The printed 77 schedule no longer lists any 77A runs.
The 71 and 73 schedules show a few runs starting or ending at North Cambridge.
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Official Trackless Trolley Thread/Tracker
- Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
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by mharter
I described seeing a 40' non-articulated trolleybus painted silver, but I checked on the netransit roster and found no such equipment listed. I am certain that it had poles, but there was a truck in the left lane blocking my view somewhat so I could have missed viewing the articulation.
Are there any 40' ETBs painted silver?
Matt
Are there any 40' ETBs painted silver?
Matt
by octr202
mharter wrote:I described seeing a 40' non-articulated trolleybus painted silver, but I checked on the netransit roster and found no such equipment listed. I am certain that it had poles, but there was a truck in the left lane blocking my view somewhat so I could have missed viewing the articulation.Matt,
Are there any 40' ETBs painted silver?
Matt
Twelve of the Neoplan 40' tracklesses are curently assigned to the Silver Line Waterfront section. If you look under the bus section on the NE Transit roster, there is a section for bus asignments. It lists the buses that are assigned to the SL. All buses on the Silver Line are painted (I believe its actually a wrap) silver, and to my knowledge, are always restored to their yellow and gray colors before being released for service on regular routes.
Wondering if I'll see the Western Route double-tracking finished before I retire...
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
by octr202
This morning, 4012 appeared to have snapped one or both of its poles, while on (my guess) the second inbound 71 trip. It was just before the Belmont St./Mt. Auburn St. intersection. the next bus behind it was stopped, as were we on 4114. Apparently (it was dark, and the windows are almost opaque with grime, and thus hard to see) it must have damaged the trolley wire too, as a few minutes later an inspector's Suburban showed up to start pushing buses around the striken 4012. The "auto-retract" feature on the Neoplans sure helps speed that process up.
Now, if only they had that battery backup on the new ones...
Now, if only they had that battery backup on the new ones...
Wondering if I'll see the Western Route double-tracking finished before I retire...
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
by jwhite07
Having heard that Silver Line dual-modes have been testing on the Cambridge lines and not sure where they're being kept during this time, I went out yesterday afternoon looking to see if there were any around either Watertown or North Cambridge. Nothing outside at Watertown Carhouse at all, and I couldn't see anything inside the carhouse either, so I hopped a 71 to Harvard. On the way in, we passed dual mode 1104 heading outbound on Mount Auburn, running in electric mode on a test run. Turned out to be the only one I would see.
At Harvard I took a 77 to Cameron Avenue. No dual modes sitting around North Cambridge either, though there was a new Neoplan diesel amongst the trackless trolleys in the yard -- first time I'd ever seen a diesel bus at North Cambridge Carhouse. Went across the street to take a 77 back to Harvard, and was fortunate enough to catch a 71 pull-in instead. Right out of the wash rack, judging from how clean it was!
Seemed to be a minimal number of Flyers out running yesterday... only saw a couple on the road, but there were a whole bunch sitting around at North Cambridge even at 4pm.
By now I'm thinking the dual modes might still be kept at Southampton even though they're testing in Cambridge. Makes an awful long pull-in/pull-out, but the diesel mode needs to be tested too, and I suppose that's one way to do it!
At Harvard I took a 77 to Cameron Avenue. No dual modes sitting around North Cambridge either, though there was a new Neoplan diesel amongst the trackless trolleys in the yard -- first time I'd ever seen a diesel bus at North Cambridge Carhouse. Went across the street to take a 77 back to Harvard, and was fortunate enough to catch a 71 pull-in instead. Right out of the wash rack, judging from how clean it was!
Seemed to be a minimal number of Flyers out running yesterday... only saw a couple on the road, but there were a whole bunch sitting around at North Cambridge even at 4pm.
By now I'm thinking the dual modes might still be kept at Southampton even though they're testing in Cambridge. Makes an awful long pull-in/pull-out, but the diesel mode needs to be tested too, and I suppose that's one way to do it!
by octr202
Wow...the wash the tracklesses?? The 4110 this morning was so dirty you could barely tell there's yellow paint on the bottom of it.
Lucky catch with the 1104. I live on that street and haven't spotted one out there yet.
Surprised to hear that so many Flyers were at the garage. If anything, of late its seemed that there are a lot more of them running. At times on Saturdays, they seem to be almost all of the vehicles on the 71. I've also been getting them a lot more at rush hour, which sure makes the ride home a lot easier.
Lucky catch with the 1104. I live on that street and haven't spotted one out there yet.
Surprised to hear that so many Flyers were at the garage. If anything, of late its seemed that there are a lot more of them running. At times on Saturdays, they seem to be almost all of the vehicles on the 71. I've also been getting them a lot more at rush hour, which sure makes the ride home a lot easier.
Wondering if I'll see the Western Route double-tracking finished before I retire...
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
by flyermike
Washing the trackless would be a good idea. The windows are so dirty you can't see out of them.
This past saturday all that was running on the 73 were Flyers. They are fortunate to have both to choose from currently, especially at rush hour. I hate to think what it will be like when the day comes when all there will be are Neoplans.
Maybe rebuilding 10 Flyers would be a good idea - for rush hours - it worked well in Seattle.
This past saturday all that was running on the 73 were Flyers. They are fortunate to have both to choose from currently, especially at rush hour. I hate to think what it will be like when the day comes when all there will be are Neoplans.
Maybe rebuilding 10 Flyers would be a good idea - for rush hours - it worked well in Seattle.
by octr202
We could only hope. Ever since the Neoplans have shown up, there seems to have been a noticable downturn in schedule keeping. All I can think of is that the added dwell time (as people try to squeeze themselves in and out of the way too small interiors of those things) is making it hard to keep on schedule. Its not unusual in the evenings on the 71, between about 5 and 6:15, for the drivers to ahve to open the rear doors until beyond Coolidge Sq. (Arlington St. - Kimball Road) because the bus is so jammed that people can't get down the aisle to the front to pay.
Fortunately, given the small passenger capacity of the Neoplans, all it takes is being off schedule by a couple minutes at rush hour to end up getting swamped.
And yes, the windows are horrible on the low floors. They seem to coat themselves with spray from the wheels. Some of those windows are darn near opaque.
While I'm on a roll...I'm starting to wonder why they T had them put LED destination signs on these buses. After all, until they get a long extension cord, they're not likely to see more than three routes. The rollsigns on the Flyers have near 100% reliability, I'd say from my riding, the Neoplans are somewhere around 60%, and this is while they're still in their first year.
Sigh...my appreciation for the Flyers sure went up when I saw the replacements!
Fortunately, given the small passenger capacity of the Neoplans, all it takes is being off schedule by a couple minutes at rush hour to end up getting swamped.
And yes, the windows are horrible on the low floors. They seem to coat themselves with spray from the wheels. Some of those windows are darn near opaque.
While I'm on a roll...I'm starting to wonder why they T had them put LED destination signs on these buses. After all, until they get a long extension cord, they're not likely to see more than three routes. The rollsigns on the Flyers have near 100% reliability, I'd say from my riding, the Neoplans are somewhere around 60%, and this is while they're still in their first year.
Sigh...my appreciation for the Flyers sure went up when I saw the replacements!
Wondering if I'll see the Western Route double-tracking finished before I retire...
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
by SnoozerZ49
I've had people ask me how to get to the Silver line and I always have to ask them where they are going. I don't want to send them to South Station if they are going to the South End. When will a link between these segments be completed? Is it so far off that maybe they should have called the Waterfront segment something else to reduce the confusion especially for visitors? Oh yeah that's right, this is Boston.
by octr202
Someone's listening to our posts...last night and today I spotted several clean ones, including an almost sparkling 4114 last night. Its nice to be able to see out the windows again.
Wondering if I'll see the Western Route double-tracking finished before I retire...
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
Photo: Melbourne W7 No. 1019 on Route 78, Bridge & Church Streets, Richmond, Victoria. 10/21/2010
by jwhite07
Heck, I even saw a starter cleaning windows on an otherwise utterly filthy bus recently, with the help of some snow and a squeegee. He was doing a careful and rather thorough job of it, too. Definitely ain't his job, and he'd likely catch hell from the craft "responsible" for that work, but it is quite nice to see conscientious employees like that who see an unfilled need and just go ahead and take care of it.