Green Line E Branch Speeds, Today & 50 Years Ago.

It's been a long time since I rode on the E line into town. It seems much slower going down the incline into the tunnel from Northeastern. Anyone know what may have been the speed was when PCCs were going into the tunnel and along the subway?

Estimated speed(as the PCCs didn't have speedometers) is likely around 25-30 mph going down the ramp. They likely would not go faster due to the S curve between the ramp and Symphony station. The long raceways between Symphony and Prudential, Copley and Arlington would allow them to run up to their rated 42 mph. Some cars may have been governed to 35-38 mph.

Thanks, it definitely seemed faster back in those days.

They don't have speedometers??? Wow.

Many rail vehicles did haven't speedometers, even into the 1980s/90s. On heavy rail (subway/el lines)
it was assumed in the day that a motorman could have a good feel of the speed based on the throttle
positions on the controller. Even many older EMDs and Alcos running now have speedometer retrofits.

Speed was enforced with time signals and trips. There was no need for speedometers.