BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

These poignant views recall that long-ago, more innocent time, when the mighty Twin Towers still gleamed and soared over the lower Manhattan skyline.

Let us never forget those who we lost on that horrific day, and let is never forget how life used to be, prior to that fateful day, 23 years ago.

I was there, and thank the Lord, I am still here to type these words.........

"NYO"

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?155866

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?154595

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1779

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?2508

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["LEST WE FORGET"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"AS WE WERE" (Fulton St. Landing, 1981)............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?153267

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["M"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"DATELINE: 1980".............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?8216

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["BRT"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

Amen to that.

I think I mentioned, I was literally conceived AT Ground Zero, in what was then "Radio Row" in its last months, and the streets in the area were prepped for being demapped to build that mammoth complex.

When I made my "Lefty-Right" film, one of the scenes was on the Manhattan Bridge - and the Twin Towers, months before they came down, were part of the scene.

The surface and rapid transit scenes were definitely overhauled over the course of the original WTC's existence.

On the "soiface":
When it was being built, the last of the "Pattons" in Manhattan as run by " 'stoa" and originally put in "soivice" under Surface were about to be retired, the "Shermans / Kramdens" were in their last few years of "soivice" to Manhattan, and the Fishbowls continued to add up (682 A/C "batwings" added in early '67). After they opened - well, through '80 it was all Fishbowls and "Dangerfields." It was while the towers were up that the final curtain came down on "The Little Red Bus That Could," with " 'stoa" taking over their two routes - and merging their M-7 express service into the X23 which stopped in the area (with one of those routes, the M8 Grand Street line, discontinued in 1988). In their short life, Grumman's "Borough Bombers" passed through the massive complex, and the "Are-Tee-Ess' " early years of "soivice" (all built under three different manufacturers - "Gee-Em," "Tee-Em-See" and Nova Bus) were under the Towers' shadow. After the first bombing (1993), the "Dangerfields" and then the Fishbowls were all retired, the "Torpedoes" were still carrying passengers to and fro - and the first of the "milk carton" type "buses" began seeing "soivice" on "Noo Yawk" streets.

Now underground . . .
Here was where the most radical changes occurred. When the ground for the Twin Towers were excavated, the "Arnines" were still carrying passengers of the "Eye-En-Dee," the R-32 and R-38 cars were the new kids on the block, and the Chrystie Street connection first opened, followed in that order by both incarnations of the R-40 ("Snoutliner" and "modified"), and then the R-42. It was as they were going up that "foist" the R-44, and then the R-46, entered "soivice." The R-68's also came onto the scene in the Towers' lifetime, the experimental R-110A and B, and apparently the R-143 was on the drawing board (the slippery slope to today's "See-Bee-Tee-See").

That was the "Bee" Division. On the "Ay"? Through 1983, all SMEE (except over on "Toid Aven-yah" in "da Bronx" up to 1969, when the pre-war cars including the '38 World's Fairs were playing out their days). It was in the Towers' first two decades that the "Eye-Are-Tee" cars of 1948-64 vintage all bore the brunt of the "graffiti" pandemic. The "Silverboids" first entered the picture in this period, and wasn't it around the time of 9/11 that we first saw the R-142 "Jeter-Bugs"?

And of course, the most radical changes involved PATH, where at the time construction began the massive Hudson Terminal terminus ('HUD. TERM' on the fronts of PA-1's and PA-2's, 'HT' above the side doors) was still opened - but shut down and deactivated, in 1971, in favor of the new antiseptic and "modern" WTC station. Up to then, the roster was all St. Louis Car handiwork - MP-51 / K's, PA-1's and PA-2's. After that, came the PA-3's from Hawker-Siddeley and then the Kawasaki PA-4's.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Another EXCELLENT commentary; GREAT information!!!!!

Cortlandt St. was served by the PRR ferries from Exchange Place until 1949, and by the boats of the NYC's West Shore line from Weehawken until 1959.

The CNJ's ornate Liberty Street terminal, right next door to the former PRR slips, closed in April of 1967; demolition, not surprisingly, began the very next day after the ferries to Jersey City stopped running.

I well recall the ferryboat mosaics at Cortland Street ("Eye-Are-Tee"), back in my childhood days; Hudson Tereminal also had ticket windows for the PRR and E-L, and, after the Aldene Plane in 1967, CNJ tickets.

As I've mentioned previously, the "joint service" "MP-52"/"K" cars were removed from the Newark line in 1967, when the PRR pulled out of the "joint service" with PATH.

The cars were repainted, and then largely relegated to rush hour service, mostly on the HOB/HT (later WTC) line; I rode these classic cars too many times to count, over the course of many years.

The E-L's ancient Barclay Street ferry terminal (closed November, 1967) sat abandoned until 1969, when it was demolished.

One of my older brothers, not long after he married in 1966, moved to a union City apartment on Palisade Avenue, with a sweeping view of the Hudson, as well as the skyline.

Early on, I could see the E-L and CNJ boats shuttling back and forth, and at night, you could lean out the window and see the glittering span of the VZ Bridge (beautiful!)

Was also exciting to watch the Twin Towers being built; I well recall watching the sinewy "kangaroo cranes" inching their way up the framework of the towers, as construction progressed!

Still remember the glittering construction lights glowing at night, as the Towers rose!

Looking down at Weehawken, I also could see the new "SeaTrain" Facility, and all its activity.

Ahhhh, those indeed WERE the days!

"NYO"

["SeaTrain"]

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Just as it was when JFK was gunned down in Dallas in November of 1963, all of us old enough to remember can still exactly revall WHERE we were when the Twin Towers were attacked.

When I think back on that terrible day, I still recall it all feeling so "surreal", like it could not possibly be happening; it was like a nightmare you could not wake up from.

A friend of mine from work (who could not get back down the shore) and I had to walk far uptown (and then back downtown again) to board a chartered dinner cruise ship at the Chelsea Piers, to reach Weehawken.

There, it was simply all chaos, and I managed to find an NJT bus (an MCI) that would take us to Nungessers.

There we boarded a #22 for home; my God, how glad I was to se home and Mom again!

NONE of us who lived through that nightmarish day will ever forget it; I still shudder when I think of the thousands who never made it home that day.

Thank God I am still here.....

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Remembering............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?41411

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1893

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24416

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?929

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["GG"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

I knew some people who considered the Twin Towers an eyesore, and compared them to boxes of Saltine crackers. A little harsh, I think; may've been an insult to Saltine boxes.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Strange, during daylight hours, they DID indeed seem to be two towering, uninspired boxes, reaching for the sky.

But, after dark, these towers were indeed transformed into something truly magical and breathtaking, truly a vision from Oz!

Recall, also, the WTC and the Plaza were featured in the "Emerald City" sequence in the late 1970's Diana Ross fantasy/musical, "THE WIZ".

To think, back then, the PATH platforms deep beneath the Towers were hosting the original "PA" cars and the "Ks"; and platform signs were still listing connections with READING trains (RDCs) at Newark (these trains stopped running in 1981)

Yep, it was a looooong time ago...............

"NYO"

["WTC"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

When these photos of the HBLR's insipid "Baby Belugas" were snapped back in 2000, no one possibly would have imagined what the following year would bring.

Back then, the Towers looked as though they would indeed stand forever.............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?45218

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?123317

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["HBLR"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here are two interesting articles...........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_the_World_Trade_Center

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center

["HOB-WTC"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

WTC "Tribute In Light"..........

Am able to see the beams soaring upwards, looking southeast from my TV room window; a sobering, humbling experience, to be sure.

For days after 9/11, from my main drag (Anderson Avenue), a huge gray/white cloud, truly monstrous, loomed up on the southeast horizon, as the remains of the Towers continued to smolder and burn.

I called it "The Cloud of Souls"; to this very day that haunting image is emblazoned in my mind; just recalling it calls up disturbing images............

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

An excellent page...............

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribute_in_Light

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further:

Interesting to note that the spotlighting system is from an Italian firm, and that, interestingly enough, this "tribute" was only supposed to run for a few years.

Yes, we CANNOT forget that day, nor forget those brave first responders, many of whom, sadly, have either since passed on, or are now suffering from the toxic fallout from Ground Zero.

These were the REAL heroes!!

"NYO"

["NEW YORK'S BRAVEST"]

["NEW YORK'S FINEST"]