nd Street corridor.........
["NYO"]
["RIDE THE SURFACE WAY"]
["OA"]
["New York City Transit Authority"] |
The "Pattons," definitely 1967 when the "Soiface" buses ordered and built between 1954 and 1958 were all retired with the arrival of the 480 A/C batwing " 'stoa" Fishbowls. However, as the M-106 - 42nd Street Crosstown was reassigned in late 1962 to 54th Street depot which had nary a "Patton" in sight (they were all, in their last years of "soivice," at Amsterdam depot), they may have last "soived" the "car door" (as one since deceased neighbor of mine mispronounced that word) at that earlier "pernt." To the end, they were mainstays of the M-104 - Broadway line, which traveled along 42nd between Seventh Avenue and the U.N. eastbound, and up to Eighth Avenue westbound.
On the end of the "NYCO Division" of " 'stoa," 1966-67 may've been the last time "Kramdens" graced the "piers." I speak of course of the 16 - 34th Street Crosstown. The mid-to-late '60's for sure on the "Tee-Yay's" end via the M-3 49th-50th Street Crosstown (later M27, now M50). I have mentioned about 1972 photos of "Kramdens" on the M-15 - First and Second Avenues route, but don't know if that extended to other Manhattan "Tee-Yay" routes. |
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