BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:


Just came across this page....enjoy!

"NYO"

https://www.redreporter.com/2015/1/27/7924501/negro-leagues-baseball-flxible-coaches

[traildriver]

NYO--
Back in 1968, when I went to work for Trailways, as soon as my probationary period was over, I received my annual bus pass. This opened a whole new world to me, age 20. I promptly started taking weekly trips on my two rest days, each week to a new 'exciting' destination. One of my very first longer trips was to the Flxible plant in Loudonville, depicted in those photo's.
I had previously written to the general manager, requesting a tour, so when I got there, I went with his invitation in hand, and got a very welcoming and thorough personal tour, which ended with new bus brochures and 8x10 glossy factory photo's....

I later did the same at the GMC Truck and Coach plant at Pontiac, and later still, at the Eagle International plant at Brownsville, I never did get to the MCI plant at Pembina or Winnipeg, but did get to the TMC plant at Roswell, NM. Also, the Neoplan plant at Lamar, Co.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Might I say that "The Gods" were indeed QUITE kind to you, throughout your years??

Indeed, you MORE than live up to your handle here, "traildriver"!

I would have loved to have been with you on that tour of the FLXIBLE plant (and the other plants as well!), and, like you, walked away with some neat goodies!

I've loved Clippers, Visicoaches, and Airporters since I was a kid; I never got to ride one, but I do clearly remember in charter service, and, also, seeing them in "regular" service in our trips to Canada (1966 and 1973)

As a VERY little shaver, I gave these sleek and distinctive buses nicknames "Fat Backs" and "buses With no windows in the back" (I STILL use these self-appointed monikers today!)

While on the subject of Flexies, I'm curious just how many GREYHOUND had in their fleet over the years; I do know that NORTHLAND GREYHOUND and DIXIE GREYHOUND LINES, offhand, operated them (NORTHLAND's had the retractable rear wheels for winter use in Minnesota)

(I would have LOVED to have seen a "STARLINER" in GREYHOUND livery!)

TRAILWAYS, and affiliates, indeed, clearly liked the FLXIBLE.......

NATIONAL TRAILWAYS

BLUEWAY TRAILWAYS

TRI-STATE COACHES (Shreveport, Louisiana)

TRI-STATE TRAILWAYS (S. Dakota)

PANHANDLE TRAILWAYS

CENTRAL TRAILWAYS

CRESCENT TRAILWAYS

QUEEN CITY TRAILWAYS

On a sidenote, I guess it is true that "imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery", when CANADIAN CAR-BRILL rolled out the sleek "VOYAGEUR", which was a virtual twin of the Flexies of that era........

"NYO"

[traildriver]

NYO--
Yes, looking back, I have certainly had a most interesting and enjoyable career in various forms of transportation over some six decades...
It is great when your avocation and vocation can be as one...
I never got 'rich' financially, but money isn't everything, and enjoying and looking forward to going to work certainly has its rewards...

*

Re: Flxible...I first rode in a Vista-Liner belonging to "Singerman Bus Corp.", on a school charter in around 1957 or so. It was the pride and joy of its owner, Walter, who owned a small fleet of mostly second hand former Greyhound Supercoaches and Silverliner's. He drove the VL, personally. I remember how smoothly its Torsilastic suspension rode, especially compared to the steel spring GMC's,

Later, when going to JHS, on Main Street in Flushing, we used to see Carey Visicoaches on their route from Idlewild to LaGuardia Airports, before the Van Wyck Expressway extension was built for the World's Fair.

My next exposure to Flexes, was when on weekend pass from Chanute AFB to Chicago in the mid-sixties...
Continental Air Transport (no relation to CAL), was loyal to Flxible, right to the end of production, and had an all-Flxible fleet of Visicoaches and the last model made, the Flxiliner. They were then forced to buy elswhere, and bought their first MC-5B's in the early '70's.

Then...when I went to work for Continental Trailways in Denver in 1974
their storage lot across from the garage at 2450 Curtis Street, was loaded with ancient Eagles, and other "rare birds", like the Kassbohrer articulated "Galenke's", and an assortment of Flxible Vista Liner's, and the next generation Flxible "Hi_Level's"...which Continental called: "Clipper Eagles's"...also GMC PD-4104's.
It was a veritable Trailways museum, to my delight when I first saw it.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

You, my trail-blazin' friend, have, literally "SEEN IT ALL" (or, at least, a good chunk of it!)

When my folks and I first visited Canada (Niagara Falls) in 1966, I remember seeing a number of old Flexies (I remember both Clippers and Visicoaches)

When Mom and I were looking at the buses at the UNION BUS TERMINAL, one driver (of a Flex!) noticed my interest, and showed my Mom and I his bus (I remember bus being green and white), talking about the rear luggage compartment, the air scoop, and a lot of other interesting things (I was thrilled, to say the least!)

He was dressed as you might expect the "Bus Pilots Of Olde", full uniform AND a cap with a badge....truly of the "old school", but, back then, most of the old veterans still were!

A true gentleman!

My folks and I also rode one of the ex-LT "RT" double deckers of "Double Deck Tours" (Mom took a photo of me with that classic London relic, which I really treasure, as it is the ONLY childhood photo I have of me with a bus!)

Mom bought me a plastic friction double decker, with stickers affixed for the sightseeing company; I still have it, of course, as well as a postcard and souvenier ticket!

During our '73 trip, Mom and I took a ride on one of the old BRILLS they were still running in Montreal (at that time, it had to have been at least six or seven years since we had ridden on a BRILL)

Snapped a few pictures in Albany (lunch stop, first day out), and, also Ottawa (and, of course, Montreal)

I bought a DINKY London "Red Arrow" bus in a small shop in Montreal, and, at a rest stop whose "tourist shop" was LOADED with "new old stock", I picked up a few little wind-up tin litho sightseeing buses, for 59 cents each! (yup, I STILL have them today!)

They had to be at least ten years old, even then!

I also grabbed up (at a dusty little "hole in the wall" shop at Niagara Falls) a small tin friction GREYHOUND 4106, with "NIAGARA FALLS" stamped on the top (paid less than a dollar, I remember!)

On this '73 trip, our "travel package" was via "PARKER TOURS"; however, our bus (a "Buffalo) was lettered "CASSER TOURS" (somewhere, I have a photo of that bus at Albany, during our lunch stop)

Though my folks and I boarded the bus in Manhattan, coming home, we got off at the little TRAILWAYS depot on 32nd St. in Union City, where my brother picked us up to take us back home to West Orange, where we were still living.

We moved "back east" in 1974.

Ahhh, the good ol' days.......

"NYO"

[traildriver]

Ahhh Casser Tours...weren't they related to Manhattan Transit, or Red and Tan, somehow?

Any way, I used to 'drool' over the Casser Tours full brochure. Their ultimate tour they called "America On Wheels", which took a full month to complete. It started in NY, and toured the whole USA, most of the popular national parks, and major cities from coast to coast, on different routes going and coming.
I believe it may have been "all inclusive", including most meals, hotels, and sightseeing. the fare was for me a prohibitive $700 pp, double occupancy, with a surcharge for singles. Not really bad, considering... about $23. per day per person for all of that...

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

I think you are on the right wavelength, here, on this one; I'm pretty sure that CASSER TOURS had "family connections" with R&T and MANHATTAN TRANSIT, long ago.

In fact, there was a ticket office/travel bureau on Bulls Ferry Rd., in North Bergen, right near Nungessers, back in the 70's.

I'm pretty sure this office had a "MANHATTAN LINES" sign on it, from what I can remember.

At that time, "MANHATTAN LINES" buses to and from PABT loaded/unloaded at stops on both sides of the street, as well as PS/TNJ's #165 and #166.

I do not even know if that "ticket office" even exists today; I have not been down that area for over 15 years, even though I only live five minutes away.........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Speaking of "family connections" and "affiliates", of years back.....

Here in this 1981 photo, we see an "ARROW TRAILWAYS" Fishbowl, displaying a roller curtain for the "#32 NUTLEY", just out of the Lincoln Tunnel (this route was/is a DE CAMP route for decades).........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?3760

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

traildriver:

Any clue as to why an "ARROW" bus was operating on a DE CAMP route?

This one has me puzzled, especially since I know that DE CAMP was not into the second-hand bus market (AFAIK)..........

""NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"RED & TAN" was always closely associated with the "Boulevard" buses in Hudson County; at the same location as the previous photo, here is a R&T Fishbowl (in new paint) signed for the "#5"; the "#5" was a long-established NHBL route (JSQ-PABT) that ran right by our old apartment building in Union City when I was a kid, which Mom and I rode often, back in the day.........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1514

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

You made me think of a photo in the old book that I have had for many years, "AMERICAN BUSES", David Jacobs, 1985) Showing an EAGLE (no markings, except for the ward "EAGLE" on the sides, displaying a sign for "AMBOY ROAD".

The caption only stated that the bus ("Boyd's", somewhere in Manhattan) was "running on a local route" only"......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Are you at all familiar with 'BLUE BIRD COACH LINES, INC."?

There is an excellent article in the July, 1998 issue of "BUS WORLD", with some great photos; one photo shows two company officials accepting ownership for two new 4106's, which the company was going to use for their 1964 "WORLD'S FAIR TOURS".

One of the vintage photos shows a handsome 1946 GMC parlor coach, displaying over its windows the towns and cities served by the company:

BUFFALO

OLEAN

SYRACUSE

NIAGARA FALLS

ROCHESTER

ERIE (PA)

CLEVELAND (Ohio)

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Regarding "BLUE BIRD" (from aforeentioned "BUS WORLD" article):

".......in March, COACH USA, Inc., the country's largest consolidator of motorcoach services, finalized the purchase of BLUE BIRD......."


Like DE CAMP, BLUE BIRD had been a "family bus company" for many decades.

There was also a modern photo in this 1998 article, showing a then-current BLUE BIRD coach with a CUNARD cruise ship docked in the background.

The photo caption states: ".....BLUE BIRD WORLD TRAVEL arranges countless tours, including, transportation by bus, sea, and air......"

"NYO"

[traildriver]

NYO--

I don't recall much about Arrow except that they were based I beleive, in Clifton...and they ran some local route(s) out that way.

As for Blue Bird--sure I recall them...
They took over some old Greyhound local routes in Western New York. They were based in Olean. They used to connect with the two daily Short Line (Hudson Transit) trips from New York City to Olean, on to Jamestown. One of those trips ran all the way to Erie, Pa. They did serve Buffalo, but I don't believe they ever ran to Cleveland, or Syracuse, the owner was Lou Magnano.

I knew a driver that used to work for him. He stated that the company put all its money into buying new buses, and found driver's that would enjoy driving them, but were among the lowest paid in the business...obviously, non-union.
He claimed that Mr. Magnano once asked him, how would he and his wife like a free trip to Florida? When he said, they would, Mr. Magnano said fine--you will drive a tour down there, and you and your wife can go free...