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

rhodiecub2 wrote:Yesterday during the last half hour of the PM rush hour and from 6 onward, I saw a lot of Type 8-7 pairings on the C and the E line. Is this a common practice now?

Yes. They try to pair Type 7s up with Type 8s so that at least one car in the train is low floor accessible. But you do sometimes see trains consisting only of Type 7s, I'm not sure why this happens.

Type7trolley wrote:

rhodiecub2 wrote:Yesterday during the last half hour of the PM rush hour and from 6 onward, I saw a lot of Type 8-7 pairings on the C and the E line. Is this a common practice now?

Yes. They try to pair Type 7s up with Type 8s so that at least one car in the train is low floor accessible. But you do sometimes see trains consisting only of Type 7s, I'm not sure why this happens.

There's more 7's than 8's total. Therefore, depending on what's available in the yard on a given shift you'll get your occasional 7-7 consist. They'll also trainline 7's if a car is being particularly ill-behaved electronically in a mixed consist, which does happen with certain extra-finicky 7 individuals. Easier to go 7-7 than pull it out of service altogether for a glitch that doesn't in any way prevent normal running.

Here's a good question, since the couplers don't allow for any up/down movement, would different wheel wear rates prevent them from coupling some cars together because the couplers are diferent heights?

The couples do allow for height difference unlike railroad couplers. The coupler hooks to the car on a ball joint allowing the bar to move up down and side to side. The tooth that sticks out on the bottom of the couple is the guide to help raise or lower the opposing coupler into it.

danib62 wrote:I had 3820 tonight on my way home from class and noticed that they had the new fugly multi-colored "vandal-proof" seat "cushions". (cushions in quotes b/c whether or not they actually cushion anything is up for debate). They still had the green pads on the 4 half seats in the middle section. Also one seat in the middle section had half new "cushion" half old cushion mismatched. I really hope the T isn't planning on converting the type 8s to the new style seats. I have never seen the original ones vandalized so I think it's a really pointless and wasteful move.

Yeah I got on that one and was unhappy to see the new seats, and the bad job in the middle. I rode this train in July 2009 and it still has the half seats with the old vinyl and some of the seats with the cushions only converted. This is one of the only Type 8s with the new seats I think. Has anyone else noticed any other #s with the new seats? I sure hope they keep the old ones.

What is going on with 3879 being Out Of Service from that Delrailment/Fire in 2009 is it in for repairs or just seating in the Yard???

AFAIK it's still sitting at riverside on shop trucks with a tarp over it.

When did the Type 8 trains first appear on the E branch? Was it much later than the other 3 branches?

"August 20, 2004-Type 8s began operating to North Station and began operating in revenue service for the first time on E Heath St.-Huntington Ave. service."

Full time line here
http://mysite.verizon.net/rtspcc/MBTAroster.html

If I remember correctly, the Type 8s were introduced on the E line at the same time as the others, but pulled pretty quickly because of derailment issues near Northeastern. Some dead weight was added in the articulated section to weigh down the center trucks and solve the problem, and they were re-introduced not long after that. Type 8s were removed from the D line not long after they came into service as well. I believe it was because of excessive swaying at high speed (or something like that). That problem has also since been fixed and Type 8s are now running on all branches. They were only brought back onto the D line last year.

mitch3910 wrote:If I remember correctly, the Type 8s were introduced on the E line at the same time as the others, but pulled pretty quickly because of derailment issues near Northeastern. Some dead weight was added in the articulated section to weigh down the center trucks and solve the problem, and they were re-introduced not long after that. Type 8s were removed from the D line not long after they came into service as well. I believe it was because of excessive swaying at high speed (or something like that). That problem has also since been fixed and Type 8s are now running on all branches. They were only brought back onto the D line last year.

The infamous 8/22/04 Northeastern derailment where 3806 and 3841 both jumped the tracks and 3806's center truck landed smack on the platform. Shut the E for most of the day, and then to add insult to injury when they were towing 3841 through Park St. to the inspection pit it derailed again and took out a light fixture. That was only 2 days after Breda service first began on the E. They didn't return to the E until 12/30/06, and they pulled them from the C for over a year-and-a-half because of that derailment too. The T stopped accepting new Type 8's a few weeks later amid the fallout, and then in December they temporarily halted the car order altogether to sort out the debacle with Breda.

The picture of that accident was sprayed all around as public Exhibit A of the cars being lemons. Unfortunately a Google search is turning up empty-handed right now since all the news, blog, and messageboard (including RR.net) archives from that time all seemed to link to the image hosted on now-defunct BadTransit. I remember somebody here had that pic as their avatar for years.

These are two images I acquired a few years ago of the derailment at Northeastern. There was another image more clearly showing the center trucks on the platform somewhere on the forum, but I haven't had any luck in scrounging it up.

http://picasaweb.google.com/taylor.lock ... 2JC31LX1WA#

Well that doesn't look right...

A necro, but I swung by Riverside today and saw 3803 with quite a bit of damage, and the ends removed (cannibalization)?

I love how the T stores the wrecks at Riverside right out front where everyone can see them. I'm sure it inspires confidence in the riding public, especially new riders or tourists visiting Boston for the first time.