BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Like all trolleybus overhead, ASV wires could get quite complex at junctions, especially in areas where streetcars also ran.

This photo (no location given) shows one of the older, front-engined YELLOWS negotiating a complex tangle of overhead........

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_yellow_012_newark_bv.htm

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's an early publicity shot of ASV #9153 (note no PS nose wings as yet) showing the mobility advantage that ASV's had over rail-bound streetcars (note new overhead and cobblestoned streetcar rails)

Even so, the poles on ASV's could swing out no more than twelve feet from the overhead........

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_yellow_9153_irm_ss.htm

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)

[N4 Jamaica]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Joe:

I was thinking much the same thing, regarding the positive and negative ASV wires at complex junctions; there were a number of complex junctions/"splits" on the ASV routes serving the HUDSON and ESSEX Divisions.

One busy junction in particular that was the bane of many ASV drivers was at "The Arch" in Elizabeth (southbound), passing under the elevated CRRNJ main line.

Here, was a switch, under which passed ASV's of the "#49" and the "#11"; one set of wires went straight for the #49, while other set of wires turned the corner for "#11" coaches.

Drivers would load passengers at W. Grand Street, and, if you were a driver on a "#49", you had to get a good running start, and then coast (uphill!) through the switch..........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Compare these two photos snapped at Penn Station, Newark, taken about a decade part (1936/1946)

In the first photo, we see a one-man open car (these unique cars were built at PS's Plank Road shops); in the second photo, a newly-repainted ASV........

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?118340

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_yellow_9273_newark_bv.htm

(photos courtesy of: nycsubway.org/trolleybuses.net)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Back in the day, veteran PS men had their own nicknames for certain buses........

The distinctive front-engine ASV's were (for reasons unknown to me) known as "CHINA CLIPPERS"

The parlor coaches (earliest were YELLOW, later GM) were dubbed "CONTINENTALS", due to their appearance and their interiors (QUITE elegant, compared to the transit buses of the day)

In fact, one of the parlor jobs (#B-5000) was for the exclusive use of PS's head honcho!

The little FORD buses were dubbed "ICEBOXES" and "FRIGIDAIRES", as, even with the heat at full blast, the driver and the passengers up front were always cold during the winter months.

PS also rostered a number of small CHEVROLET buses in the later 1930's and 1940's; these buses were known by PS men as "RATTLERS"; drivers HATED these buses, because they rattled so much, most drivers went home at the end of the day with a pounding headache (the drivers also did not like that they had to reach behind them to manipulate the long lever that operated the doors)

Back in the days when PS still rostered a large number of front-engine buses, most drivers either wore boots or shoes with very thick soles, as the heat generated by the motor (coupled with the fact that these buses had aluminum foot plates) was quite terrific, and NOT at all pleasant during the hot, humid, New Jersey summers.

It is NO WONDER, then, that those "rough-'n-tumble" old timers in transit were often known as "IRON MEN".....(!!)

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Speaking of PS "veterans".......

Back in 1974/1975* (as a senior commuting to/from classes) I became friendly with an old PS "veteran", a middle-aged Italian guy named "Angelo" (he then drove the "#21", which I rode out of Hoboken each afternoon)

When he saw I was into buses, he'd often tell me stories of "the old days"; he began running on the "#44" out of the UNION CITY garage/car house, not long before the last HUDSON Division streetcars vanished in 1949.

He also told me some interesting stories about how even the mighty PS was brought to a standstill by the Blizzard of 1947, and seeing stranded PS buses and streetcars bumper-to-bumper on many streets.

It was from Angelo that I learned about "hot rods" and "dogs"; "hot rods" were buses that were peppy performers, and, indeed, had a lot of "get-up-and-go".

"Dogs", on the other hand, literally, "dragged their tails", and were sluggish performers.

Fishbowl "Z-338" (I remember this bus well) was a bus Angelo loathed with a passion, because, no matter what the TNJ guys did while in the garage, the bus literally could do no more than crawl up even the slightest grade.

From other ex-PSNJ drivers I knew, I heard further interesting" insider's tales" (and, also, netted a few nice pieces of assorted PS memorabilia as well, in the bargain!)

*By 1974, Old Looks were nowhere to be seen at the UNION CITY garage; Fishbowls had taken over the local routes (I do recall seeing "parlor" jobs at UNION CITY as well); NJT closed the huge facility in the early 1990's, and, today, it still appears much as it did decades ago, now used as a DPW facility.

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is a rear view of experimental ASV "D900" at the Bell St. loop (Montclair), with a 2600 series "Compromise" roof car on the left (1950).......

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_gm_d900_bellstloop_01_1950_pcbv.htm

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

It is, indeed, quite interesting to note that the ASV was developed by GENERAL MOTORS TRUCK in collaboration with PSNJ engineers.

Had the City of Newark, circa-1950, footed the bill for the paving over of the City Subway, GM would have, again, been involved with ASV's, this time building a new generation of modern, dual-powered trolley buses, using the then-popular 4509 as a basis for the new diesel-electric vehicles........

http://www.trolleybuses.net/psct/htm/usa_h_psct_yellow_builderphoto_1935_07_notlamebrain.htm

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is "D900" again, now operating a "straight" diesel bus, wearing the new PS Old Look scheme of the early/mid-1960's, running on a charter (perhaps a fan trip?) at Grant City, Staten Island (check out those sharp 1950's autos parked at the curb!)

This paint scheme was not only the second paint job worn by the once-unique "D900", but also, its last........

http://bus.nycsubway.org/perl/show?1498

(courtesy: bus.nycsubway.org)

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Also.......

When PS was contemplating using ASV's in the City Subway in place of streetcars in 1949 (a number of meetings were held at Newark's City Hall), it was clear that the "new generation" of ASV's would ONLY operate on the ESSEX Division, and, even there, only operate on the "#7 CITY SUBWAY", as well as the "#21", "#23", and "#29" subway-surface lines.

The "#23 CENTRAL" had already been converted to buses in December, 1947, but would have become an ASV line, had plans to convert the Subway to ASV operation gone through.

As the town fathers of "on line" communities made it clear they did not want neither streetcar rail OR overhead wires along their main thoroughfares, the new dual-powered GM buses would have only used overhead wires within the limits of the Subway itself.

Once the "new generation" trolley buses left the subway exit ramps in Newark (Warren St., Norfolk St., Bloomfield Avenue), the poles would have come down, locked into place, and then the coaches would have proceeded along their respective routes as regular diesel buses.

Had ASV's replaced streetcars in the City Subway, it would have been quite interesting to see the different types of coaches used over the years, through modernization and fleet upgrading.

IMHO, I think that NJT would, nowadays, be using (dual powered. of course) trolley buses of the same general style as those currently in use in Philadelpia and Boston........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Another interesting "why?" regarding plans for a new postwar ASV fleet in Newark, is "why" PS did not contemplate the paving over the City Subway while they still operated ASV's?

On the subway-surface routes then in operation, all that, basically, would have needed to be done was the installation of a second wire along the car lines.

As was the case with the streetcars, PS did not have to purchase power from an outside utility, as it, of course, generated its own, so there would not have been the added expense of PS purchasing power from an "outside" source.

As I've mentioned earlier, town fathers along the line would have been quite happy with new-generation ASV's, as there would no longer be rails in their streets, nor overhead wires up above, as wires only would have been used within the limits of the Subway itself......

"NYO"

On a personal note, here:

I grew up with the PCC's in the Subway, and, because of them, developed a strong love and interest in streetcars, interurbans, and other electric railways.

However, as much as I loved the PCC's, part of me wishes that PS had actually converted the City Subway to ASV; as I have never liked the HBLR-type light rail units that now provide the service (I've dubbed them "Baby Belugas"!).....it would be more interesting (at least to Your's Truly) to see trolley coaches in use in what once was the "City Subway" instead of the bulky, boxy "Baby Beluga" light rail units of today.

For me, the "City Subway", which I've loved since my early childhood, simply ceased to exist when the PCC's departed.

However, I STILL have many, many happy memories of the long-gone "good ol' days" when the PCC's still were in charge of the Subway......how highly I value those memories today!

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"Subway Buses"........

When the PS terminal in Newark was still in use, PSNJ did, indeed, operate what I long ago termed "subway buses"; these, of course, were the ASV's, and later, the diesel buses, that served the lower level of the Terminal.

The trolleybus/streetcar tunnel portal of the Harvard Square facility in Boston, was, in years past, remarkably identical to the portal leading to the Cedar St. Subway (and the lower level of the PS terminal) in Newark, before rebuilding.

Boston's MTA streetcars used this portal until 1958; thereafter, trolley buses operated (this continues today)

Beginning in the early 1960's, some MTA diesel bus routes also began using the underground Harvard Square tunnel and station; however, their use underground was limited, because of the diesel fumes, especially in humid weather........

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Unique to Baltimore's BTC was #2501; this YELLOW was unique in that it was the ONLY dual-powered ASV to not operate for PSNJ.

In 1947, this bus was renumbered and rebuilt as a "straight" trolley bus; interestingly, in just the opposite scenario, PSNJ's experimental #D900 was later rebuilt into a diesel coach, after "under wire" experiments ended........

http://www.trolleybuses.net/bal/htm/usa_h_bal_yellow_2501_jt.htm

(courtesy: trolleybuses.net)