Chris Staiti reports from the Red Line today:

Not a single poster ad on the entire train. Just as well. There were no people to see any ads either.

Transit Police report pinching a shellfish Dorchester guy they say tried to steal bags of frozen shrimp from a man who was going down a Red Line car offering to sell them. Read more.

State officials today cautioned residents to hunker down and not go out if they have to tomorrow as we brace for Ol' Man Winter to deliver a roundhouse punch of a foot or so of white stuff driven by gusty winds. Read more.

Keolis and the MBTA announced today that, starting Monday, the number of daily train runs on the commuter-rail system will be cut from 541 to 246 - the system just no longer has enough workers not in quarantine to keep up with the normal schedule - and that while they hope to resume regular service on Dec. 27, the cutbacks might last longer. Read more.

Transit Police report they are looking for two men for what they call a "vicious attack" on a third person on a commuter-rail platform at Back Bay station around 12:50 a.m. on Wednesday. Read more.

As the 20th century approached, Boston was choking on its own success - its streets were just too crowded. Today, the Green Line is a reminder of the innovation it took to deal with the problem - the nation's first subway and all, opened in 1897.

But putting trolleys, and eventually longer subway cars, underground wasn't the only way Boston tried to overcome its over-clogged streets. Dedicated mail streetcars and pneumatic tubes also played a key, if ultimately just short-term, role. Read more.

Operation Ryan came across a peeled back trailer this morning at the Orange Line bridge over Medford Street in Malden.

WBUR reports that back in March, when everything was going to hell, Federal Resources Supply Co. sold the T $1.7 million worth of hand sanitizer that turned out to contain no alcohol. The company agreed to pay the state $150,000 in reimbursement for the "sanitizer" it actually used and $400,000 in penalties. It will also collect the rest of its worthless crap from the warehouse the T has been storing it in.

The Albany Times-Union takes note of the latest Massachusetts effort to consider extending the Worcester Line to Springfield and maybe even Pittsfield and asks that as long as we're going to the bother, could we push the line a bit further and hook them up? Read more.