Most of us here north of the equator are in the throes of summer – heat, humidity, and more heat….hopefully this post will allow you a zen-like moment of cool relief. The bus above is a 1948 TDH 4507 GM Old Look coach that belonged to New York’s CTA, and this ole’ girl has an interesting history…
First, think December in New York City…
Bitter cold…
And lots of snow…
But as with any large metropolitan area, the city runs on its public transportation, and bus stops, turnouts, train tracks, and other locations need to be cleared of snow so buses and subways can operate. That’s where these “Snow Fighters” made their mark. These were modified older coaches, pulled from front-line service, that transported work crews to various areas around the city to clear snow. Several rows of seats were removed and space was made available for large salt bags, shovels, and other implements. They also had heavier front bumpers, and a set of spotlights on the front and back roof. Best guess is around 18 of these coaches were modified for this role.
Here’s a work crew digging out the rails at a station in Brooklyn, likely transported there by several Snow Fighters.
In the 70’s, NYMTA moved on to more specialized, less manpower-intensive equipment to keep their lines open.
While NYMTA has a superb historical fleet, unfortunately none of these models were preserved. This picture was taken in 1971 as coach #SF-12 was waiting to be scrapped at NYMTA’s Canarsie Yard. The Snow Fighters had fought their last fight (flake?).
Pretty cool and nice in your face identification as to the “official business” that was afoot if you were to see one passing by. I’ll bet that during a few storms those guys even got cheers as they passed by from those who were eager to see the city “open for business” again.
Cool find Jim. Growing up in a city that gets lots of snow, but doesn’t allow snow chains, the ‘Old Look’ and ‘New Look’ buses managed reasonably well in storms. They’d spin quite a bit pulling away from deeper snow and snow banks, but they always managed to make forward progress in a slow, but steady fashion. A driver would foolheartedly have to pull into deep snow to get them stuck. Whereas articulated buses, are a different matter. Whether it was the old Orion-Ikarus 286 in the 1980s, or the modern New Flyer articulated buses, they don’t cope well when snow accumulates beyond a few inches.
As the photo and clip demonstrate, they struggle to gain traction and fishtail easily when then’s any sort of significant accumulation. The GMCs were always late in a storm, but they’d reliably get you there.
The articulated buses have real problems, because their drivetrain is now in the rear half, powering the less-loaded rearmost axle. In earlier versions of articulated buses, the engine was underfloor in the front half, and powered the heavily-loaded middle axle. Also, the anti-jacking software reduces power in the articulated buses, when sometimes aggressive spinning is actually what it takes. I’ve seen some videos of these getting stuck on very mild grades.
All true. The Orion-Ikarus 286 articulated models my city used in the 1980s, with the drive axle in the rear of the forward portion of the bus, struggled mightily as well in snow. If not as badly as the modern articulated buses, with the rearmost drive axles.
It also reflects tires that weren’t up to the task. As my city’s solution appeared to be restricting the articulated buses to main routes when there’s significant snow, while being vigilant plowing and heavily salting those routes.
I was driving a 40′ Old Look during the one bad snow storm during my short career in Iowa City. And it churned through the rapidly deepening snow very well indeed. Combined with my tendency for aggressive driving, I stayed right on schedule, and actually passed the New Look on the same route that was supposed to be 20 minutes ahead of me! The driver gave me quite a look. But what was I supposed to do? Bumble along behind him? I wanted to finish my run and get home.
I miss being warm & safe inside those old look buses during New England blizzards .
-Nate
This past winter, my city (Ottawa) tested a loaner New York City garbage truck converted for snow removal. The city’s evaluation was mixed, suggesting the converted garbage truck would be valuable when snow accumulation was heavy. However for daily use, not having the advantage of a ‘wing’, would limit it’s effectiveness.
I wonder why other cities, especially in the southern US, don’t do the same thing as NYC with plows on garbage trucks.
Great story, thanks!
Well I can tell you they still use manual labor here in Vienna in some cases, and that’s the “bus” the workers arrive in.
Like threads about garage heating this is just alien to this sub tropical Aussie.
I still enjoy reading about it though!
GM Bus 4507 Converted into Snow Fighter # 8 of the NYC Transit Authority
GM Bus 4507 Converted into Snow Fighter # 20 of the NYC Transit Authority
No plow….? .
I logged a _LOT_ of miles on those buses….
-Nate
Most if not all of the NYC Transit Authority Old Look GM 4507’s that were converted over to ” Snow Fighters ” did not push a plow around. Mostly; they transported salt in both bins that were installed where seats had been removed in the forward area of the bus ; or bags of salt– and the workers themselves who would, with shovels and brooms clear out the snow from bus stops in the city.
Thanx, Frank .
I’m loving the photographs .
The yellow one looks pretty tired .
-Nate
MaBSTOA had it’s own fleet of “Snow Fighters” converted from former Fifth Avenue Coaches and New York City Omnibus Yellow Coach Model 740’s.