Virtual Museum of New Jersey's Independent Buses

Queen City Trailways Beck “Scenicruiser” and Fitzjohn Roadrunner

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/transportation/2023/09/28/struggling-nj-private-bus-lines-are-dropping-commuter-service-nj-transit-decamp-coach-ac/70930621007/

Struggling private bus companies are abandoning commuter service. Can NJ Transit step in? Ridership is way down after the pandemic, so DeCamp, Coach and A&C are cutting service. NJ Transit, meanwhile, faces huge operating deficits

Montgomery and West Side 273

Wohlgemuth Bus Co 92 (White 684 or 686)

Jan O'Konsky passed away yesterday at age 79 after a short illness. He was a close friend of 51 years; and co-owned the 1940 White bus that we bought in 1971 and donated to the Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 2000. Jan was one of a kind and a giant of the bus business. He could diagnose and repair just about anything that moved. Besides his bus industry positions (driver, mechanic, Superintendent of Maintenance for several bus companies and, finally, owner and operator of a small charter bus company) he owned many historic automobiles, was an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic for Braniff Airlines, and even owned a boat.

He was a great friend to me and will be missed by many others in the bus business. He leaves his devoted wife Clarissa.

May he Rest in Peace.

Broadway Bus Line, Bayonne Beaver Coach #35. Photographer unknown

Greenville and Lafayette 201. Late 1930s Autocar. Downloaded from Flickr with no source citation

South Hudson Blvd new TDH 4519 B58

Washington St Hoboken (Maria Transportation Co) 30X

Ocean Grove Belt Line 299

Plainfield Transit Corp 1949 TGH 2708s. The Surface Transit twin sat on the South Plainfield property for years as a storeroom

NOTE THE WIRE LOOM...

When I started in the bus business we ran GM Transit Buses. If you look at these pictures you will see how they loomed the wires.

It is very simple to loom this way, start with a clove hitch using waxed string then loop it around and back though the loop every few inches and pull tight. The wire also had cloth insulation around it.

Bergen Avenue 8 at Journal Square terminal. 1958 TDH 5106 former NY City Transit Authority

Trackless Transit
Bus # 206
Serial: 1695
Make: GM Truck and Coach Devision
Model TDH-4517
Configuration: Transit, V6-71 Detroit Diesel, 45 Passenger, 17th generation first generation new look coach.
35 feet long 96 inches wide

Note: these were a pleasure to drive, they had 4 air bags per axle you were literally floating on air. The leveling valves maintained the ride hight regaurdless of load. These coaches road better than any luxury car.

Paterson Suburban Bus Corp. (the owners also operated Royal Blue Coaches)

#89
Make: Yellow Coach
Model: TG3609
Serial: 0053
Configuration: Transit, Gas Powered, 36 Passengers, Manual Transmission
Delivered: 8/44

Somerset Bus Co Twin FL40

Number: 9208
Serial number: 18
Delivered: 8/52
Manufactured: Kent Ohio
FL stands for Fageoliner

This Coach was the last of an order of 8 FL40's delivered to Somerset, coach numbers 9201 through 9208.

Only 18 FL40 coaches were ever built this was the last one built at Kent Ohio.

Somerset Bus Co ACF C44

Intercity Lines White 1144S

McCloskey #9 White Beck

Times Square Bus Terminal. 1940s

Bergen Avenue 4. Checker Transit. Jersey City NJ

Montgomery and West Side 257

Modern Omnibus and Service Corp, Bloomfield NJ

Modern Omnibus and Service Company, Bloomfield NJ

Atlantic City Transit Company.
Make: Twin Coach
Model: 41-S
Serial #: 1223
Delivered: 1949
Manufactured: at Kent Ohio
Designed by: Dewight Austin
B.F Goodrich torsilastic rubber suspension (also used on Tucker automobiles)
168 H.P. Flageol six cylinder engine laid on its side under the floor. Another site lists the engine as a Fageol FTC 180 H.P.
This Coach is listed as preserved by the Ohio Museum of Transportation however I do not see it listed on the most current roster.

Picture taken at Mount Laurel, New Jersey 3/31/78 and 4/1/78 respectively.

Asbury Park-New York Transit Corporation
#140
1964 GM Suburban Coach
Model SDM-5301
Serial 0542
53 Passenger, 40 feet long, 96 inches wide
8V-71 Detroit Diesel 9.3 liter 568 Cubic inch
Spicer 4 speed manual transmission.
US Patent D182,998 by Roland E. Gegoux, William P. Strong
Nickname Fishbowl due to glass in front.
Manufactured in Pontiac Michigan.

Body style was Monocoque stressed skin meaning it had no frame the body was a series of bulkheads and the skin held it together much like a submarine.

Picture taken at Asbury Park on 6/5/72

Note: Driving these were loads of fun the transmission had no syncros.

Thanks to Ohio Museum of Transportation.

Asbury Park New York Transit #79 Yellow Coach PD3701 at Red Bank 8/19/50

All Jersey Trails, GM Parlor Coaches.