BusTalk Forum Index BusTalk
A Community Discussing Buses and Bus Operations Worldwide!
 
 BusTalk MainBusTalk Main FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups BusTalk GalleriesBusTalk Galleries   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

"Boston Comes To Brooklyn"
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BusTalk Forum Index -> Surface Transit - Eastern United States
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:21 pm    Post subject: "Boston Comes To Brooklyn" Reply with quote

All:

In the July/August 1992 issue of the old "ELECTRICLINES" magazine, there is an excellent photo article on the vintage streetcar/rapid transit equipment that was then being used in the then-filming Spike Lee film, "MALCOLM X".

For sequences set in Boston, a train of Museum BMT "D"-Types were lettered for the "BOSTON ELEVATED RAILWAY", and were furnished with destination sign readings (from Boston) typical of that era.

The units were not running under their own power, and were hauled by a small SOUTH BROOKLYN RY. diesel.

What was a bit odd (at least to me), was that a train of the "Standards" were not used instead; the Standards, after all, were inspired by the 1912-era Cambridge-Dorchester (today's "Red Line") rapid transit cars.

Too, nothing like the "D" types ever operated on Boston's rapid transit network (perhaps the Standards were unavailable to the filmmakers at that time)

Also, recall that, in the early 1990's, it was impossible to film "el" sequences, as the "Main Line El" came down in the 1970's (the former BMT Myrtle Avenue elevated subway line was used in the film)

Also in the same film, a Birney from Seashore was brought down to Brooklyn, and a 1000-foot long stretch of overhead was erected over old rails near Bush Terminal.

This was to recreate the scene in Lansing, Michigan, where Malcolm's father was chased to his death in front of a Lansing streetcar; this Birney (The B&QT operated Birneys into the 1930's) was lettered "MICHIGAN ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

After the filming, this car was sent back to Seashore (a portable generator/rectifier powered the car while filming took place), and the Museum "D"-types had the BERy lettering and Boston destination signs removed........

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a 1970's-era photo showing two old Boston "Red Line" cars being used in work service; as you can see, there is some resemblence to the BRT/BMT "Standards".......

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/boston/htm/usr_h_bos_redline_workcars_jt_bos127.htm


(courtesy: davesrailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Again, you can see some of the BMT "Standard" in this ex-Boston "Cambridge" car at the Seashore Trolley Museum.

Note the doors that slid on tracks mounted outside the cars; some of the BMT "C"-type elevated cars used a similar arrangement.......

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/boston/htm/usr_h_bos_seashore_0719_seashore_jt_bos399.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Birneys seemed an odd choice for use on "big city" systems, including Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn cars mostly worked the lightly-traveled lines, including various shuttle.

One B&QT Birney survived at the 9th Avenue depot until 1956 (in work service), when the last streetcars in Brooklyn pulled down their poles for the last time.....

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bqt657.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Compare this view of a BMT "Standard" with the views of the original Boston "Cambridge" cars.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?26222

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's another view......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?87169

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The old Boston "Main Line El" cars in lasted in revenue service until the early 1960's; as you can see here, these elderly cars would not have looked at all out of place in New York (these cars look like IRT "Lo-V's" on steroids!!!) Shocked

Also, note the different roof styles......

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/boston/htm/usr_h_bos_orangeline_0973_jt_bos281.htm

(courtesy: daverailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Whose on first"??........

In Nw York, the first subway trains did not operate until 1904.

However, ELEVATED trains in Boston began operating underground in 1901.

In 1901 (and until 1908) elevated trains* used the outer tracks of the Tremont St. subway; surface streetcars continued to use the center tracks.

Third rail was installed between the Haymarket and Pleasant St. portals, along with an automatic block signal system.

Subway station platforms were also rebuilt, to handle both elevated cars and surface trolleys.

The downfall of this "multi-mode" operation was that there was no through streetcar service between Park St. and Scollay Square; passengers between thee points had to transfer to the underground elevated trains, made for much rider inconvenience.

By 1908, streetcar service was restored through all parts of the subway, formerly served by the elevated trains.......

"NYO"

*Interestingly, these trains were often "mixed", with both gate cars and vestibuled cars in the same consists, making for quite interesting work for the harried platformen!


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In Boston, several "El" stations once had ramps (w/loops) which brought surface streetcars up to station platform level, allowed streetcar riders a quick across-the-platform transfer to elevated trains.

One of the largest "transfer stations" was the massive Sullivan Square station, torn down not long after "El" service ended in 1975, featured a massive trainshed, that sheltered both El trains and streetcars; in later years, buses connected with the trains, on the same level.

In Brooklyn, B&QT once streetcars connected directly to elevated (subway) trains at the old Stillwell Avenue terminal.

The streetcar tracks here were stub-ended, and a crossover was also provided for the cars.

Too, the BRT/BMT "El" trains "rubbed shoulders" with the B&QT streetcars, passing through the cavernous Sands St. station.....

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sands St., many eons ago.......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?118067

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A long-ago photo snapped at the elevated trolley terminal at Stillwell Avenue, showing a Peter Witt on the Norton's Point line.....

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?141082

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is also interesting to note that elevated rapid transit came to Boston many years after the first elevated railways operated in New York (the Chicago "L" also once carried interurban trains of the CA&E and the NORTH SHORE)

The Boston "El" began operation in 1901, and was closed down in 1975; today, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia still have elevated lines.

In New York, however, the remaining "Els" serve only subway trains; the Myrtle avenue line, which closed in late 1969, was the last of the "traditional" Brooklyn elevated lines.

Though the 3rd Avenue El stopped running in Manhattan in 1955, the Bronx portion continued in operation until the early 1970's.......

"NYO"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

More "Boston Goes To Brooklyn"........

Note the collection of photos at the top of this page; these pictures show the ex-Boston (MBTA) PCC's that were to operate in Brooklyn a number of year back.

Sadly, this grandoise project fell through........

http://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/brook.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 5:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A few more "Boston in Brooklyn" photos (Brooklyn Historical Railway Association).......

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bhs01.htm

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bhs05.htm

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bhs12.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 22278
Location: NEW JOISEY

PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Historical note:

The ex-Boston PCC's seen in the previous selection of photos were known as "picture window" PCC's; these sleek and distinctive streamlined streetcars were not only the last new PCC's purchased for use in Boston (1951), they were also the last PCC's built by Pullman-Standard (these cars also featured air brakes, unique for the that era of new PCC's).......

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Wed Oct 25, 2023 11:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    BusTalk Forum Index -> Surface Transit - Eastern United States All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 1 of 4

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group