Nostalgia & History > 5 of Boston PCC Streetcars

1. MBTA 3217 rolled ARBORWAY VIA HUNTINGTON AVE, on Huntington Ave. on August 17, 1970.

2. MBTA 3222 rolled M MATTAPAN - ASHMONT, at the Mattapan Terminal on June 25, 1983.

3. MBTA 3227 and 3251.  3227 is rolled E ARBORWAY VIA HUNTINGTON on June 25, 1983 in green.

4. MBTA 3227 rolled LEACHMERE VIA SUBWAY on August 17, 1970 in orange. 3227 leads a 3-car MUed train and was built by Pullman-Standard in 1946.

5. MBTA 3263 on the Mattapan-Ashmont High-Speed Line at the Capen Street Stop on July 5, 2012.  The hump on the roof contains the air-conditioning equipment. Mattapan and Ashmont are southern neighborhoods in Boston.

Comments and corrections always welcome.

Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/16 22:26 by MartyBernard.

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Photos very interesting especially Photo 4; do not recall ever seeing a photo before with more than 2 streetcars mu'd.

Actually, I know very little about streetcars. Operation of streetcars in Louisville KY (my hometown) ended on Derby Day Saturday May 1 1948. Louisville purchased PCC cars but never operated then because the decision to terminate service was made before they were delivered. Thinking was the cars would be new as long as they had never been run. All of the PCC cars were, thus, sold unused. I believe they were sold to either Toronto or Cleveland but am not certain.

To be quite frank, I do not understand the purpose for mu'ing PCC cars. I am assuming a PCC car is operated by one person, like a bus. Also, I am assuming that a fare collector would have to be on each trailing car. An explanation of how mu'ing actually works would be appreciated.

Thanks much.

ALLEN

>Photos very interesting especially Photo 4; do not recall ever seeing a photo before with more than 2 streetcars mu'd.

Three was the maximum (has to do with the overhead wire at switches and how the switch machines in the track were operated).

>To be quite frank, I do not understand the purpose for mu'ing PCC cars.

The same as MUing suburban cars: more passengers per train.

>I am assuming a PCC car is operated by one person, like a bus. Also, I am assuming that a fare collector would have to be on each trailing car.

Yes and yes (the fare collectors also operated the doors on the trailing cars).

>An explanation of how mu'ing actually works would be appreciated.

The pedal operated controller in the lead car operates the motor controller in the lead car and, via the MU connections on the couplers, the motor controllers in the two trailing cars, a remote control arrangement.

That 3263 won't MU with anything because the control line contact button boxes have been removed from both sides of the coupler.

It is a question of capacity.  Three MUed cars take up much less space and time on a line than three signal cars.  Depending on the signaling, three 3-car MUed trains may take up the same time and space as three single cars and carry nine times the number of passengers.

Marty Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 01:31 by MartyBernard.

Excellent photos!

#1 shows outbound cars emerging from the subway at Northeastern University (an inbound car's trolley pole can be seen over front of 3217). This is now the MBTA E line which runs only as far as Heath St loop today as operations to Arborway ceased in December 1985. The 1985 closure was originally intended to be temporary to permit track upgrade for the new Kinki-Sharyo cars to operate but street running was resumed in 1989 only as far the VA Hospital at Heath St.

#3 shows PCCs passing at the intersection of Huntington Ave and Washington St (Rte 9). Kinki-Sharyo and Breda cars still operate through this busy, nasty intersection on the E line.

#4 looks to be taken somewhere on the ex-B&A Highland Branch (known as the Riverside or D line today). Ironically, perhaps 10 years ago, MBTA went through a major catenary upgrade to permit 3 KS and/or Breda cars to operate (they use pantographs) on all of the Green lines but three car operation is rare today (it was happening at rush hour on a single train for awhile).

MBTA pairs a KS car with steps up to the floor with a Breda low floor car to improve overall train accessibility. Having said that, I think the use of Breda cars has slowed train speed on the Riverside line where, IIRC, PCCs were permitted 50mph running. Today speeds seem to be a more sedate 40ish mph. But there hasn't been much negative reaction as no regular T rider considers the Green line to be "rapid transit" - see Boston Globe article at link below:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/09/23/footrace-against-story-men-and-glory/Sgpkm39hgoezcXRiL9atiJ/story.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 03:15 by JPB.

I cannot help with the location of the Riverside line cars that are inbound to the downtown subay and then out to Lechemere terminal.

Note that the two trailing cars are in the short lived grey and white scheme with yellow doors, this did not reach fleet wide application.
​MTA/MBTA adapted a color code for its seperate rail lines:  Green for streetcars/light rail, Red for Harvard Sq.- Ashmont/Qincey, Orange for
​Sullivan Sq-Forrest Hills,  Blue for Bowdien-East Boston

3 car PCC sets were more common on the Riverside and Cleveland Circle lines then on the othe lines.  The 3 car set were some what seasonal as the
​appeared to be less often during the summer as Bostons population dropped as lots of college students left town for the summer as well as the
local ​poulation took vacation    

  The Riverside line operated as a light rail rapid transit line as there were no at grade street crossings, except for one golf cart crossing.  
​Riversides right of way was the former Boston and Albany branch  line to Riverside where the commuter trains looped and  returned to
​Boston on the main line from Albany to Boston    The Cleveland Circle and Boston College lines were on seperate right of  ways between lanes of traffic but had numerous at grade crossings
​for car traffic.  The Ashmont-Mattapan line was also on a former RR (New Haven) branch that has limited at grade crosings.  The Watertown line, now gone over 50 years,  as well as the current remains
​of the Arborway line ​competes with auto traffic in the streetrfor most of their route. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 08:24 by kpcmcpkva.

JPB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Excellent photos!
>
> #1 shows outbound cars emerging from the subway at
> Northeastern University (an inbound car's trolley
> pole can be seen over front of 3217). This is now
> the MBTA E line which runs only as far as Heath St
> loop today as operations to Arborway ceased in
> December 1985. The 1985 closure was originally
> intended to be temporary to permit track upgrade
> for the new Kinki-Sharyo cars to operate but
> street running was resumed in 1989 only as far the
> VA Hospital at Heath St.
>
> #3 shows PCCs passing at the intersection of
> Huntington Ave and Washington St (Rte 9).
> Kinki-Sharyo and Breda cars still operate through
> this busy, nasty intersection on the E line.
>
> #4 looks to be taken somewhere on the ex-B&A
> Highland Branch (known as the Riverside or D line
> today). Ironically, perhaps 10 years ago, MBTA
> went through a major catenary upgrade to permit 3
> KS and/or Breda cars to operate (they use
> pantographs) on all of the Green lines but three
> car operation is rare today (it was happening at
> rush hour on a single train for awhile).
>
> MBTA pairs a KS car with steps up to the floor
> with a Breda low floor car to improve overall
> train accessibility. Having said that, I think the
> use of Breda cars has slowed train speed on the
> Riverside line where, IIRC, PCCs were permitted
> 50mph running. Today speeds seem to be a more
> sedate 40ish mph. But there hasn't been much
> negative reaction as no regular T rider considers
> the Green line to be "rapid transit" - see Boston
> Globe article at link below:
> https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/09/23/footr
> ace-against-story-men-and-glory/Sgpkm39hgoezcXRiL9
> atiJ/story.html

Miss those PCC cars... I used to sometimes take the long way home from high school.. Instead of taking the Orange line from Essex to Forest Hills I would take the trolley.   They were supposed to extend the line back to the arborway but the Centre St businesses did not want it.    They had the $$$$..... One merchant in particular against it was Ferris Wheel bike shop..  He said people could get hurt ridding their bike could fall off if it got stuck in the rails ......

For those of you not familiar with Boston, you can still watch and ride PCC cars on the Mattapan-Ashmont shuttle.  Capen Street is still the best spot for photos.

Oh yeah--it's free.

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I am really happy with the responses and number of responses to these MBTA PCC photos both here and on Facebook. I was wondering if I get any responses.  I'll post more!

I am also glad for comments giving the exact location of the photo.  That is good information to add to the archived copy.

Marty Bernard