All the Boston Type 5 Car photos you could want

[daveklepper]

I am posting the following photo because the caption for the previous posting is in error.  Trapelo Road is correctm but rhe location is Not the Common Street short-turn location, but the enf of the line before the loop to permit PCC operation was added at Waveerly Square.

The following picture proved it:

 

 

[daveklepper]

The oldest of the photos are from Autumn 1949, when I was Freshman at MIT.  The MIT-Crew Charles River color photo is Spring 1950 or 1951.  North Station, a later fan-trip, between 1957 and 1966.

The separate Fellsway thread photos are all 1952-1953. 

[MidlandMike]

When were the color photo and the North Station photo taken?  The autos in those photos look a much later vintage.

[daveklepper]

I deeply appreciate the complement.  The negatives f some of these photos are in perfect or near perfect condition and may a bit of intelligent cropping and/or light-dark or contrast balancing.  Others require a day's work of spot and scratch removal (also). I hope the results make it impssible to tell which category is which, and your compliment justifies my effort (and that of Richard Allman who sometimes comes up with a final tweaking that is a real improvement).

[NKP guy]

   Beautiful and interesting photos, Dave.

   As a young railfan and traction enthusiast I often made the mistake of getting too much of the equipment in my photo and not enough context.  You seem not to have had that problem and consequently your photos are now much more interesting to view than my early (1964) attempts.  Thank you.

[daveklepper]

Many of mine have already been posted on the Fellsway Line thread and for Mattapan.  I will try to avoid duplicating those posts.  Type 5s served n mre Boston lines than any other type.  We'll start  in the area around Symphny Hall, Massachusetts Avenue, and Massachusetts Station.

The trackless trolley wire is for the part the loop on Massachusetts Avenue for the Mass. Sta. - Harvard Bridge - MIT - Harvard line.  The streetcaes shown ran Mass. Sta. - Dudley.  Today the bus runs Harvard - Dudley, and Mass. Sta.'s building was demolished for the Mass. Pike Interstate.

Watertown Square, Watertown Carhouse, Harvard - Watertown Line, today trackless trolley:

The above is on Mt. Auburn Avenue, near where the scene in the motion picture, The Cardinal, was filmed with a Boston streetcar loaned by Seasore running off the trackless positive wire, but with the rail ground return still useful.  Also on Mt. Auburn Avenue, with the MIT Lightweight Crew on the Charles River (also printed in the Boston Street Railway Society's MTA Years book):

At the Common Street polo short-turn crossover on Trapolo Road, the Harvard - Waverly Line. both cars using the crossover.  PCCs ran the through service to Waverly at the time, running through the underground Harvard streetcar alighting and barding stations from Arlington Heigihts or North Cambridge.   Post-WWII loops were built at Waverly and Arlington Heights to enable PCC operation.

But the B&A-NYCentral Highland Branch conversion to the Green D Line Light Rail was done on a budget.  Buses were boughten  to convert the Dorchester and Arborway-south trackless-trolley lines to diesel-bus, the trackless trolleys then moved to the Harvard Square Lines, so the PCCs there could join the fleet serving the Green Lines into the subway.

The Waverly line had a most pueculiar conversion. The additional negative wire was installed to the Waverly Loop and through sevice with TTs replaced PCCs.  But how to handle the heavy rush-hour Common-Street cutback service had been decided.  So for about a month, Type 5s continuied rush-hour North Cambridge or Harvard - Common Street service.  And during this period Arlington Heights went diesel bus, since Arlington did not want TT wires.  So Sundays saw Waverly - Arlington diesel buses, full-time Satruday and weekday TTs, and rush-hour Type 5s to Common Street.  Eventually a short-turn loop was constructed, but I have no idea where. 

At Revere Beach (two)

:

Suffolk Downs:

City Point:

North Station: