The Type 8 Discussion to End All Discussions(Type 8 tracker)

diburning wrote:The vandal proof seats were installed on some of the type 6's but were later converted back to the plastic ones.

That must have been quite a feat to accomplish.

geoff2 wrote:How're those Type 8's on the D-Line coming along, by the way? I moved out of Boston a few weeks ago, so I have no first-hand knowledge. All I know is they're 7 months late, and counting...

As far as I know they're going nowhere. I just don't think they're ever going to put the 8s into service on the D. I'm sure the MBTA has a whole pile of useless excuses why they didn't release them for service nearly 8 months ago like they said. I just foresee them putting it off longer and longer, they'll still have those old bucket 7s puttering around for another 30 years.

My understanding was that the Mass DPU has to sign-off on the release. Which they haven't done yet. Slightly OT the DPU kept asking for more testing on the Orange Line ATO on the Northside delaying that project.

JoeD

diburning wrote:The vandal proof seats were installed on some of the type 6's but were later converted back to the plastic ones.

So they went up to seashore and changed the seats on a wooden mock-up that never made it to production? That really does seem like a waste to me .

dieciduej wrote:My understanding was that the Mass DPU has to sign-off on the release. Which they haven't done yet. Slightly OT the DPU kept asking for more testing on the Orange Line ATO on the Northside delaying that project.

JoeD

Thats basically what I had assumed. I remember reading about how many miles/hours the new Siemens cars on the blue line had to put in before entering service, and it was a lot. Hopefully they'll be signed off soon, if nothing else than for the arctic temperature AC that the 8s have.

danib62 wrote:

diburning wrote:The vandal proof seats were installed on some of the type 6's but were later converted back to the plastic ones.

So they went up to seashore and changed the seats on a wooden mock-up that never made it to production? That really does seem like a waste to me .

Then changed them back to padded seats! I don't know of any plastic seats on the Green Line except for the PCCs.

But seriously, this is about Type 8s! There is a seat thread... But I do want to hear if they change anymore Type 8s over in this thread.

NETransit's roster is now showing 3892 in service.

MBTA3247 wrote:

diburning wrote:The vandal proof seats were installed on some of the type 6's but were later converted back to the plastic ones.

That must have been quite a feat to accomplish.

oops I meant type 7's I typoed.

sery2831 wrote:

danib62 wrote:

diburning wrote:The vandal proof seats were installed on some of the type 6's but were later converted back to the plastic ones.

So they went up to seashore and changed the seats on a wooden mock-up that never made it to production? That really does seem like a waste to me .

Then changed them back to padded seats! I don't know of any plastic seats on the Green Line except for the PCCs.

But seriously, this is about Type 8s! There is a seat thread... But I do want to hear if they change anymore Type 8s over in this thread.

The padded seats were what I meant to say. The padded seats are made of plastic so I said plastic.

I saw a two-car set of 8's drive by Crystal Lake today between Newton Center and Highlands around 5 pm or so. It looked to be going full speed, and it was pretty closely preceded and followed by in-service cars. Lets hope for a Labor Day service release!

Hey I saw that train too! It was stopped at Chesnut Hill for a minute or two. It was 3860 and some other car. Can't wait to see D riverside on the LCDs. The only disadvantage is that you can't just see the green LEDs on the T8s from 300 feet away and instantly know it isn't a D train...

I was waiting at Hynes at about 11:00 pm Friday night when 3893 rolled by (without stopping of course). The LED read "Test Train" and naturally the car was very shiny. It appears to be close to revenue service, which leaves only 3894 to finally complete the acceptance of the order. What a 13 year process it's been, quite a run indeed. Perhaps we can keep the Type 9's roll-out to single digits, but I won't get my hopes up. Speaking of which, how 'bout those Breda's on the D...ugh. Labor Day is probably optimistic, more like Halloween or Thanksgiving, if then. I desperately hope I'm wrong.

The status of their release for service on the D is kind of unknown, at least to me. I've seen a good number of 8s driving around during the day now in between revenue sets so I think that they must be getting close. Theres a good number of them at Riverside every time I go out there, I even saw a 2 car set of 8s drive through the inbound platform at Riverside during the evening rush hour. I'm optimistic that they will be ready soon now that you mention 3893 testing, I've been thinking they would wait until a holiday to surprise everyone with them, keep your fingers crossed!

lockt87 wrote:The status of their release for service on the D is kind of unknown, at least to me. I've seen a good number of 8s driving around during the day now in between revenue sets so I think that they must be getting close. Theres a good number of them at Riverside every time I go out there, I even saw a 2 car set of 8s drive through the inbound platform at Riverside during the evening rush hour. I'm optimistic that they will be ready soon now that you mention 3893 testing, I've been thinking they would wait until a holiday to surprise everyone with them, keep your fingers crossed!

Loram grinder was parked on the Boylston outer track again for a couple days this week, so they might be doing some touch-up grinding on the D rails in prep for the rollout.

I also noticed yesterday that it looks like they've made some significant progress on the new platforms at Longwood and Brookline Village, which I think is another thing they may be waiting for, so the platforms line up properly with the low sections.

I noticed on NETransit this evening it has Type 8 #3862 listed as "Veh Engineering test car". Does anyone know what this is?