BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Recall, also, FACCo Old Look #2500, operating as a demo in Brooklyn in 1948.

The bus was a TD-5501 (YELLOW) built in 1940; while in Brooklyn, it ran on the "B47/TOMPKINS" route.

Interestingly, the bus was shortened in 1947 by GM, and re-classified a TD-5401......

"NYO"

["FACCo"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

Now as to the R-44 and its varying history between the NYC subways and the SIRT.

When they were first introduced on our subways, the Old Looks were still on the road, though those with the protruding front signs as on 1958-59 FACL and ST rolling stock were living out their days in the poorer sections of Brooklyn, and the 1957 and '58 'Tee-Yay' Old Looks were likewise winding down. All had been off the streets by the time the SI R-44's first rode the rails in what, at that time, was still the Borough of Richmond (of course, they truly missed, by some years, the Macks). When both were first put in service, the Fishbowls were kings of the road, with Dangerfields not far behind. As the years went on, there were the 'Borough Bombers', on-loan WMATA's, RTS's, and what is not-so-affectionately known round here as oversized milk cartons, computerized caterpillars, and multi-wheeled Slinkies (the so-called "artics"). It is frightening to think that the SIRT R-44's have actually outlived the RTS's (though those old reliables were still on the road when the R-44's that ran on our subways were retired).

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Yes, indeed....so many changes to the "Noo Yawk" transit picture since the days of the R-44's (both subway and SIRT)

Remember, too that the SIRT R-44's have outlasted not only the "Redbirds" and the "Brightliners", they have also outlasted any and all RFW-equipped rolling stock in the subways.

Too, all of the original PATH "PA" equipment.

They have all outlasted the "KENNEDY"-class boats on the Staten Island Ferry

THE SIRT 44's have also outlasted the carfloat operations that had ferried them over from ex-Erie Lackawanna rails in New Jersey over to the "Em-Tee-Yay (the yards themselves vanished many years ago)

I cannot believe it is now well over 25 years since the last Fishbowls and "Dangerfields" have disappeared. and, already, several years since the RTS left us.

To be perfectly honest, I never pictured the SIRT 44's lasting this long in service.....

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a couple of "Joisey" Fishbowls serving Staten Island, long, long ago......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155292 *(note sedan door)

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155296

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["HYLAN BLVD"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Check out this DOMENICO Fishbowl at the 30th St. Station in Philly (obviously on a fantrip or charter) signed for "BROOKLYN", back in 1975.

It would seem that, given the "BROOKLYN" reading on the roller curtain, that this bus MIGHT have been just a wee bit off the regular route.....

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155291

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["BROOKLYN"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

......am curious as to where DOMENICO ran in Brooklyn, and where the last/first stop was located (and when did service end?)......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"PORT AUTHORITY" (1977)........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155294

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["DOMENICO BUS SERVICE, INC."]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Trinity & Rector, 1976.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155290

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

DE CAMP serving Staten Island? (from "MOTOR COACH AGE", 1978)......

".......in 1935, a subsidiary company was organized in New York to bid on new Staten Island bus routes, mapped out by the Transit Commission, which was interested in attracting to the thinly-populated borough a bus operator with more substantial financial resources than Tompkins Bus Corp possessed......"

".......the new subsidiary, De Camp Coach Corporation, ordered 20 WHITE 684's, and bid on the best of the eight proposed routes. The Board of Estimate awareded a franchise to De Camp, but the Transit Commission wanted all eight routes included, and did not find De Camp financially capable of undertaking their operation. The franchise was cancelled, and the new buses never delivered......"

"NYO"

["STATEN ISLAND"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

.......anyone have any info on the aforementioned TOMPKINS BUS CORPORATION?

I found it most interesting to see that there might have been a "connection" with DE CAMP, back in the 1930's..........

"NYO"

["DE CAMP"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

......another old Staten Island company was briefly mentioned in ""NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT SYSTEM: BUS & TROLLEY COACH FLEET" (Greller)

This was ISLE TRANSPORTATION CO., a short-lived employee-owned company that had taken over STATEN ISLAND COACH.

The one photo shows a WHITE 798..................

"NYO"

["NEW YORK FERRY"]

[X-Astorian]