BusTalk

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:32 pm Post subject:

In my collection, I have a HUGE 4104, that, clearly, was purchased at either a GREYHOUND station and/or Post House in Pennsylvania, back in the 1950's.

I've seen other similar toy buses that simply are lettered "GREYHOUND"; the one I have has "PENNSYLVANIA LINES" above the windows, and carries the number "#C 1451".

My bus is a little time-worn, but still a VERY impressive relic of a long-ago era...... Wink

"NYO"

["PENNSYLVANIA GREYHOUND LINES"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:36 pm Post subject:

Historic GREYHOUND stations in Ohio (excellent selection of photos, here)......

https://www.roadarch.com/bus/oh.html

["CLEVELAND"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:38 pm Post subject:

More historic GREYHOUND stations; these hail from Florida......

https://www.roadarch.com/bus/fl.html

["JACKSONVILLE"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2022 12:01 am Post subject:

Earlier, I'd mentioned the large-sized (over a foot long) friction GREYHOUND 4104 that is lettered "PENNSYLVANIA LINES".

This is the same bus that I have in my collection, except that the one seen here does not have the "PENNSYLVANIA LINES" lettering.

This is a VERY rare piece, one that I am QUITE fortunate to have! Wink

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/overland-greyhound-bus-tin-friction-toy-original-box-yonezawa--729231364666143947/

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 11:30 am Post subject:

By the 1970's, toy buses (especially tin litho) were becoming more and more scarce in the stores; however, you COULD, still find some really nice plastic and die-cast 'Hounds out there, at least for a while.

This plastic "AMERICRUISER"* brings to my mind classic-era Glen Campbell tunes....... Wink

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/540572761524923208/

["GENTLE ON MY MIND"]

*Yes, I have a few of these in my archives.... Wink

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 11:39 am Post subject:

Here is another classic toy 'Hound from the 70's.

This bus came in two liveries:

"GREYHOUND" (as seen here), and, also, "TOUR BUS".

I have examples of both in my collection today; even 1970's plastic GREYHOUND buses like this one have become quite collectible in recent years.........

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/61291244918293564/

["SEE AMERICA BY GREYHOUND!"

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 9:18 am Post subject:

Back in the later 1930's and into the 1940's, famed tin-toy maker MARX even offered a GREYHOUND bus terminal.

The basic "building" was also used as a "generic" bus terminal (I have one of these today) as well as a railroad station (I use mine for small windup tin-litho buses!) and an airport.

(The non-Greyhound terminal I have is lettered "BUS TERMINAL" and "NEW YORK-CHICAGO"

I hope to, one day, add the elusive (and VERY collectible!) GREYHOUND version to my collection, some day.

I use mine in conjunction with several small tin friction and wind-up GREYHOUNDS,,,,,,sure makes for a nice little display, just on its own...... Wink

"NYO:

["IT'S SUCH A COMFORT TO TAKE THE BUS"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 9:30 am Post subject:

On this page (down the page a bit) is the Marx GREYHOUND bus station which I just mentioned; oddly enough, the two buses that originally came with it were very "cheap"-looking (almost crude, and were not even tin litho) and, most certainly NOT up to the high standards that MARX was famous for, in its famed line of colorful lithographed toys.

The station itself, is a GEM! Very Happy

Note the wide variety of tin litho GREYHOUND (and others, including TRAILWAYS!) buses one available (I thankfully have many in my collection today)

Top row, right; the bus on the bottom of the photo is the one I mentioned that I have that clearly was inspired by a GARWOOD (at least the front!)

This bus also came lettered for TRAILWAYS....BUT.....STILL carried the "running dog"!

AMAZING the incredible variety of toy buses that were available through the 1960's!

"NYO"

https://www.marks4antiques.com/price-guides/toy-greyhound-tin-bus.htm

["ATLANTIC GREYHOUND"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 4:13 pm Post subject:

Here is another photo of the nifty little 1930's Marx GREYHOUND bus station, here seen with a CORGI Yellow 743..... Wink

www.toys-n-cars.com/images/marxbusset.JPG

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 4:17 pm Post subject:

For comparison, here is the "generic" MARX bus station, which I have; the small early 1960's wind-up buses I use with mine really look "at home"! Wink

www.toys-n-cars.com/images/msmbussta1.JPG

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2022 12:40 am Post subject:

As is quite obvious from the links I have posted, there was no shortage of toy buses in the 1950's and 1960's; the variations were, literally, mind-boggling.

I STILL come across tin litho buses from those days that I have not seen previously.

Though many TRAILWAYS buses were available during that era, GREYHOUND, by far, dominated the (highway coach) tin-bus market, back in the long-ago days when postwar tin toy production from Japan was at its peak.

This, I feel, truly and emphatically proves just how iconic GREYHOUND was, 60-odd years ago...... Wink

"NYO"

["GO GREYHOUND-AND LEAVE THE DRIVING TO US!"]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2022 9:06 am Post subject:

Dating way, way back to the early 1960's, this HUGE battery-operated 4104 (GREYHOUND, of course!) was an impressive toy, back in the day (and, might I add, still is!) Wink

CRAGSTAN (in the 1960's, a VERY big tin-litho toy maker) also offered this same coach as a "SCHOOL BUS" (imaging riding a 4104 to high school?) Very Happy

I have two of these big GREYHOUNDS, and, also one of the "SCHOOL BUS" versions" (since at least 19621) Wink

On the GREYHOUND version of this wonderful old, the door opens automatically to reveal a "hostess"! Very Happy

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/729231364639623240/

["GREYHOUND: A MILLION MILES A DAY:]

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 9:29 pm Post subject:

The name "SCENICRUISER" indeed had to have strong, prestigious appeal of "American prosperity" to Japanese toy makers, back in the late 1950's and 1960's.

I cannot even begin to count how many tin GREYHOUND buses (toy buses that, clearly, were patterned after IC-41's, 4014's, and 4106's) that carry "SCENICRUISER" lettering on their sides.

"It's all in the NAME", I would imagine...... Wink

"NYO"

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:25 pm Post subject:

It's also interesting to think of what might have happened, had WW2 not intervened, regarding advanced GREYHOUND bus development.

Might the basic "SCENICRUISER" concept arrived a decade or so earlier, had it not been for the War

One only has to look at the "ahead of their time" PICKWICK sleeper coaches, and split-level KENWORTH coaches, to see that, already, highway-coach development was already beginning to move away from the basic single-level concept......

"NYO"

NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 · Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:50 pm Post subject:

Scroll down the page for an interesting collection of vintage FAGEOL buses (city, highway, etc., including a few interesting "parlor observation" buses)

VERY interesting variety of 1920's-era buses and coaches here......

www.coachbuilt.com/bui/f/fageol/fageol.htm

["BLUE GOOSE"]
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's an interesting page on "Tri-Coach"; note the few SCENICRUISER "ancestors".

Again, it makes you wonder just what might have been hitting the highways, a decade before the SCENICRUISER debuted, had it not been for WW2......

www.coachbuilt.com/bui/t/tricoach/tricoach.htm

["TRI-COACH"]