BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

I am now recalling the few remaining 4104s in the early 1980s; I always got a kick out of when, if you closed your eyes, you thought you were riding on an Old Look suburban!

4104s were right alongside the SCENICRUIISERS at the now long-gone GREYHOUND terminal across from the old Pennsylvania Station, when I was a lad (LOVED the classic sounds of those GM power plants!)

You'd be surprised how many toy buses (some quite large!) were based on the 4104, back in the 50s and 60s (largest I have in my collection are 2' long!)

Ahhh, the good ol' days!

"NYO"

["TRAVEL STRAIGHT THRU-WITH GREYHOUND!"]

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Thanks for the link!

Funny (at least to me) GM buses (regardless of model) SOUNDED like BUSES; the old MACKS and WHITES I grew up with in the 1960s had a "tougher" sound that gave them the air of a heavy-duty truck (IMHO)

ACF-BRILL C-44s were, indeed, in a class of their own; they SNORTED, GROWLED and GRUMBLED "deep in their throats" (the early 1930s GREYHOUND bus featured in 1934's "IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT" sounded amazingly like the old BRILL buses I knew so well as a kid (DE CAMP and INTER-CITY)

Back in the later 1960s, my folks and I would often take PSNJ down to "the Shore" to visit relatives during the summer months.

Whether we were aboard a 4104 or a 4106, the sounds emitted by those powerful engines was indeed sweet music, especially when the driver was able to "open up" on the highway.......hard to believe I am now going back prior to 1971, here!

Wonderful old memories, to be sure...........

"NYO"

["PSNJ"]

[traildriver]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

traildriver:

Great info!

Long, long before Your's Truly knew the different makes and models of buses, I could, with my eyes closed, tell what kind of bus I would see when I opened my eyes again (BIG surprise!)

Going right by our old Union Cityapartment house (third floor windows facing Hudson Boulevard afforded EXCELLENT bus viewing!), the NHBL utilized various models of Old Looks, TWO models of MACKS, and TWO of WHITES!

INTER-CITY's #97 used ACF-BRILL C-44 suburbans, as well as WHITE 798s and 1150s.....it did NOT get any better than this!

In my area, we didn't see any Fishbowls until later 1966/1967 (aka "Jetson" buses!)

Whatever type of engine)s) were used by the buses of old, they ALL were built like TANKS and ALL BUILT TO LAST!

"......take a lickin', and keep on tickern'......"

"NYO"

["1 JOURNAL SQUARE"]

[Cyberider]

Thanks, guys!

Great sounds but it does sound a bit different sitting behind the engine with the exhaust at your side compared to a bus with everything behind you.

I'm more accustomed to hearing them in a bus with a 4-speed manual or a 2 or 3 speed "hydraulic" transmission.

I watch a guy called the Bus Grease Monkey on YouTube who repairs old buses, almost all of which have GM/Detroit Diesel 2-cycle engines. He owns a Silversides, an IH cabover tractor, and an American LaFrance fire truck all with 6-71 engines and a dozer with a 2-71. Very interesting engines. I think the 6-71 makes somewhere between 200 and 240 HP, depending upon which injectors it has.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

As a kid (and beyond!), I used to love sitting on the rear seats of an Old Look or a MACK, the better to hear (and FEEL!) those powerful engines at work!

With buses with manual transmissions, if possible, I'd sit opposite the driver, to watch him "work the stick" (here again, some VERY sweets sounds could be savored!)

ORANGE & BLACK (by the early 1980s, under the NJT umbrella) rostered several "semi-suburban" (1960s) Fishbowls; these buses had a single door, and hard (pink) plastic, transit-style seating.

I can also recall certain Fishbowls (when idling at a red light, etc) making a peculiar "harmonic" noise that (to me) sounded like "pheww-phewwww.....phewwww-phewww....." (I can STILL hear that sound in my head today!)

Today's hi-tech buses emit sounds that are about as appealing as electric can openors....(!!)

"NYO"

["8 FORT LEE-LAST STOP COYTESVILLE"]

[Cyberider]

NYO,

I was always fascinated with shifting gears, too.

As your predecessor, Mr. Linsky, used to say, the new buses sound like garbage trucks.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

The late, great Mr. Linsky was indeed right on the mark!

Today's "BINOs" ("Buses In Name Only") are bland, boring, insipid, and lackluster ('nuff said!)

In my day, not only were the buses THEMSELVES interesting in design, but, also, the rainbow of colors that adorned them, reflecting old companies that then operated them, made them indeed quite visually appealing as well.

Nothing appealing at all about a white shoe box on wheels, or a giant, people-eating centipede.........

"NYO"

["NEW YORK VIA LINCOLN TUNNEL"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

.....and, to think, express buses might one day have run underground in Phoenix.....

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/best-of/2011/people-and-places/best-abandoned-transit-project-6470318

["EXPRESS"]

[Cyberider]

NYO,

Hadn't heard of that. Unfortunately, their link to the photos didn't work.

So instead, we have light rail running non-express through the streets with frequent track blockages that make it less reliable than a bus.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

I didn't try the photo link myself; too bad the link did not work.

Figured this article would be of some "local" interest.

I've seen proposals from the later 1950s, where the CTA was envisioning a bus subway in the Loop area, using propane-powered TWIN COACHES.

In Newark, diesel buses used the lower level of the PS Terminal in Newark (via the now long-closed Cedar Street Subway) through the 1960s.

There was one intermediate underground stop, at KRESGE's.

Thankfully, I have memories.........

"NYO"

["43 NEWARK"]

[Cyberider]

I had never heard of it. I guess they hushed it up after wasting so much money on something that was never used.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

See...........

https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/cedarst.html

Here is an excellent page (with a number of great photos) on the long-abandoned "Cedar St. Subway" in Newark.

The "subway buses" (as I called them as a kid, and STILL do!) stopped using the Subway about 1966, when the lower level of the old PS Terminal was closed.

Streetcars used the Subway until 1938, and ASVs until 1948.............

"NYO"

["PUBLIC SERVICE COORDINATED TRANSPORT"]

[Cyberider]

NYO,

Thanks for the very interesting information. Sad when nice facilities are downgraded and finally abandoned. Things were better when we had Kresge's, McCrory's, and Woolworth's!