BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

(SEE PREVIOUS POSTS)

Also interesting..........

Had "AVENUE B" not ended operations in 1980, and had been financially stable, perhaps they MIGHT have ordered the earliest "Slant Back" RTS. which then were coming "on line" in Queens.

If this scenario played out, these buses would have also been the last purchased by the company equipped with roller curtains.......

"NYO"

["AVENUE B & EAST BROADWAY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Thinking.........

As the old Hudson County "indies" were all pretty much of the same mold as "The Little Red Bus That Could", none of them saw a single RTS, back in the days when so many companies were taking delivery of this new, state-of-the-art bus.

Of course, there WAS the massive influx of nearly 900 NJDOT "Dangerfields" in the later 1970s, and, of course, several years later, both "Bombers" and the reliable, on-the-job Metro "B".

Personally, I am surprised that "AVENUE B" lasted as long as it did, as an independent.............

"NYO"

["FLXIBLE"]

["GRUMMAN"]

[Cyberider]

I thought that the "The Little Red Bus That Could" was one of the most interesting of the NYC "indies." Loved their collection of decrepit Macks! Of course, if I had been an actual rider of them, I may have felt differently.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[Cyberider]

You were indeed fortunate to have been able to ride buses of that ilk! I had to satisfy myself with Phoenix Transit and Sun Valley Bus Lines Old Looks. We liked them but maybe the more typical passenger didn't enjoy all the noise and rattling.

Thanks for the links to the photos. I've looked at and studied them many times over the years. Those looked like some of their "better" Macks.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

Glad you enjoyed the pics!

"AVENUE B" also rostered suburban MACKS; the only company in my area to operate them was the now long-defunct "ORANGE & BLACK"(this was a suburban/local company that connected southern Bergen County and Hudson County with the "Port-of-Authority".

My godmother commuted on these buses into the city for years; I STILL remember her taking me for rides....these were QUITE handsome and FORMIDABLE-looking buses!

The MACKS were retired sometime around 1966; man, I STILL miss 'em today!

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?153034

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?153032

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["RIVER ROAD EXPRESS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Surviving MACK suburbans are, indeed, scarcer than hen's teeth; this 1957 ex-GREYHOUND suburban operated on the company's commuter routes out of San Francisco through the 1960s.

Sadly, none of those rostered by either "AVENUE B" or "ORANGE & BLACK" survive today.........

https://pacbus.org/museum-roster/p1683-pacific-greyhound-line/

["EXPRESS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Speaking of MACK "suboibans"...........

"LAKELAND" also operated these into the "Port-of-Authority"; these beefy buses were particularly handsome in their smart green paint.

These were replaced by Fishbowls in the 1960s; my folks and I used to ride up to Warwick from New York (via "LAKELAND") back in the 1960s, where my aunt and uncle had a summer bungalow.

We mostly rode the Old Looks, but sometimes rode a Fishbowl; man, it's all soooooo long ago, now............

"NYO"

["NEW YORK"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Interesting.......

"In sync" with "Fak-ko" and the "Tee-Yay", notice that "Soiface" switched back and forth between "Gee-Em and MACK throughout the years.

The TOTAL opposite of PSNJ, which, with the exception of one lone MACK demo back in the 1950s, remained a "Gee-Em" property EXCLUSIVELY,from the mid-1940s through the early 1970s, as the "Tee-En-Jay" era was dawning...........

"NYO"

["29 NEWARK"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

While the "See-Tee-Yay" in its early years remained loyal to Twin (with its propaned "Oddballs") and successor Flxible (whose "Dangerfields" in "Shik-aga" had more respect than those of "Noo Yawk's" "Tee-Yay").

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[MaBSTOA 15]

PSNJ had two Mack C-49-DM suburbans as demos. Ironically inn1960 they went to Avenue B and East Broadway Transit and became their numbers 501-502.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

An interesting photo.........

In the "IMAGES OF RAIL" book on TARS I had mentioned earlier in this topic, several days ago, there is a photo, that, despite depicting a sad and dismal scene, has more than a bit of bus interest, IMHO..........

The (undated) photo, taken at the TARS yard at Mount Vernon (circa-1947/1948?), shows the charred and flattened remains of several elderly wooden convertibles (the remains of one car's dash still has its "X" route signed affixed).

Amid all the carnage, are the "remains of the remains" of what was once a front-engined "Soiface" bus.

All that remains is a small part of the front, from just in back of the engine, to just to the rear of the front door.

The engine, radiator, and the entire body (with the exception of the "cab" area I just mentioned) is gone.

I am thinking this might have been what was left one of one of the company's old six-wheel buses, which had started life as double-deckers, but, at some later date, were later cut down to single-deck configuration.

Indeed, truly a sad, heart-wrenching sight...........

"NYO"

["SURFACE TRANSPORTATION COMPANY"]