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  • Boston and Worcester Street Railway

  • This forum is for discussion of "Fallen Flag" roads not otherwise provided with a specific forum. Fallen Flags are roads that no longer operate, went bankrupt, or were acquired or merged out of existence.
This forum is for discussion of "Fallen Flag" roads not otherwise provided with a specific forum. Fallen Flags are roads that no longer operate, went bankrupt, or were acquired or merged out of existence.

Moderator: Nicolai3985

 #1251  by ewh
 
Is the proper name of the trolley line from Boston to Worcester the Boston and Worcester Street Railway? I remember the bus line that ran in the 50's and into the 60's was the B&W and I assume it was the same company with rubber tires instead of steel. The buses followed the former trolley lines and branched through central Massachusetts besides serving Route 9.
 #1645  by eddiebear
 
Yes. The bus operator on Routes 9 and 20 between Boston and Worcester with some local operations in Framingham, Natick, Marlboro, Southboro and Hudson was the sucessor to the Boston & Worcester Street Railway. The correct corporate name was Boston, Worcester and New York Street Railway which was adopted after a financial reorganization. It had several subsidiaries which in later years kept the transit operation afloat. There was a school bus rental operation and truck sales and leasing. It also had a bus subsidiary, Dedham and Needham Transit Lines which I think was the last incarnation of Modern Bus Lines, Forest Hills-Charles River-Needham. I'm not positive this was the exact route.
The Route 20 Boston-Worcester bus operation was a motor age creation. It was not a through trolley route at all. Lengthy sections never had trolley service. It was a parkway type operation, initially, and cheap to set up. All you needed was a bus. The section from Marlboro to Shrewsbury had no local service until about 1952 or so. There was a Worcester Consolidated line, later Worcester Bus Co. route that served local passengers and when the Worcester company exited the route, B & W acquired it.
 #139536  by mb41
 
The official name was "Boston & Worcester Air Line"

 #140016  by BaltOhio
 
If anyone is interested in more detail on the B&W bus operations, the latest ("October-December 2004") issue of Motor Coach Age has a complete history of the company, its routes, its equipment, and the various successor operators on its old routes. It also has a very brief background history of the trolley operation. (Motor Coach Age is published by the Motor Bus Society, P.O.Box 261, Paramus, NJ 07653.)
 #548486  by hportze
 
During the 1940's and 1950's the bus line also included a route from Wellesley Hills Square (intersection of Routes 9 & 16) to Wellesley Square (intersection of Routes 9 & 135) with an occasional side route north on Weston Rd.,west and south on Manor Ave. back to Route 9 west. (This route also was reversed.) I very often used the B&W from and to my home off Weston Road, most often to and from Boston to the Park Square Station. My wife and I eloped, starting with a trip on the B&W bus. As I recall, the colors of the B&W were red and white.

The Wellesley area also was served by the M&B lines (Middlesex and Boston) with purple and yellow colored buses.
 #548526  by aline1969
 
hportze wrote:During the 1940's and 1950's the bus line also included a route from Wellesley Hills Square (intersection of Routes 9 & 16) to Wellesley Square (intersection of Routes 9 & 135) with an occasional side route north on Weston Rd.,west and south on Manor Ave. back to Route 9 west. (This route also was reversed.) I very often used the B&W from and to my home off Weston Road, most often to and from Boston to the Park Square Station. My wife and I eloped, starting with a trip on the B&W bus. As I recall, the colors of the B&W were red and white.

The Wellesley area also was served by the M&B lines (Middlesex and Boston) with purple and yellow colored buses.

M&B buses were all Maroon and Cream, other than near the end when they bough second hand buses from the Eastern Mass.
 #549453  by ted_roy
 
Following along the same basic thread, what was the color scheme of the B and W's freight motors?

Thank you for your help in advance,

Ted.
 #549502  by aline1969
 
Gosh I wish someone would become the only surviving B&W trolley's friend :-D There is one housed in Maine at the msueum
 #549836  by ted_roy
 
Are there any current photos of the car? I have only seen the one on NERAIL. From what I understand, the car is the Boston, an upgraded parlor like car. When it was purchased away from the B&W was it damaged converting it into a shed like many other coops.

Ted.
 #549850  by Leo Sullivan
 
Fifty years ago, when I was a teenager at Seashore, the most frequent questions were from tourists who remembered the
Boston & Worcester or the Portland - Lewiston Interurban. Now, those who remember the B&W or PLI are few indeed.
149 and the PLI car were acquired at that time amid great enthusiasm but, as we know, neither money nor labor
materialised to restore them and, now priorities have changed.
LS
 #549868  by aline1969
 
ted_roy wrote:Are there any current photos of the car? I have only seen the one on NERAIL. From what I understand, the car is the Boston, an upgraded parlor like car. When it was purchased away from the B&W was it damaged converting it into a shed like many other coops.

Ted.
That photo shows me in the pic, lol. I toured Frank Hicks around that day. That is the most recent photo of the car. In the museum book by Ben Minich shows the one known photo of 149 in service.

About five years ago James Tebbetts looked at this body and gave it a price tag of about 250-300K to restore it.
 #550010  by Gerry6309
 
The actual name of the car was the "City of Boston". Its mate was the "City of Worcester". The car was retired ca. 1930 and was brought to Seashore in the 1960s. For many years the body sat near the road near where the Parts Warehouse stands. The late George Burdick of Hudson, MA stabilized the body and put it on trucks in the late 1970s. It suffered from a major Carpenter Ant infestation, which was dealt with at the time. Since then it has received no attention, as few know much of the line. The BSRA published a book in the 70s, "Trolleys along the Turnpike" detaiking history of the the rail operation. (Turnpike. in this case. refers to the Boston-Worcester Turnpike, today's Route 9)
 #550285  by ted_roy
 
Gerry, Leo, et al,

Thank you for clarifying the names I did know that but somehow it did not translate to the posting. As someone who lives on the old Worcester and Suburban RoW, I am very interested in this car. It represents the last car that was used in Worcester, excluding WCSR shop motor 038, that exists at least domestically. The problem is that none of the local Museums have time and resources to schedule a re-building of this scale. As was stated before, Seashore has other priorities, I volunteer at CTM, we have our hands full with a very large docket of cars being worked on. The car being the last of its kind in from the only real interurban that ran in Massachusetts should have a brighter future. Besides the ant problems, was there any structural damage done while it was used off the rails? Is it sitting on the correct trucks or just serviceable ones? Also does anyone know what the color scheme was for the car? Or the sister freight service cars?

Is there any grant/ ISTEA-21 monies that could be found for this car? Are there any problems with the car getting money from Massachusetts, but being located in Maine? Would it be a candidate to run in Lowell? Being a native car has its advantages, I hope.

Thanks for listening,

Ted.
 #551010  by aline1969
 
ted_roy wrote:Gerry, Leo, et al,

Thank you for clarifying the names I did know that but somehow it did not translate to the posting. As someone who lives on the old Worcester and Suburban RoW, I am very interested in this car. It represents the last car that was used in Worcester, excluding WCSR shop motor 038, that exists at least domestically. The problem is that none of the local Museums have time and resources to schedule a re-building of this scale. As was stated before, Seashore has other priorities, I volunteer at CTM, we have our hands full with a very large docket of cars being worked on. The car being the last of its kind in from the only real interurban that ran in Massachusetts should have a brighter future. Besides the ant problems, was there any structural damage done while it was used off the rails? Is it sitting on the correct trucks or just serviceable ones? Also does anyone know what the color scheme was for the car? Or the sister freight service cars?

Is there any grant/ ISTEA-21 monies that could be found for this car? Are there any problems with the car getting money from Massachusetts, but being located in Maine? Would it be a candidate to run in Lowell? Being a native car has its advantages, I hope.

Thanks for listening,

Ted.
Hi there, the Worcester trolley 149 just needs a friend like many others do. I am interested in this car also but I decided to raise money for the Middlesex & Boston trolley that served the western Boston suburbs. Both these two cars sit in the rear of Fairview barn. Over ten years with no grants etc I have raised 66K and the car is heading to the shop in 2010. It takes a project manager who will raise funds and build a file for the car "curitorial report, photos, history etc."

Lowell has our New Orleans car right now and would ideally rather an Eastern Mass St Ry car since that is the railway that served Lowell, but I could be wrong :-D