BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

(SEE PREVIOUS POST)

W.B.:

Compare these photos depicting an early "Hi-V" (IRT) with an LIRR "MP-41"............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?138710

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?43392

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["SUBWAY"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Agreed.

Perhaps a another good moniker for the "R-16" might have been the "Jumbos"? (when compared to the "R-17")?

I, also, would have loved seeing an "Eye-En-Dee" version of the "R-21/22"; Your's Truly spent a LOT of most enjoyable "quality time" at the RFWs of the "21s/22s, back in the day!

Now.....imagine an "Eye-Are-Tee" version of the "R-11"........

"NYO"

["INDEPENDENT SUBWAY SYSTEM"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Good points, all!

Recall, I had mentioned earlier, that, quite awhile ago, I had read aboutr new lightweight cars considered for replacing the old wooden "Qs" on "da Moit"; I believe these would have been designated "R-39", and would have been scaled-down versions of the "R-38s" (aka "Brightliner Wannabes"), that is, had the elevated line been retained.

Too, I have often thought of an "Eye-En-Dee/Bee-Em-Tee" version of a WF "Bluebird".

In Roger Arcara's "WESTCHESTER'S FORGOTTEN RAILWAY", there is a rendition of what new cars would have looked like, had the railway not gone under.

These would have been two-unit articulated cars (operating off of catenary), built by BUDD, and easily recalling the "Bee-Em-Tee's" sleek "Zephyr" of 1934.

The new "Westchester" cars also would have had end portholes, as were used by the original MU's.

Ahhh. what might have been.........

"NYO"

["SAVE TIME! GO WESTCHESTER!"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

You and I, both (and many older fellows) still lament the passing of both classic SMEE equipment and, of course, the time-honored RFW.

Now, I have to be honest here, and have to say that today's subway cars, while indeed lacking the appeal of the classic cars we so fondly recall (Your's Truly goes back to the prewar rolling stock days!) are QUITE easy on the eye, compared to the ultra-modern rolling stock now operating on systems across the globe.

For sure, "Noo Yawk's" modern NTT rolling stock IS indeed bland and lackluster, BUT, at least, they do NOT resemble the mutated serpents and giant insects now slithering about below ground in many cities.

Personally, I'll take a "humdrum" NTT from "Noo Yawk" over one of the sinister-looking creatures from abroad.....some of these trains are indeed frightening just to gaze upon; giant human-gorging "Le Escargo Electrique" for certain.................

"NYO"

["PRESSED STEEL"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

No......this is NOT a photo snapped at the "Eye-Are-Tee's" 180th Street yards, circa-1982............(!!)

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?149180

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["RATP"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

New species of meat-eating electric eel, native to Sweden............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?114213

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["TUNNELBANA"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Rome, NOT the "Eye-Are-Tee", circa-1980..............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?126152

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["M"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

If ever there is another "INDiana Jones" film made, it should be set in London, and be entitled:

"INDIANA JONES MEETS QUARTERMASS AND THE PIT"

(to be REALLY frightened out of your wits, check out the totally alien, totally bizarre Siemen's "Evo" concept train!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_2024_Stock

["UndergrounD"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Agreed 100%.

What passes for "buses" today in "Noo Yawk" are "buses" in name only; they are nothing but a conglomeration of bizarre, avante-garde styling and lackluster deign.

When the last "Are-Tee-Es" was retired several years back, the era of what constituted a "classic" bus ended forever............

"NYO"

(Hard to believe that the iconic "Shermans" have now been gone from the streets of "Noo Yawk for over a half-century now)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Graffiti...........

It was, as we know, that rampant subway graffiti established a firm stronghold in "Noo Yawk", beginning in the 70s; it was, indeed, an unsettling "social commentary" that proclaimed loudly that the city was spiraling out of control, and that the vandals were in charge.

A number of rapid transit systems across the globe also had to deal with the unsightly defacing of rolling stock by the "FUA" Brigade ("Frustrated Urban Artists")

Back in the 1990s, there was a sobering article in a British rail magazine, which told of how bad things were getting on London's "tubes", particularly on the Northern line in London (deep-level tubes)

There was graffiti, rising crime, drug use, and suicides; in fact, back then, many started calling the Northern line (whose first MU equipment was built by ACF in 1907) "The Misery Line"

A lot of what I read in that article eerily echoed New York.

Berlin, Paris, and Rome also have had a number of issues with transit graffiti; when a number of retired Berlin "U-Bahn" cars were being shipped to South Korea for further service years ago, they were splattered with graffiti, indeed echoing the New York subways of the 1970s and early/mid-1980s.

I have even heard that Moscow's opulent Metro has also had issues, believe it or not, with graffiti, on several lines.

Talk about a "global epidemic"....................

"NYO"

["UndergrounD"]