Clearing out "classics" at Riverside - Trolleys to be scrapped

https://www.auctionsinternational.com/a ... -bp-123817

It's sad to see the 3 LRV work cars (among other Type 7s) up for the scrap bid (at least as a fan...I'm guessing staff would say otherwise).

Will there ever be dedicated work cars again, or is that concept a "thing of the past"?

There are in fact plans to purchase new purpose-built work cars for the Green Line and each of the subway lines. Interestingly the spec calls for them to be propelled by hybrid diesel/battery power, not third rail or overhead. Would make shutting traction power off in work areas easier, I guess, and battery tech has matured enough for it to be viable.

If the three LRV work cars were used much at all it was for a brief period - they have been out of service for quite a few years now.

I recall once in my younger days wandering around unchallenged at Watertown Carhouse recording numbers of the PCCs stored there (including some ex-Dallas double ended cars still in ratty faded red from their time on the Mattapan Line) and taking a few photos. Looking inside the carhouse I spotted one of the home-built wire cars under construction and later learned it would eventually become Blue Line wire car 4367.

How can they not have use for a flatbed car? Does Seashore have any use for LRV or Type 7 husks?

Indefinitely maintaining the PCC fleet would probably have been less expensive than the LRV & Breda debacles. What a crime when those were scrapped.

I remember walking the long dead line of LRVs which stretched from the former Riverside station on the main line all the way to the back of the riverside yard. And admiring the cars stored in Watertown like the Type ?2/3/5? plow cars clad with wood. Those plow cars are superior to anything they've had since.

Noooo! Not the PCC-color Orange one!

Those relics have been hanging around for years. There are so many unused tracks at Riverside storing these wrecks. I am sure the T could use the extra space especially with Lechmere yard closing.

I remember seeing the white maintenance LRV parked on the stub track between Arlington and Boylston around 10 years ago.

BandA wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2020 1:55 pm Does Seashore have any use for LRV or Type 7 husks?

Nope. From the sound of things, these cars have already been stripped of usable parts, which may already be in Seashore's possession.

jwhite07 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2020 5:04 pm There are in fact plans to purchase new purpose-built work cars for the Green Line and each of the subway lines. Interestingly the spec calls for them to be propelled by hybrid diesel/battery power, not third rail or overhead. Would make shutting traction power off in work areas easier, I guess, and battery tech has matured enough for it to be viable.

If the three LRV work cars were used much at all it was for a brief period - they have been out of service for quite a few years now.

I recall once in my younger days wandering around unchallenged at Watertown Carhouse recording numbers of the PCCs stored there (including some ex-Dallas double ended cars still in ratty faded red from their time on the Mattapan Line) and taking a few photos. Looking inside the carhouse I spotted one of the home-built wire cars under construction and later learned it would eventually become Blue Line wire car 4367.

Coincidence, I did that too. First time was August 1973, noting about 2 dozen PCC's in the yard, some to be repaired, some recently refurbished and soon to be shifted back to either Reservoir or Arborway, and others which were eventually scrapped. I still have the lists of car numbers in the Watertown yard from my trips over there back in the 70's.

bostontrainguy wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2020 6:54 pm Those relics have been hanging around for years. There are so many unused tracks at Riverside storing these wrecks. I am sure the T could use the extra space especially with Lechmere yard closing.

I remember seeing the white maintenance LRV parked on the stub track between Arlington and Boylston around 10 years ago.

That was our rerailing car, 3417. It replaced PCC 3343 which served the same purpose until around the late 1990's. As a dispatcher I unfortunately had to call for 3417 far too many times to respond to Type 8 derailments, both in the Central Subway and on the surface. We usually sent the Copley Inspector, P-907, to operate it. The Charles storage rail was considered to be the most practical place to keep it, especially since a derailment in the Central Subway obviously would cause the most serious delays and a fast response was critical. Of course, storing it "indoors" provided the added benefit of helping to preserve it too.

I seem to recall seeing 3417 on the Charles siding in the early to mid '90s.

MBTA3247 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 6:52 am I seem to recall seeing 3417 on the Charles siding in the early to mid '90s.

No, definitely not early 90's. I was an Inspector then and was broken in on 3343 during that time. That was just about when they added trolley poles to 3404 and 3417, since 3402 had been scrapped shortly after a derailment at Lake Street and 3400 was either in dead storage or had also been scrapped. I don't recall which. We were still storing cars at Watertown and needed tow cars with poles, and 3417 was one of them. I believe it was converted to a rerailing car after the Watertown carhouse was closed and the line ripped up, so pole cars were no longer needed. That work began in 1996, so it was later than that. No matter, mid or late 90's, it served us well.

OT but related to last post: OCC Retiree, how often did something run to or from Watertown in the 80s and 90s? Was it once a week, once a day, once a month?