Sunday, March 25, 2007

New Charles/MGH Station "Official" Opening Tuesday

The "official" grand opening ceremony for the newly renovated Charles/MGH station will occur Tuesday at 11AM, according to the Globe's Starts & Stops column.

When I stopped at the station a week ago, it did seem a bit unfinished, so this is good to hear that it wasn't "officially" open yet!

Saturday, March 24, 2007

The New TH is Ready

The new TransitHistory is up and running, complete with our new sister blog, Lost in Boston, new forum partners, The MBTA Forum, and the very first exhibit of the Boston Transit eMuseum, The LRV: Beginning and End.

Be sure to check it all out, and discuss the LRV exhibit in The MBTA Forum!

More updates here are coming soon...

Friday, March 16, 2007

Update: green line e br.

Update: green line e br. ending at brig. circ. b/c of conjestion... Notice: th.org site launch delayed b/c of wthr, sorry!

The lrvs are officially retired!

The lrvs are officially retired! the trip was a sucess. will have an update later. also, the launch of the new transithistory may be delayed.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Farewell to the LRV, Part II

The LRV's grand finale is changing as fast as the weather.

Here's the latest:

-- The Wednesday "second to last" trip did NOT run.

-- The "final" public trip has been pushed off to Friday

-- There MAY be an additional trip today at 11, but it might be a private trip for the media.

-- The weather is 50/50 as to whether it will snow or rain Thursday night and Friday.

I can tell you that I will be in town Friday, hoping for the final trip of the LRV. What effect the weather will have on this whole thing remains to be seen. I'll post more if I get it.


Good luck!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Farewell to the LRV

This is some "unconfirmed" news but I'm going to share it with the risk of being inaccurate, as it is somewhat urgent.

It has been posted over at the Railroad.net forums that the final two "revenue" trips of the Boeing Light Rail Vehicles in Boston (and the world) will be MARCH 14TH and 15TH at 11:00AM. These trips will depart Riverside station at approx. 11:00AM and run inbound and presumably back out to Riverside in regular revenue service.

I will be there, with cameras and camcorder in hand, as will probably a small group of fans. Like them or hate them, this is the end of an era in Boston transit, and if you've got the time, you'll be glad you joined in.

The thread at RR.net can be found HERE.

UPDATE:
This is confirmed via Jonathan Belcher's NETransit roster.

"Last two revenue runs of Boeing LRVS will leave Riverside eastbound at 11:00 AM and Government Center at 11:44 AM westbound on Wednesday March 14th and Thursday March 15th"

If you can, come pay your respects to the elders of the Green Line!

Mike

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

ANOTHER Stabbing at Back Bay

Unfortunately, I'm posting a nearly identical one to that of just a few weeks ago...

The second stabbing in three weeks occurred tonight at Back Bay Station, this one involving two young victims. Witnesses describe seeing a victim lying in a pool of blood at the top of the escalators.

This year isn't off to a good start; let's hope for a better Spring.

More from WBZ

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Public Service Announcement: BSRA Meeting TONIGHT!

And now a brief public service announcement...

Tonight at the Grand Lodge of Masons in Boston, the Boston Street Railway Association will hold its monthly meeting. After the brief business portion, an entertainment presentation will be presented, this month by the BSRA's president and local traction expert Bradley H. Clarke.

"PHILADELPHIA IN THE 1980S, PART II"
Brad Clarke, BSRA President, will return with a follow-up selection of vintage slides from his large Philadelphia-area collection. This year, Brad will examine the West Philadelphia subway-surface routes as they once were; and as time permits, other elements of the system such as the High-Speed (Rapid Transit) lines, the Red Arrow Lines, and PTC's trackless trolley network.


For more information, including directions, visit the BSRA's website at www.thebsra.org

ALL ARE WELCOME!

Hope to see you there!

Friday, March 2, 2007

Green Line Outage @ Reservoir

Today's nasty weather shut down the D branch of the Green Line for quite some time, with a wire / power problem at Reservoir station. This caused the unfortunate passengers to be bused first from Riverside to Fenway, and later, between Newton Highlands and presumably Fenway. The latter option seems rather ridiculous, given the weather, to make people wait outside three times for vehicles, though i guess it's safer to wait on the platforms at the stations whenever possible (thus the trolley service between Riverside and Newton Highlands).

Hope you all had a safe commute today, and enjoy the beautiful weekend!

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Whoops! New Charles/MGH Opened 2/17

I apparently completely missed the opening of the new Charles/MGH station on February 17th... Sorry about that one!

In recent days, the new fare equipment in the new lobby was apparently not accepting people's passes, forcing the T to send out inspectors to manually allow people though if their valid passes didn't work.

More @ The Globe

Hitting the Grindstone & Hitting a Dumpster

Okay, this is it. I'm planning to make some kind of update here on a daily basis, whether it be news or personal rant, I'm going to do my best to send something along every day, though if I miss one, please kindly forgive me. On a similar note, TransitHistory will be getting a new look next weekend, which will mean the essential "full" operation of the site, complete with an eMuseum exhibit (the full Boston Transit eMuseum will open later this year).

As for the dumpster, a Guilford freight train smashed into a dumpster in Peabody this morning, wedging it between the engine and a nearby building. The accident didn't appear too serious, but it definately scores one in the unusual category...

More @ WHDH

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