The George Zeiba Collection

NEPTA wishes to thank Mr. Zeiba for his collection of transit photos.  We are also honored to share Mr. Zeiba's story with our transit colleagues.

Written by George Zeiba

     My interest in trolley cars and buses began at two years of age, when my father, an Eastern Mass St. Ry motor man and bus operator, took me with him on his day off to turn in his fare readings from the previous day.  If I behaved myself he would take me into the garage and let me sit in the drivers seat of the buses or trolleys.      My father started with the East Taunton St Ry in the early 20's learning to operate & repair street cars.  At the urging of his brothers, who also worked for the East Taunton St Ry, to also apply to the Eastern Mass Taunton Div, for a job, and was hired operating both cars & buses.      With the Conversation of car lines to bus routes in the Taunton division area and the loss of jobs at the beginning of the depression, four Taunton operators applied to transfer to the Quincy Division where employment was fairly stable in the industry, rider ship on EM car & bus routes stayed steady.      My interest in Eastern Mass remains even until today although they were sold to the MBTA in 1968.  Besides my father, my grandfather drove street cars on the Weymouth Division of the Old Colony-Bay State and the Eastern Mass St Ry.     During World War II two of my uncles worked Saturdays and Sundays as mechanics at the Eastern Mass Taunton garage and one even worked for Harry Bloom in the late 50's part time.      My first pictures were taken in 1946 using a Kodak Box camera using 120 film, 6 photos to a roll of film.      I started working as a page at the Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy, MA after school and went full time in 1952, then served in the Army during the Korean conflict serving with the First Cavalry Division in the Far East.      After my tour of duty I went back to the library and from 1957-1990 I was the Bookmobile Librarian and driver in Quincy.      Claire and I were married in 1960 and on our honeymoon visited three trolley museums in New England and our 50th wedding anniversary we visited two new garages in Vermont.      In my bus & trolley collection today I have 330 albums or around 11,000 photos, some 350 books, 80 bus tank models, as well as 28 Corgi bus models painted for New England bus companies, fare box registers and I have 5 special models of streetcars, 4 Eastern Mass and one East Taunton.  I also have a model of a sweeper and one plow model that were used for clearing snow off the rails and the car lines of Quincy.     Claire and I are known around New England as the "Bus Nuts" with camera.  We travel the six New England states visiting Bus garages and photographing the new coaches and transit buses.