Is no news good news?

Well, there hasn't been much going on in terms of the MBTA in the past few days, and I suppose this can be taken as good news.

Aside from the peculiar 'terrorist librarian' at Alewife, no major service problems or changes have occurred lately, which could be due to the transition of seasons. We've escaped the cold and snow of winter, but haven't yet entered the A/C-crippling heat of summer. So spring at the T is a breeze.

I'll take this opportunity to update y'all on the status of a few things at TH. I recently took over as the administrator of The Forums, relieving CS of his duties there. He will now head up our advertising & PR campaigns, including recruitment for our Forums and site promotions.

The Forums remain steady, and I thank you all for your continued posting. You've all made it the place for uncensored conversation about all modes of transit in Boston, and we hope to expand this concept (as well as TH in general) to other transit-rich cities around the country. (Email me if you're from another city and are interested in helping!)

This summer, I am planning to launch an ambitious and exciting multimedia endeavor that I hope will be both beneficial and educational to Boston railfans, commuters, and residents in general. Stay tuned for more...

Thanks again!

Mike

Amtrak vs. Rail Crew; Forums Update

This morning, an Amtrak train struck a rail crew car near Back Bay station, leading to the death of the flagman due to a heart attack. This is the second train vs. crew incident in recent weeks, and leads to many more questions about crew safety on the MBCR/Amtrak network. Why was the train allowed to pass into the same block as an active crew team? Had the crew filed for appropriate protections while working on the busy line? It is unfortunate that this has lead to another death, but hopefully something good will come from this by way of policy review...
For more on the incident, visit the Globe



Also, I'd like to update you all on the forums situation. This morning, the forums went down yet again, however a message was available on the BoardZero home page stating that they are aware of the problems, and think they are fixed, but are testing their system now. Hopefully this means The Forums will be back up and running for good later today. I'll refrain from opening the "backup" forums in anticipation of the BoardZero ones reopening today, but I'll keep you posted!

Thanks,

Mike

Forums Information: Update 11:45PM

Okay, so leave it to BoardZero to make asses of us all.

The forums are back (again), hopefully for good.

We are monitoring the situation, and I have set up a "contingency" forum if there is another prolonged outage.

I'd like to thank you all for your patience during these frustrating outages, and your continued support of TransitHistory!


Sincerely,

Mike Prescott
Owner, TransitHistory

Charleston Sargeant
Marketing & PR Chief, TransitHistory

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