BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Thanks for your input, as always!

Sad that the old Transbay Terminal could not have been declared a landmark and retained, instead of being replaced with the hideous new structure that now serves the buses (it MUST be against the law, nowadays, to design a transit facility that doesn't look like it was designed by someone coming off a particulary bad LSD trip, after attending an Alice Cooper concert)

So much for "style"......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

In this latter-day view of the old Transbay Terminal, note the modern "Hounds" in the background; this photo appears to have been taken not long before the facility closed......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spicoli_drives_a_bus/5578926514/

["GO GREYHOUND"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Recall, also, the ex-TRAILWAYS articulated EAGLE coaches used by AC TRANSIT, out of the Transbay Terminal; these huge buses were dubbed "highway trains" (it's easy to see why!)

With the passing of the old KEY SYSTEM "Bridge Units" in 1958, these unique buses "carried on the tradition", so to speak, of articulated units using the Transbay Terminal.......

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/121597258667601826/

["AC TRANSIT"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Memories and reminisces (w/photos) of the old Transbay Terminal......

https://tjpa.org/project/terminal-history/memories-of-the-transbay-terminal

["AC TRANSIT"]

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Appreciate this info!

In the older photos, where SCENICRUISERS were seen loading at the platforms at the old Transbay Terminal, I'm curious if these buses were holding down interstate or intrastate runs (or both?)

"NYO"

["WESTERN GREYHOUND LINES"]

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Traildriver:

Thanksl I see I was on the right track, here!

I have several CORGI Greyhound Old Looks with the following front signs:

E OAKLAND

M SAN FRANCISCO

MPLS. MOUND (no letter designation)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From "OLD LOOK BUSES" (Luke/Metler):

One photo shows a TD-4502 (YELLOW) delivered to GREYHOUND in 1940.

Bus is signed:

K MILL VALLEY

(Mill Valley was served, until the early 1940's, by NWP's electric trains)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In "NEW LOOK BUSES" (McKane/Squier) a Fishbowl is signed:

C SF-7th ST.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A CORGI Fishbowl I have is signed:

G PALO ALTO

(this was another area served by the NWP's MU trains until 1941)

"NYO"

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Yes, you are correct!

Interestingly, after the NWP's electric trains stopped running in 1941, the four remaining main-line steam trains continued to operate into the Sausalito terminal.

However, as the connecting ferryboats shut down on the same day that electric train service ended, service into San Francisco was provided by PACIFIC GREYHOUND buses.

After the Sausalito terminal closed altogether, bus connections for San Francisco-bound passengers were made at San Rafael......

"NYO"

[PACIFIC GREYHOUND"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

NWP electric service to Mill Valley ended in September, 1940, one year before all NWP electric train service was abandoned.

PACIFIC GREYHOUND buses now provided service into San Francisco, with the old NWP station house now used by bus commuters......

"NYO"

["SAN FRANCISCO VIA SAUSALITO"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Back to Staten Island......

Though investigations are still underway to determine the cause of the engine room fire that disabled the "SANDY GROUND" a few weeks back, the most probable cause (from what I just read) was caused by a fuel line leak.......

"NYO"

["DEPARTMENT OF MARINE & AVIATION"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

New York Harbor/San Francisco Bay ferries........

All of the NY Harbor railroad boats carried vehicles as well as foot passengers.

The earliest of the "ELECTRIC FERRIES" were designed as vehicular ferries only, but, in most cases, had cabins installed on the upper deck for foot passengers.

The overwhelming majority of privately-owned ferries in New York also carried vehicles.

The SI Ferry carried vehicles from its earliesat double-ended days, until after 9/11.

In San Francisco, the ESPEE ferries that operated out of the Ferry Building were used by railroad passengers; no vehicles were carried; however, the ESPEE did operate vehicular ferries from slips adjacent to the Ferry Building until 1956.

This final auto-ferry route was the very last vestige of the ESPEE's "GOLDEN GATE fERRIES", a busy transbay network which shut down in the late 1930's, after the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges opened.

Neither the KEY SYSTEM nor the NWP boats (originally) carried autos (very early in the NWP's history, autos WERE carried from time to time, but this practice soon ended)

However, the NWP, in the 1920's, DID start up dedicated auto-ferry service from Sausalito, using modern, steel diesel-electric boats.

KEY ferries, as noted, never carried vehicles; there were no facilities to handle vehicles at the KEY ferry pier, which only served ferries and the connecting electric trains.

Here, in NY Harbor, the only ferry that still carries vehicles, is the crossing to Governors Island*..........

"NYO"

["GOLDEN GATE FERRIES"]

*The other lone exception (in NY Harbor) would be the ferry serving "Potter's Field" on Hart Island; AFAIK, the "MICHAEL COSSGROVE" (1961) was the only boat running this non-public crossing.

This boat was basically an updated version of the old "SUNRISE FERRIES" open-deck boats.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is the "MICHAEL COSGROVE" (1961).

It is easy to picture small boats like this still running between Tottenville and Perth Amboy, or Bayonne and Port Richmond.......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jag9889/3528619729

["CITY OF NEW YORK"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is an excellent page (w/many photos) of Staten Island ferryboats through the decades (MUCH nostalgia, here!)

Quite a few boats here I well recall from my much, much younger years; a LOT of happy, wonderful memories, for certain!

Many, many changes throughout the years........

https://www.silive.com/news/2016/04/the_staten_island_ferry_boats.html