BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Recall, also, that the "K"/"MP-52" cars were also the last "Aitch & Em" cars to have single-panel doors and incandescent lighting (recall, the last "Eye-Are-Tee" cars to have single-panel doors (and incandescent lighting) were the 1938 WF cars.

Odd that PATH even bothered with installing florescent lighting in Hudson Terminal's main concourse; after all, by the time florescent lighting was installed in the concourse, it would be less than a decade before the terminal was closed, torn down, and replaced by the new WTC terminal.

I well recall, in the late 1960's/early 1970s, as demolition work progressed on the old Hudson Terminal office buildings (the original "Twin Towers"), a number of exits/entrances to and from street level were sealed off, with only a few original entrances remaining at the end in 1971........

"NYO"

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

MOST interesting; thanks for sharing this info!

Back in the early/mid-1960s I still recall when Cortlandt Street was still chock-a-block with radio/electronic/hardware stores (I remember, one summer Saturday) Mom buying a small hand-held vacuum in one shop, before we took the "Tubes" back to JSQ (this was still the "Black" car era!)

I also recall the "bathtub" excavation, with the huge cast-iron PATH tubes suspended above the work area, and hearing the trains rumbling back and forth to and from Hudson Terminal.

I remember PRR and E-L ticket windows on the main concourse at Hudson Terminal; I also recall an oid closed-up wooden ticket office at JSQ, through the 60s (recall, the LV gave up passenger service in early 1961)

The old "LEHIGH VALLEY" sign remained intact until the end of the old station itself.

When Your's Truly was still a young lad, there were still trains running between HT and GROVE-HENDERSON (Grove Street today); arriving at G-H, the trains would discharge their passengers, head into the tunnel, cross over to the NY-bound track, change ends, and then re-enter the station, to pick up passengers bound for Lower Manhattan.

Man, it's all so long ago now......so much has changed......so much has disappeared.....

"NYO"

["HUDSON RAPID TUBES""}

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Interesting.........

Prior to the M-7 era, the only suburban MU's to be equipped with subway-style pantograph gates were the ILLINOIS CENTRAL's big electrics which dated back to the suburban electrification of 1926.

These cars were also unusual in that they also had air-operated vestibule doors (again, recalling rapid transit equipment)

Note how today's modern M-7/9 cars are equipped with pantograph gates; this is now commonplace on SEPTA as well................

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Examples...........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?91978

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?120863

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?159355

(courtesy: nucsubway.org)

["MNRR"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is one of the IC's hulking 1926 MUs that served Chicago's suburbanites into the 1970's.

Like "classic era" rapid transit rolling stock, these fearsome-looking electrics were not only equipped with pantograph gates, but also, air-operated doors, and standee straps...............

https://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ic/ic-em1149jpa.jpg

["CHICAGO EXPRESS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Of course, we must not forget to include the SIRT's familiar old 1925 ME-1's...........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115342

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["RIDE THE RAPID"]

[W.B. Fishbowl]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Years ago, I read an article where the SIRT was indeed referred to as "Staten Island's Toonerville Trolley"; this image was even more telling when one looks at historic photos of single-car SIRT trains running on the old South Beach and Arlington lines, prior to their 1953 abandonment...........

"NYO"

["SOUTH BEACH"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

W.B.:

Here are a few views of the days when "Staten Island's Toonerville Trolley" was still running one-car, off-peak trains on the long-defunct South Beach and Arlington lines..............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115398

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24720

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?24709

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["ARLINGTON LOCAL"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Further...........

I have also heard the SIRT referred to as a "the midwest interurban transplanted to the East" (I well recall how rural some areas along the SITRT still was, in-between certain stations, prior to the opening of the VZ Bridge in late 1964)

Interestingly enough, in Stan Fischler's classic "UPTOWN, DOWNTOWN" Mr. Fischler comically refers to the old SoB (South Brooklyn Railway) as "Brooklyn's freight version of the Toonerville Trolley" (recall, steeplecabs were still in use, through the 1960's)..........

"NYO"

["SoB"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's a nostalgic 1974 photo of ancient SoB steeplecab #7 at the "Bee-Em-Tee's" 36th Street yards (note the two-tone blue "Dangerfields" in the background, as an added bonus!)

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?33666

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["BMT LINES"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Way back in olden times, the "Bee-Em-Tee's long-gone E. 105th Street grade crossing on the Canarsie line was about as close to the SIRT as the subways could get; this nostalgic scene dates back to 1966 (the crossing itself was eliminated in the early 1970s)..............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?78151

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["CANARSIE L'C'L"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The equally nostalgic view here dates to 1961, and depicts the SIRT's grade crossing at New Dorp; the resemblence between the "Standards" (aka "Brooklyn Battleships") and the SIRT's ancient ME-1's ("Tottenville Toonervilles") is indeed clear here.

Your's Truly is indeed showing his age when he can recall both the BMT and SIRT crossings, as a little shaver.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?115323

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["RIDE THE RAPID"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here's another photo of ancient SoB steeplecab #7 (even work equipment was not safe from the graffiti scourge back in '75) at the 36th Street yards, with a few "two tones" in the background.............

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?33667

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["7"]