BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

3rd Avenue El, 42nd St., 1955 (note the two new '55 Chevy cabs)

Here we have two SURFACE buses on the right (a MACK and an Old Look)........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?75749

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["RIDE THE SURFACE WAY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a VERY wintry scene at 3rd Avenue & 53rd, back in 1947 (Baby, it's COLD outside!)

Note SURFACE bus under the El........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?142871

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["IRT LINES"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Yup, that "new bus sheen" on the "Sherman", and the new '55 Chevy cabs both helped to date this pic to 1955, which, of course, was the same year that the El closed in Manhattan.

As SURFACE buses replaced TARS streetcars, I, every so often, picture the replacement buses being operated by "TABS" (Third Avenue Bus System).

Too, as there are, of course, books out on TARS, I STILL am hoping that, some day, at least ONE good book (photos, maps, facilities, history, etc.) will be published on SURFACE (and, IF such a book WERE to ever appear, let's indeed hope that there are some good photos of the Fishbowls within its pages!)

(imagine SURFACE running "Dangerfields" with "RIDE THE SURFACE WAY" emblazoned over the windows?

"NYO"

["RIDE THE SURFACE WAY"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Though I was quite young, I still well recall buses emblazoned with "RIDE THE SURFACE WAY" on 42nd St. (back then, my godmother worked in an office over near the UN, and Mom and I would ride on over to visit her at work, after getting off of a NHBL #5 from Union City, at the "Port-of-Authority")

So far as MaBSTOA buses, the distinctive "buses with the sign that sticks out in the front" always come to my mind, first and foremost.

Getting back to FACL, one cannot help but wonder what MIGHT have transpired, had the 1962 strike not taken place.

Might FACL survived at least some more years as an "indy" company?

Of course, we can only speculate, over 60 years later.....

"NYO"

["FACL"]

[MaBSTOA 15]

I believe a reference was made to the Second Avenue El and its crossing to Queens via the Queensboro Bridge.

The following photos are from the ERA publications "The Tracks of New York" by Alan Paul Kahn and Jack May.

Volume 1, Metropolitan Street Railway 1907 (published in 1973)
Volume 2, Brooklyn Elevated Railroad 1910 (published 1975)
Volume 3, Manhattan & Bronx Elevated Railroad 1920 (published 1976)

[MaBSTOA 15]

and here is the Queens side of the EL

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

MaBSTOA 15:

If only we could travel back through the decades and actually SEE, HEAR, and RIDE those complex, spindly, complicated El lines and their antiqued rolling stock!!!

THANK YOU for taking the time to post these wonderful and fascinating items!

"NYO"

["RIDE THE OPEN AIR El"]

[traildriver]

Yes! Thanks from me, as well…absolutely splendid photos!

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

Speaking of "end of an era," this is the fourth anniversary of the very last RTS bus ride of which I was a part, on the M55 bus from 44th and 6th to Rector Street, in the late morning of May 6, 2019. Who knew back when the first MaBSTOA and 'Tee-Yay' RTS' were first put into service in 1981, that its years of service would outlast both the Fishbowls (36 years - 1959-1995) and Old Looks a.k.a. 'Shermans' (32 years - 1941-1973)?

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Today marks the 140th birthday of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge (Many Happy Returns!)

At first, cable-hauled trains crossed the span, later replaced by a complex ganglia of rumbling elevated trains and clattering streetcars.

The El trains stopped crossing the majestic span in 1944; the B&QT streetcars six years later, in 1950.

Today, there is no longer any public transportation over the Bridge.

These historic photos will serve to remind us of the days when the Bridge, literally, "hummed" with electric rail transit.........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?140768

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?140728

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?116298

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?52468

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?113235

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?132316

["68 PARK ROW"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

The only time buses ever went over the Brooklyn Bridge was when a parade of vintage buses were brought out in commemoration of the Bridge's 100th anniversary in 1983, as evidenced below (in the background is the Watchtower building, flashing the temperature on the huge Time-O-Matic "Time-O-Temp" display atop the building):

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

GREAT photo, for certain....I WELL recall the day that the BB turned 100; I was then working not far away on Wall Street (riding an El train or a streetcar over the historic span would have been the IDEAL way to celebrate!)

How ironic that none of those historic buses ever crossed the BB in revenue service.........

"NYO"

["BoT"]