BusTalk

[W.B. Fishbowl]

And speaking of nothing in particular, here's a drawing I once did in colored pencil. You may know the two individuals therein:

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In just a few more days, it will be October 31st; this will mark the 67th year that streetcars last ran in Brooklyn.

Except for those Brooklynites who were then either young children or young adults, anyone else who knew the cars, have, sadly, long since passed away.

Indeed the proud men who operated the cars (and, also, those men who maintained them) have long, long since retired to that big car house in the sky.

One cannot help but wonder, if Mayor "Fee-oh-Rello"(sworn enemy of streetcars and elevateds) had not been in office at the time when the new PCC's first debuted on B&QT rails in 1936, MIGHT have streetcars in Brooklyn survived, perhaps, into the 1960's (or, possibly, the 1970's?)

Think of Philly, Boston, Pittsburgh, and 'Frisco.

The new St.Louis-built trolleybuses barely lasted a decade in service before the plug was pulled in 1960.

Today, with most modern "trolleys" being soulless, elongated, slithering, electric eels, I, realistically, cannot see any sort of electric rail vehicle running on the streets of Brooklyn.

Trolleybuses?

Perhaps. (After all, they still run in Philly, Dayton, and San Francisco; Boston's "T" foolishly scrapped their Cambridge trolleybus lines a few years back)

In 1950, B&QT's ties to Manhattan ended when all streetcar service over the Brooklyn Bridge ceased (oddly, no replacement bus services; BMT el trains stopped crossing the span in 1944)

Two B&QT PCC's survive today, as well as several other pieces of assorted rolling stock.

For the most part, however, few vestiges of what was once a complex and grand streetcar network no longer exist..............

"NYO"

["FLATBUSH"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"END OF THE LINE"(October, 1956)

www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bqt736.htm

["1039"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

Rather interesting that it was on Halloween that such service ended, no?

I know LaGuardia was of the opinion that streetcars were a relic of the Stone Age or some equivalent thereof, but didn't he also have some stake in any of the entities (GM/Yellow, Phillips Petroleum, Goodyear Tire, etc.) that were pushing for "bustitutions"?

It should also be noted that the end of streetcar service in Brooklyn was nearly two months before Federal Judge Edward J. Dimock gave the okay (on Dec. 17, 1956) for Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Inc. to acquire Third Avenue Transit and its Surface Transportation subsidiary, and reorganize the whole schleboodle as Surface Transit, Inc. Such end in Brooklyn also came one day short of five months after New York City Omnibus' corporate name was changed to FACL. So, in a sense, 1956 was (but not as dramatically) a watershed year in surface transportation (as opposed to the entity of the same name) in the "Noo Yawk" area as 1962 would be.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

The following is from "BROOKLYN TROLLEYS" (Greller/Watson).......

".......the B&QT had the opportunity to puchase an additional 500 PCC cars, with the government financing 80% of the purchase. This purchase was stopped because Mayor LaGuardia decided not to include these cars in the Unification plan, and the government would be stuck for 500 PCC's......."

Interesting, too, when you consider that CLARK built one lone PCC for Brooklyn, #1000, and, also, the, for the "Bee-Em-Tee", the sleek, articulated "BLUEBIRD".

The "BLUEBIRD" was built using PCC technology, but, it seems, this technology not "suitable" for "Noo Yawk"; however, look at the CTA, and the hundreds of postwar rapid transit cars built using PCC technology (not to mention the cars that actually used parts salvaged from the CTA's almost-new PCC fleet, then being casually tossed on the scrap heap)

Ironically, much regarding PCC development took place at the sprawling, long-since demolished 9th Avenue car house................

"NYO"

["68 PARK ROW"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

B&QT PCC #1001 and the BMT's "BLUEBIRD"; CLARK's sole venture into the "Noo Yawk" transit scene........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?140622

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?128002

(courtesy:nycsubway.org)

{"CLARK"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

B&QT PCC #1010* was unique as it was the only PCC in the fleet to be equipped with an air vent over the windshields, recalling the "Sherman" Old Looks.

"1010", of course is also a long-established all-news radio station in "Noo Yawk".............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?94185

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["1010"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Brooklyn's 100 PCC's.......

Remember, that, by the end of all streetcar operations in Brooklyn (1956), not all of the original 100 car fleet was still in service.

There were cars that needed expensive electrical/body repairs that were deemed too costly, especially with the curtain coming down on the few remaining streetcar lines.

These cars simply sat idle at the cavernous 9th Avenue car house as the awaited scrapping.

Too, as delivered, all PCC's featured headlight "wings"; over the years, however, most cars lost these wings.

A few, at a later date, had them re-installed, while other cars never had them returned.......

"NYO"

["ST. LOUIS CAR COMPANY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"Wings" (no wings).........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?30887 *

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?7756

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

*The only time PCCs operated on the "Willy B" was when they were assigned to fantrips; these cars never saw regular service on the lines crossing this span.......

["DEPOT"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's one of the few photos on nycsubway.org depicting a postwar TWIN (aka "Oddball") and a B&QT PCC...........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?140718

(courtesy:nycsubway.org)

["SPECIAL"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"TIME OF TRANSITION" (McDonald near West 5th St. depot)...........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?30941

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["50 McDONALD"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

These two photos of restored B&QT PCC #1001 recall the days when some Brooklyn streetcars were equipped with "nickle-in-the-slot" turnstiles, up front........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?66464

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?66465

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["B&QT"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In the B&QT streetcar fleet, both the double-ended Peter Witts (8000's) and the single-ended 6000's were also equipped with entrance turnstiles..........

"NYO"

["DE KALB""]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

When this timeless photo was snapped, PCC's would not be running in Brooklyn for not all that much longer.

Here, we see "wingless" PCC #1068 (note dash dents) running on the #50 line, while on the right, we see a glimpse of the trackless future, a sleek, modern, diesel-powered, General Motors bus.

Indeed, the times were changing, and a long and colorful era in Brooklyn transportation would soon disappear forever..........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?7788

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["50 McDONALD"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In this gritty, work-a-day scene from 1955 Brooklyn, we see the past represented by the network of soon-to-disappear streetcar wires and overhead, while the future is here depicted by TDH-4510 #4297..........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?157006

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["BoT"]