BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

VERY valid point.

Certainly, the riding public is NOT benefiting by having battery buses replacing trolleybuses.

The ONLY ones that benefit are those "empty suit fat cats" who make inane and asinine decisions, at the expense of both the transit patron and the taxpayer........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The entrance ramp/portal of the Cambridge bus tunnel was almost identical to that used by PSNJ's Cedar Street Subway in Newark; both "subways", over the decades, saw streetcars, trolleybuses, and motor buses.

The last MTA streetcars used the Cambridge tunnel in 1958.

In Newark, the last streetcars used the Cedar Street Subway in 1938; the last ASV's in 1948, and the last motor buses about 1967 (the latter I clearly recall from my long-ago youth!)

These nostalgic views are from Boston..........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?49751

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?49750

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?49754

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["HARVARD VIA WATERTOWN"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is an excellent, exhaustive, and most interesting page on trolleybuses, past, present, and future (note the "ancestor" of the trolleybus dates back to 1882!)

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

There is also detailed, technical information here on operations, related infrastructure, wiring, etc.

The newest model trolleybuses indeed more resemble a giant mutate insect from a far-off galaxy.....they are

HIDEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note, also, the 1966 photo of the double-deck trolleybus in Reading, England; with the exception of the enclosed rear platform, this coach was virtually identical to those used in London from the later 1930s until 1962.

Give me a MARMON, ACF-BRILL, or a PULLMAN anyday!

"NYO"

["43 NEWARK"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's another interesting article.........

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

["MBTA"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Note the photo of the MBTA's "AN440LF"; this was the last type of trolleybus built for Boston, and still had many more years of solid service in them.......

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

["41 HARVARD STA."]

[Cyberider]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

AGREED!

SEPTA (aka "SEPTIC") operates some of the UGLIEST trolleybuses ever built; truly weird how a modern transit vehicles virtually always looks more like a giant mutated insect (or, at best, an oversized milk carton) than any sort of transit vehicle.

Give me one of the CLASSICS, anyday!

"NYO"

["ST. LOUIS CAR COMPANY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further waste.........

In 1947, the B&QT (BoT) took delivery of a fleet of modern trolley buses, built by ST. LOUIS.

These coaches were quite modern for the time; they also boasted florescent lighting, the FIRST transit vehicles in New York to be so equipped.

These sleek coaches were barely 13 years old when all trolleybus operation in Brooklyn was converted to diesel bus in 1960.
i
Oddly (and ironically) none were sold for further use "South of the Border")

Mos retired coaches simply sat in junkyards well into the 1960s, before finally being scrapped.

These electric coaches were only just well broken in when they were retired................truly a waste.....

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's an interesting collection of historic photos depicting Brooklyn's postwar trolleybuses..........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/showpix?nsystem=402

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["65-BERGEN"]

[Cyberider]

Thanks for the link to the photos of the Brooklyn St. Louis trolley buses. A shame that buses with so much life left in them were retired prematurely.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

On this day in 1959.........

The MTA (Boston) initiated trolley service on the former Boston & Albany's Highland Branch, using PCCs (the B&A had abandoned the line the previous year)

Today, this route (part of the Green Line) is known as "D-RIVERSIDE".

This new trolley line was highly patronized from Day One.

Interestingly, 1959 was also the year that the Kingston Trio's hit "THE MTA" ("Charlie Card"....."The Man Who Never Returned") debuted on the aiwaves.........

"NYO"

["MTA"]