Tunnel Turned Into Safety Training Facility

[The EGE]

I figured out where I was getting it from. Quoting from F-line's post in another thread a few months back:

Are the old trolley tunnels at Broadway even capable of handling Red Line cars?

All tunnels have been built to Red Line dimensions spec since 1912, and since Broadway upper was built on the footprint of the underlying heavy rail tunnel it matches the dimensions.

[3rdrail]

Hmm- it seems pointless to argue with no hard documentation. However, I'll just repeat that there seems also to be no point in going to the extra trouble in construction and property disturbance (which would be extensive and potentially project cancelling due to the tight radiuses required). Also, I've been all through those tunnels, and I can tell you that as a one-tracked tunnel system with tortuous "S"-turns, I can't imagine a Center-Entrance car, much less the largest rapid transit cars in the entire system fitting through there. I would be very interested in seeing solid documentation of that fact as one of the things that has always fascinated me is what was envisioned and never was. As I suggested above, if this is the case, it would suggest plans for either another line or a connection with the Dover Street Yard, but I think that such documentation will not be found.
http://photos.cityrails.net/showpic/?20 ... l&BOOL=ALL

[sery2831]

I sort of think that is a misleading statement. It's built over the tunnel, but clearly the exact dimensions were not copied as the upper level has a low level platform and not a high ceiling. The widths are more than likely the same, but the height is not.

[3rdrail]

Yes- the streetcar tunnel clearly goes outside not only the dimensions of the Dorchester Tunnel, but also expands well outside it's tract as well with it's spidering around Dorchester Ave., Foundry Street, etc. Some things to consider: The original order of Cambridge-Dorchester cars were at the time. the largest rapid transit cars in the world at over sixty-nine feet in length. They were so large that all the other Boston rapid transit systems couldn't contain them. Also, a rapid transit tunnel involves considerably more engineering, construction, cost, and property over-taking than does a surface car tunnel. The reason primarily is that the rapid transit line needs more gentle radiuses. If you're a Lionel buff, it's like trying to make a layout on a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and trying to decide whether or not to use 027 or 072 track. The point being that in order for the BTC to go ahead and build this tunnel project to R/T standard, they would have to have a definite plan at the time to have rapid transit running through them. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been constructed to that scale. Even in the days of considerable expansions, that wouldn't have flown with the BTC.

[3rdrail]

Brand spankin' light grey ballast new !

[MBTA3247]

Was the track on the left a connection for surface cars?

[3rdrail]

Yes. The connection to/from West Broadway - Dorchester Ave. for surface cars to run towards/from Summer St. I believe that what we're looking at here is the south portal which is extinct with the north portal still in existence. From what I understand, a ramp started at W.4th/Dot Ave., but looking at this photo, I'm inclined to think (no pun intended !) that the south portal was just on the south side of the Broadway Bridge. What do you think ?

[Leo Sullivan]

That is a photo of the Dorchester Avenue portal of the Dorchester extension Rapid Transit.
Note the date over the entrance. Never saw that one before. The tracks on either
side belong to the New Haven RR. Both ends of the Broadway trolley tunnel
led onto paved streets.
LS

[MBTA3247]

I'm thinking that you're talking about the wrong portal. The photo is of the Red Line portal by what is now Columbia Junction. If you look closely, the top of the tunnel has the date "1925"; the Broadway streetcar tunnel would have said 1916 or 1917, if it had a date on it. Don't be fooled by the overhead wires: the entire Ashmont branch was wired up during construction so BERy's work cars from the surface division could operate on the line.

Back to my original question, the track on the far left looks like it could be a connection to Boston St for surface cars, but I've never read or seen anything to confirm that guess.

[3rdrail]

Could have fooled me. I thought that the original Dot Ave. Portal was still there and that certainly was much larger than this one. This looks more like a surface car standard to me. I don't see a third rail either. The overpass does have the right angle for Dot and the side rails would be NH - it just looks too small to me to be for those big C-D cars.

[GP40MC 1116]

It will be interesting to see if the construction phase includes building a "Fake" station to go along with the cars, like a platform etc... It was said in the article that this is for Police, however it is also going to be used I imagine for other emergency services training such as Fire/EMS etc.

Also to note, although I need to find more information/follow up on this is the 0652/0653, 3468, 3480, 3485, 3499, 3514, and 3520 that were sold to the U.S. Gov't and moved to the U.S. DOT/Transportation Technology Center, Inc in Pueblo, CO. I was speaking with a senior TSA security/safety specialist one time and he mentioned to me that some of those cars perhaps would be used in a under construction subway emergency responders training center... aka a mock subway station underground... With budget cuts etc who knows if it came to reality, but its been at least a year 1/2 since we spoke. I would be curious to see what the plans are...

[3rdrail]

That will be unlimited federal money used so I anticipate that it will be state of the art beyond our wildest expectations.

[wicked]

Car is put into the tunnel.

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/09 ... rit=135293

"A large crane will lower [ed note: this has now happened] a retired Blue Line subway car into the MBTA’s underground Emergency Training Center this morning, where officials say first responders will eventually undergo training in realistic conditions for emergencies on subway, trolley cars, and buses."

[diburning]

Hey look!! The Red-Blue connector! Just kidding, but it's kinda cool to see a blue line car and red line cars in the same area. It's been a while since that happened!

[R36 Combine Coach]

NYPD and FDNY have actual subway cars at their training facilities, including mock platforms. A R44 and R62 are at FDNY Randalls Island and one R32 and one R33 set at the NYPD Floyd Bennett Field.

I imagine other cities do so as well.