Seashore Trolley Museum Boston Day June 19, 2010 (Saturday)

That's something to be proud of 1131 ! Beautiful work !

EXCELLENT JOB!!! Cant wait for Boston Day.

Today they were working on installing 5821's overhauled traction motor. Unless some really weird problem shows up during testing, the car should definitely be running by Boston Day.

The #4 EBT cars are also being worked on intermittently. As I understand it, a new air compressor was installed the other day, and needs to be wired up and connected to the piping. That and adding poles are also expected to be done by Boston Day.

MBTA3247 wrote:That and adding poles are also expected to be done by Boston Day.

I do not know who told you this, but it is not true. The subway curator and I are certainly scrambling to get them ready in time, but we are not expecting them to be. They will at least be powered up and in the East Boston lineup (which MassBayMC1131 has been busy painting), but there is no guarantee that they will be running. Only 0623's pole base tower has been made and it still needs to be welded onto the roof, a technical glitch assisted by severe weather prevented this from being completed this past weekend. 0622's tower has yet to be fabricated, and once that's done it will need to be sanded down, primed, and painted before it can be welded on. Once that is done, the poles have to be installed and wired in. Since both cars need to be connected to the power source in order to work (both pantographs have to be up, and this isn't possible with pole operation since each car's pole will only work in one direction), an overhead jumper cable must be installed so that one pole will power both cars. This is a lot of work remaining with only 1 weekend left to do the work. We've resorted to a plan B which is at a greater cost to expedite the welding process, but without the second tower ready and the jumper wiring in place, we are in no position to even claim that they will probably run, let alone promise it. It is safe to expect to see them powered up and open for exhibit, but not in operation. This way, if we do miraculously get them done in time, everyone will be pleasantly surprised.

Update on the #4 East Boston cars: I'm sorry to say that they will be on static display only for next weekend. No work was done to 623's tower last week since the shop was swamped with other work, and the other tower has yet to be completed. The replacement compressor has been installed and works great, however we can't get 623's brakes to release. When we try to charge the line it goes into emergency. The controller was taken apart and a few components were cleaned and/or replaced, but the problem persists. We think it might be due to a leak in a trainline valve underneath the car, which will be fixed in the coming weeks. Meanwhile the cars were cleared of spare parts which were shipped inside the cars, and the seats and floors got a good scrub, so they'll be in good shape to be explored.

In other news, 3127 has been placed in the South Boston yard in hopes that it might make it to the shop this week, although I have no idea if the shop will have the room or time to deal with it, but it will at least be out and on display. The elevated train (0210/01000) has been staged and is in position to make mainline trips with passengers. The type 5 also went out on an inspection run last week, and I believe it is in the final preparation stages and will likely be in service in time for next weekend.

Other cars will be displayed, such as various work cars, subway cars, perhaps other PCCs, 396, and the LRV.

That's pretty much where it stands for now. I'm sure there are a few tricks up the Bus Dept.'s sleeve as well, but I'm not as involved over there so I don't know for certain.

Finally, I think it's worth mentioning that while I have been involved in certain aspects of the event, I am not one of the people responsible for putting it on. This information is to the best of my knowledge and is not guaranteed to be accurate, it is also subject to change.

I was told from the bus dept, we may have the following equipment:
Fishbowl 6069
Flyer 9138
Possibly one or both RTSs
Flyer T.T.s 4013 & 4028
Pullman 8361

This is subject to change, and most of these buses/T.T.s are not in perfect condition.

Looks like the Type 5 will be getting most of the attention on saturday! Ill be up there at the crack of dawn, working on things in the bus and rapid transit departments!

Boston Day was quite successful. Besides regular trips operated with 2709, 303, and 1700, several special trips were done with Boston cars. The El train (0210-01000) made two trips to Biddeford Switch; a planned runby at Messerve's was cancelled due to lack of interest. 396 made several trips between Arundel and Highwood, as well as a special trip to Messerve's Crossing near the end of the day; the latter was added at the last minute after the shop cleared it for one mainline trip. 5821 made two trips to Talbott Park with the general public aboard, its first trips in service in years. A demonstration of the former Red Line crane was done on the Butler Grove Lead in the afternoon (which I had to miss due to other duties). Finally, the #2, #3, and #4 East Boston Tunnel cars were all lined up in front of Highwood for most of the day, with the #4 cars powered up through a bug. Late in the day the #4 cars were moved onto the Butler Grove Lead for photos.

I took numerous photos, but will not have them up until mid-week due to a backlog of photos from another trip. I do have a handful of videos of 396 and 5821 up on Youtube.

For those who may have not come across this before, here is a amazing comparison of about 30 years!

Very nice. Here's my version of the lineup from Saturday:

http://photos.cityrails.net/showpic/?20 ... 322058.jpg

Very nice that you guys had the East Boston cars lined up for photography. As we read above, it takes a lot of people behind the scenes to make events like this happen! Sorry I had to miss it.

Don't worry Otto, as they say... "There's more where that came from!"

My photos are up, starting with the 3rd one on the 4th row. Enjoy.

Great photos, Derek. I especially like your "mechanical" shots. You don't see those often. That Philadelphia 1023 is a stunner- looks like something out of "Buck Rodgers" !