The Boston Trolley and Transit Meet 2010 Is In The Books!

I have a bunch of photos I plan to post, but I need some info on the various buses that were there so I can add captions. If anyone knows the histories (year built, model, builder, operator(s)) of the buses (except for 2600), would you please PM me? Thanks.

Also, anyone know why Everett Shops decided to paint 2600 in MTA colors when it apparently never worked for the MTA?

MBTA3247 wrote:
Also, anyone know why Everett Shops decided to paint 2600 in MTA colors when it apparently never worked for the MTA?

That was the only one available of that series at the time. Most, if not all have been junked. 2600 was an Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company bus, of a type which is of particular historical significance to street railway companies. Many of this series were purchased by the MTA's succesor, the T, in 1968 as well, when they took over EMStRyCo. I know of the location of another one, which I gave to the gentleman from the T at the show yesterday. It too is former EMStRyCo and is (was ?) also located in a junk yard. He expressed excitement about my information as this gentleman would like to personally own one - so you may see two soon ! The MTA's were longer and slightly different but all in all- pretty close. The GMC's all had the same sound and ride though and were very different from the Macks.

3rdrail wrote:The MTA's were longer and slightly different but all in all- pretty close. The GMC's all had the same sound and ride though and were very different from the Macks.

The actual 2600's were the same length as the MBTA's '2600' - 35 feet long. The real buses were the slightly older TDH-4509 model built in 1950-51, while the restored bus is a 1957 model TDH-4512. It does look great, though - my only beef is that I wish someone would come up with an actual rollsign with real MTA-era destinations instead of the unchanging 'GMC BUS' sign.

RailBus63 wrote:

3rdrail wrote:The MTA's were longer and slightly different but all in all- pretty close. The GMC's all had the same sound and ride though and were very different from the Macks.

The actual 2600's were the same length as the MBTA's '2600' - 35 feet long. The real buses were the slightly older TDH-4509 model built in 1950-51, while the restored bus is a 1957 model TDH-4512. It does look great, though - my only beef is that I wish someone would come up with an actual rollsign with real MTA-era destinations instead of the unchanging 'GMC BUS' sign.

Yes, both 2600's were 35-footers, however most of the original MTA's GMC "Old Look" buses were 40-footers as opposed to the 35-footers that they started out with. Compare number of windows. There were 70 35-footers versus 177 40-footers. I'm not knocking her- she's a beauty and is a great representation of an early MTA GMC bus that was a workhorse for many years.