Quiz...

dieciduej wrote:Well that's a horse of a different color!

They are to prevent the trolley contact from hitting the bridge structure if the is a dewirement. Also they are energized so that the streetcar can continue to move and not lose power.

They are common over railroad crossings. Thanks for the visual clarification, I was blinded my Jessica!

JoeD

&*@#!^!! And I just found similar info at http://books.google.com/books?id=pf5MAA ... ss&f=false... Okay! I admit to attempting to cheat using Google... (Hey, at least I learned something new).

Pantograph, trolley- I can't believe I didn't make the connection (no pun- really). I thought I remembered the guards from the Green Line subway but my more recent photos didn't have them. I never would have guessed they were energized.

Anyone have recent photos of them on the Mattapan High Speed?

Yesiree - Joe nailed Question 9 ! Nicely done, Joe !!! You now take the lead at 50 !!! And for # 8 ? That will leave the lonely # 6 by itself, opening up the last guess for the win !! Yay !!! If no one gets the last question, the win goes to highest scorer.

Joe - 50
SP - 40
Kev - 20
Domenic - 20
Urbie - 10
Josh - 10
Leo - 10

joshg1 wrote:Pantograph, trolley- I can't believe I didn't make the connection (no pun- really). I thought I remembered the guards from the Green Line subway but my more recent photos didn't have them. I never would have guessed they were energized.

Anyone have recent photos of them on the Mattapan High Speed?

I have shots of the ones under the Adams St bridge by Milton here and here. I doubt those are energized, as there's no safety issue if a dewirement occurs there.

Those serve as barriers, insulators, and mounting brackets for the overhead. You are correct, Dom that they indeed do not carry power, in fact, they are probably wooden. The devices in this quiz are metal and are energized. They come in steel and brass in ten foot lengths, and are used primarily at bridges and railway crossings. Their primary purpose is one of safety should a car de-wire fouling an adjacent set of tracks and in the vicinity of just where a drawbridge "breaks" as well as "lifts", just in case of either a inattentive bridge keeper or a keeper with a blind spot that doesn't notice a foul upon raising a bridge.

Barriers inside the abandoned segment of the Tremont Street Subway:
http://photos.cityrails.net/showpic/?ph ... ullman0517" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not the judge but I reckon papabarn got the answer with his Google books link- #8 is "trolley guard". Otherwise that's my guess. If it has a nickname I don't know it.

That's it Josh, they are guards ! Unfortunately, Papa didn't tell me. (He is after all a rolling stone !) I reviewed his answer and it is on the Google find but it never was offered as an answer that I can see- not even highlighted (for which I would have given him the points).

Joe - 50
SP - 40
Kev - 20
Domenic - 20
Josh - 20
Urbie - 10
Leo - 10

6) This darn form wants to know if the MTA logo on the car needs to be updated. There's a couple of types here. It's called ------ --- ----- ?

OK - we're now in the Danger Zone with one last question remaining. The person who answers this will win, or if no one gets it by tomorrow eve, winner will be high scorer. Here's the page out of the 1940's Ohio Brass Company catalog that covers Guards. These are for trackless trolleys, but would be the same for streetcars except that it's got an extra wire for a negative to ground (no tracks).

These are screen captures from Forest Palmer's Boston Trolley's 1948 to 1956 DVD. They show the Meridian St Bridge and Trolley Guards in action. For those with the DVD or VHS it is in the 30 minute to 45 minute time frame.
JoeD

3rdrail wrote:Those serve as barriers, insulators, and mounting brackets for the overhead. You are correct, Dom that they indeed do not carry power, in fact, they are probably wooden.

The ones currently on the High Speed Line are all steel.

MBTA3247 wrote: The ones currently on the High Speed Line are all steel.

If they are "Guards", more than likely they would be steel. If you look at the page from my Ohio Brass catalog, brass was also offered, but suggested only for heavily fouled installations such as extreme salt water spray or steam locomotive exhaust. I would imagine the brass ones would be prohibitively expensive, so I'm sure that steel was used almost all the time and replaced when worn with a new steel one. (Can you imagine now with brass and copper at an all-time high selling price ? These reprobates that are out stealing the stuff would be out with their wrenches at 4AM, climbing up on the bridges trying to steal the charged brass guards ! BBBZZZZZZZZZ !!!!)

The last question (and I think the easiest one) is seductively wriggling (along with Jessica) there for you for the win !

OK, it looks like we're at a stalemate. And I thought that the answer to this last question was the easiest ! It's answer is...that it was/is commonly referred to as the CITIES AND TOWNS logo !!! It was replaced by the "egg" (or "goose egg"). The cities and towns had a costly feature. Every time that the MTA extended into a new town, the entire fleet required an artist to add it ! So, the Goose Egg was born ! Everybody did a great job with a lot of enthusiasm ! Thanks !

Joe is the official winner !

Oh, by the way...did you catch my hidden clues regarding this quiz being "unusual" ? Well, it is, as it had a prize and the prize is a transit mystery gift (and a nice one too !) I just happen to have an extra one of these and I'm happy to give it to someone who will appreciate it. It was given to me by transit icon George Sanborn, so in addition to being something you'll like, it's got a nice provenance ! Probably won't be doing this prize thing again for quite a while and I'll let you know up front if I do. Joe - give me your address privately. (give me at least a week to get it out to you).

Wow, I won Jessica!

Thanks 3rdrail again for the mystery prize and taking our brains out for the exercise. I sent you an e-mail.

JoeD

Here's a quick Quiz FOR KIDS ONLY - 16 YEARS OF AGE OR YOUNGER.

Marylou and myself went out to test the new trackless trolleys. We got as far as the edge of the power station parking lot on Harrison Ave. and we stalled. No power it seems. Marylou went to the rear, looked up, and saw that a pole wasn't on the wire, but the other (live) wire and pole were attached.

What could be the problem ?
Would a streetcar have this same problem ?
What shock hazard does a trackless trolley have to passengers that a streetcar generally does not ?
Where was the first American trackless installation ?
How many volts are in trackless trolley wire and are there more or less than a streetcar ?

5 Questions, 20 points each. Highest scorer gets to be acknowledged as "Trackless King" !

I'll take a guess and say the cart could easily catch fire if the poles spark, that's the danger they face.

Hi MBTA Fan - I'm assuming that that's your answer to Question #1, and it's really not what I had in mind. I'm looking more for the reason that they stopped. It seems like the 16 and under crowd is having a little trouble, so let's open this up to 21 and under, ok ?