BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Update:

LIRR trains will be initially running hourly, strting at noon.

Full rush-hour service is expected for the PM exodus back to "The Is;and Of Great Length"..........

"NYO"

["M-7"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

LIRR MU longebity.........

The earliest MUs ("MP-41s"entered service about 1906 (direct cousins of the IRT's early "GIBBS" cars ) lasted into the 1950s.

The iconic "MP-54s"first entered service in 1910, and the last of the class was not retiredi red until around 1971 (newest opf the type dated to 1930)

Yje sleek "Metropolitans", the "foist" of which debuted in the late1960s, served well into the21st centiry.

Something is telling me that today's MU's won't last that long, as their ho-tech components will, by that time, hjopelesslu outdated.......

"NYO"

["M-9"]
]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Hard to believe............

The "foist" M-7s began arriving in 2002. 24 years ago.

Think of how much electric rail car technology (subway and commuer rail) has changed in nearly 25 tears...........

"NYO"]

["M-7"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

Not just with the "BINO's" and "rolling iPads," now cars owned by the "Em-Tee-Yay" are catching fire too:

https://thesource.com/2026/05/20/car-erupts-into-massive-fireball-near-wall-streets-merrill-lynch-bull/

One wonders to what extent batteries played a part in that ball o' fire.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.

It is ironic indeed that such "clean air" technology is rife with so many hazards.

Even more ironic is when you consider how many street railways over a century ago, operated (or experimented with) battery-powered streetcars.

TARS, you will recall, once operated a fleet of battery cars; the batteries were located under the seats.

The entire fleet had to have their batteries re-charged each evening prior to the next day's runs.

Also, "NEW YORK RAILWAYS" operated a fleet of low-slung, center entrance, battery cars.............

"NYO"

["THIRD AVENUE RAILWAY SYSTEM"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Battery trains for the "El-Eye-Double-Are"...........

https://railwaynews.net/lirrs-battery-electric-rail-revolution-a-case-study.html

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Just my opinion.........

Of the "El-Eye-Double-Are" is looking to expand electrification, I am 100% behind THIRD RAIL only.

IMHO,"main line" battery operation would be far less efficient (as well as less SAFE) tan conventional "toid" rail.

I am NOT in support of ANY battery-powered transit vehicle, be it running on rubber tires or steel wheels.

Might I suggest a new moniker for battery-powered transit vehicles:

"'RTBs": ("Are-Tee-Bees") "Rolling Tine Bombs"

The (linked) article on battery-powered LIRR trains did NOT impress me in the least, interesting as it was........

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Speaking of battery-powered streetcars, PSNJ never experimented with such cars; recall, also, there were quite a few street railways that also experimented with cars operating via compressed air, as well as early gasoline engines...........

["NYO"]

["PLEASE HAVE FARE READY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Interesting:

In the "IMAGES OF RAIL" book on the LIRR's Port Washington Branch, there are several vintage platform-level photos of the Murray Hill station.

I was quickly reminded of the BRT's then-new Sea Beach/Brighton line open-cut stations (the LIRR station dated to 1914, which would have put these stations in the same time frame)

Be interesting to know if the architect/designers were the same for the BRT and LIRR's Murray Hill station (no pphotoss on nycsubway.org).............

"NYO"

["BRT"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Twilight of the "Fordy-Six".........

These now-classic cars are now only used on the Q, N, W, and Rockaway Park shuttles.

332 are still on the active roster (not counting those in storage)

All are scheduled to be retired by the end of the year.

Another era in "Noo Yawk"transit is now drawing to a close.....

"NYO"

["Q"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Back in th eearly 80s, I mos tremember the "44s/46s"on the "A: and the "E".

Even then, Your's Truly was a DIE-HARD "Thunderboid" ("Arten") fan.....NEVER thinking that those "new" cars would one day be "old" themselves", and themselves be regarded as "classics".

Time indeed flies........TOO dast.....


"NYO"

[W.B. Fishbowl]

Yesterday, meanwhile, was the 95th anniversary of the open of the last legs of the original BMT network: the Fulton and Broad Street stations of what would come to be called the Nassau Street loop, and the Eighth Avenue terminus of the 14th Street-Canarsie line. All three, when opened, and for the first six decades or so, were built to resemble stations of the yet-to-open "Independent" system. Photos of the first two are scarcer than hen's teeth, but the last are pretty plentiful:

'FULTN' Street:
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?4477
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?3028

Broad Street:
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?40169

Eighth Avenue:
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1461
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?5588
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2986
https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?6467

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

Sadly, the looks of those stations were ruined immensely when such tilework was removed to give them a retro-BMT appearance.

Oh, and also on May 30, 1931, the side platforms of the Chambers Street station were taken out of "soivice" - prefiguring the long decay of that once-important hub.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.

Thanks for these nostalgic views; how I muss the days of "double letter" train designations (my personal faves were the "AA", "CC", and "GG")

Ever notice, in somany of the nycsubway.org station photos, that many neglected stations were disfigyred by large patches of missing tilework,in later uears?

Amazing how many years went by, before thesewere either repaired or replaced.

The hideous "refrigerator tile"of the 70s wsas indeed a n insult to the handsome tilework of decades back..........

"NYO"

["BMT LINES"]