Type 7 Overhaul Program

onthegreenline wrote:anyone know what the "overhaul" entails? Is this just a coat of paint or are they going to sandblast/whatever the metal and repair everything? thanks!

The carbodies are getting much-needed work to repair the dings and rust spots that the paint only covers up. On the exterior they'll look like brand new cars. I don't know if the innards are getting much work. Except for the occasional door/reboot problem they seem to be running just spiffy after 20 years so probably won't be much except for replacing worn parts.

I'd really like to see those awful, abbreviated, unreadable LCD screens replaced by the bright bus-type LED's while they're at it. I know they were just installed, but they were purchased in '98 in anticipation of the Type 8's being available much sooner...and that was before LED technology got as good as it is now.

Un-freaking-believable. Spend all that money to patch up and repaint a car, then IMMEDIATELY deface it. Apparently all that work is done not to improve the appearance of their fleet, but to provide a smooth, rust-free place to put those effin' ad stickers. I am sorely tempted to write a complaint letter to the MBTA asking them where their pride went, but it'd be a waste of my time.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, the paint scheme (what I can see of it anyway) looks much better than I had thought. The Green Line is green again!

Nice job hunting the car down and getting photos, Matt.

Tonight I was walking from Downtown Crossing to Park Street and 3667 pulled in right in front of me. I would have taken a video, but my cell phone died earlier today. It was coupled with an Type 7 in the old paint scheme and it looks a lot better in comparison. The one thing I'd change would be to add another reflective stripe along the bottom. The green needs to be broken up somehow.

I was thinking the same thing, Matt. A green Scotchlite stripe along the bottom. Give 'em something else to line up those ads nice and straight on...

I think it looks great. I was a little skeptical at first, but I see it every morning on my way to work (usually tied up at Reservoir, though I rode it a few mornings ago), but I have to say that I really love it. I hope that it works well on the type 8's too. I'm not sure if there are any plans to repaint them, but it'd be a shame if they didn't, seeing as it's always good to have a relatively matching fleet. I don't think I'd change a thing. Very pretty green too.

I saw 3667 at Reservoir today chilling on the ladder track. Looks nice, but I kinda miss the silver finish that matches the Type 8s.

It does look a hell of a lot better than the old green scheme. You can see the two side by side in this shot:

So THATS what the new stop looks like...

Maybe they should just paint the entire top half of the cars black.

I see they modified the LRV paint scheme with out the black skirting. Thanks for the pics.

Painting top half of cars black would increase air conditioning load.

That red "STOP" panel on the front door, plus the metalic roof makes them look like a cross between Boeing LRVs and PCCs.

All and all, pretty good, now that I can see that they indeed grouped the windows like the previous scheme, but I say again, that advertising on the front HAS to go!

I caught Type 8 3875 today, with 3667 trailing. At Washington Sq., I saw the reflection of the trailing Type 7, and I though"That can't be right. That Type 7's green and white paintscheme is too clean and shiny". Upon further investigation, the Type 7 appeared to be 3667. I got the treat of it uncoupling from 3875 at Cleveland Circle and pulling into Resevoir carhouse. Aparently, they removed some of the ads from the sides, plus they removed the ads from the front . However, the sides and the roof are lightly dented, which makes the paint look uneven.

I've seen 3667 on the C line a few times this past week, with no ads on the side that I've seen it from. It really does look nice from the outside!

3667 was pulling into Lechmere this morning at 6:30am.