Greg Hunt spotted this plein-air trolley moseying up the B Line yesterday.
OK, OK, it's really a Green Line power-department catenary-checking vehicle, but still. Imagine if they had summer drink service on that.
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Not a good idea in winter
By Denise
Wed, 02/05/2025 - 2:46pm
Not a good idea in winter…unless there’s a beverage car.
Confused
By Former Westroxer
Wed, 02/05/2025 - 4:02pm
Y'all don't drink on the subway already?
Lissssn, if umm gonna buy a
By anon
Wed, 02/05/2025 - 11:35pm
Lissssn, if umm gonna buy a drink on a damn plane to calm my guhdanm nerves, then gimme my alcohol on the fucked up Orange Line.
This car was MBTA built at Watertown shops
By Cleary Squared
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 3:05pm
Some of the mechanics at the Green Line shops designed and devised this car out of a flat bed in Watertown. Word was that MBTA management there wasn't too pleased about this kind of Yankee ingenuity and told the crew not to do this again. I think there's a similar wire car for the Blue Line.
The staff at Watertown
By anon
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 8:48am
The staff at Watertown Carhouse built this car as well as the Blue Line wire car and the Green Line crane car, pump car, and flat car between 1986 and 1992. There were plans to build a rerailer car and maybe another wire, but the carhouse was closed in 1994 as a cost savings measure. It was a planned and approved program until the Weld administration came in.
Thanks, anon
By Cleary Squared
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 7:20pm
I thought at first it was the Reservoir or the Riverside yards that did it, but you are correct - the Watertown yard built it. Up until 1996ish or so, the Watertown Yard had old LRVs and PCCs rotting on the tracks. They began paving over the yard, and then the tracks all the way to Packard's Corner.
There used to be open-air trolleys
By necturus
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 11:23am
At the turn of the 20th century, there were "open bench" streetcars where passengers sat on benches on the open air. These cars had roofs, but not much else in the way of shelter. I believe there are some preserved open bench cars at the Seashore Trolley Museum.
Good catch, Greg!
By Lee
Thu, 02/06/2025 - 12:01pm
Thanks for the info, Cleary!
My pleasure
By Cleary Squared
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 3:04pm
Being an MBTA fan over the past four decades, I figured that story about the car being MBTA built would get a smile out of some people. The MBTA management of today would never let that kind of creativity flourish today.
The T is planning to get light engines (mini commuter rail engines with a crane and a flat bed) that are dual mode...they will run on diesel above ground and on battery power underground. They would not need to run on wires or third rail.
I thought I was in a time warp...
By Don't Panic
Fri, 02/07/2025 - 2:50am
It's just a jump to the left...
@Cleary Squared: Isn't that how the Silver Line runs now?
I just hope they don't pull down all the wires before they follow through with the new vehicles; I'm thinking about the trolley line debacle between Heath Street and Forest Hills when the MBTA pulled down the wires to upgrade them then changed their minds about what will run on that section.
No - entirely different vehicle
By Cleary Squared
Sat, 02/08/2025 - 3:15pm
No - It'll be like a little commuter rail engine ("fun size") but like the Silver Line, switch to battery power in the tunnels, that way it doesn't have to rely on third rail or overhead wires.
Example of a NYCTA work train in the video.
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