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"Boston Comes To Brooklyn"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 7:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ex-Boston "Picture Window" PCC's in Brooklyn, when their future seemed assured........

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bhs06.htm

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/nyc/htm/bhs09.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 10:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Regarding the original 1912 "Cambridge" subway cars in Boston and the later BRT/BMT Standards.......

When these cars entered service in 1912, interior sliding doors were used to separate the non-smoking section from the smoking section (smoking was allowed on the trains at that time)

These cars originally used wooden seats in the smoking sections, and plush cushions in the non-smoking sections (recall, rattan seating was once virtually universal in New York)

Unlike the BMT's cars, some of these cars were later modernized (postwar) with updated seating, florescent lighting, and improved ventilation.

The last of the old "Cambridge" cars were retired in the mid-1960's, several years before the last "Standards" ran in New York........

"NYO"
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 10:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Boston streetcar influence in Brooklyn.....

Perhaps the most unusual of all Boston streetcars were the distinctive "Two-Rooms-And-A-Bath" cars.

These early articulated cars were, in essence, the great-great-grandfather of today's modern light rail vehicles.

The first entered service in 1912, using pairs of older single-truck cars, with a low-slung "vestibule" between them (air-operated doors were operated by the conductor, who was stationed in this section)

Not long afterwards, more such units were built, but now using double-truck cars.

The last "Two Rooms" ran in Boston in 1924.

Interestingly, one "Two Rooms" unit operated in Brooklyn for some years; this was car #4900, rebuilt from two obsolete single-truck cars.

Unlike its Boston counterparts, this car was not successful, and was retired in 1925........

"NYO"


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sat Oct 24, 2020 2:34 pm; edited 2 times in total
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is a most interesting postcard view (circa-1908) showing the elevated Dudley St. (Boston) station of the El.

Note the inclined ramp which allowed the streetcars to connect with the elevated trains on the same level.......

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/boston/htm/usr_h_bos_stcr_dudleystterminal_bv_bvb150.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is a photo gallery of the unique Boston "Picture Window" PCC's; as noted earlier, some of these cars later went to Brooklyn for a historic streetcar operation that, sadly, never took hold.......

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

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

History, photos, etc. on Boston's Orange and Red lines (it is interesting to notice the differences and similarities between the rapid transit equipment in Boston and New York).......

https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/MBTA_Red_Line

https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/MBTA_Orange_Line

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As was once the case in Newark, trolley buses also operate underground in Boston.

In fact, the modern, dual-powered coaches that serve the "Silver Line" today are clearly the great-grandchildren of the ASV's that PS operated until 1948......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_Greater_Boston
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NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's several pages of vintage and modern-era photos of Boston's trolleybuses; if only Brooklyn's trolleybus lines had not bit the dust in 1960........

https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/MBTA_Cambridge_Trolleybuses
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In this 1972 photo, we see an older model MBTA trolleybus emerging from the Harvard Tunnel.

Look closely, and you can see bits of old streetcar rail in the pavement (streetcars shared this tunnel with the trolleybuses until 1958; streetcars and ASV's shared the entrance ramp to PSNJ's Cedar St. Subway between 1936 and 1938)

Before it was remodeled, the tunnel portal (as seen here) was virtually identical to that used by PS streetcars/ASV's to reach the lower level of the PS Terminal in Newark.

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?127155

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)


Last edited by NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629 on Sat Oct 24, 2020 1:18 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 12:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As mentioned earlier, Birneys seemed quite out of place in both Boston and Brooklyn (in 1929, the BERy. sold their Birneys to an operation in Brazil)

Here, in this photo, one of the few remaining Brooklyn Birneys is seen at the 9th Avenue depot, now relegated to work car duties......

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?118232

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 12:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In Brooklyn, trolley buses operated for 30 years, from 1930 through 1960.

The prewar coaches were built by ACF, TWIN COACH, and PULLMAN.

The last new trolleybuses for Brooklyn were built by ST. LOUIS in the late 1940's, and operated for little more than a decade, before being replaced with NYCTA new diesel buses.

In Boston, later-model prewar trolleybuses ran in regular service until the dawn of the 1960's; postwar trolley buses included P-S and ACF-BRILL models, and operated until the mid-70's, when new coaches replaced them........

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 12:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Note that some of the prewar Broad St. (Philadelphia) subway cars also bore some resemblence to the old Boston "Cambridge" cars.

These hulking "built like a tank" prewar Philadelphia cars also give one an idea of what "updated" versions of the "Standards" might have looked like, if still being built in the late 1920's/1930's)

https://www.newdavesrailpix.com/phl/phl_sub_old_subwayel_broadst.htm

(courtesy: davesrailpix)
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

........several years before the first "Standards" entered service in New York, the BRT ordered its first steel (elevated) car.

This was #998; the car was built by PRESSED STEEL, and was, overall, patterned after the elevated cars ordered by the BERy (these were known as "Easy Access Cars")

#998 was tested on several BRT elevated lines, running in trains of open gate cars.

Later, the car was used on the BROADWAY FERRY shuttle; retired in 1916, it was later used as a pay car, and a revenue-collection car.

In its last years (sadly, this historic car was not saved for preservation) it was used to store baled newspapers and trash at the Coney Island shops......

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 10:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like the BRT/BMT "Standards", the new (1912) "Cambridge" cars in Boston were monsters; they measured in at 69', 2 1/2 " in length.

The "Main Line" elevated cars, were shorter and narrower than the new "Cambridge" units (these cars were just shy of 47' long); this was, roughly, the same dimension difference between the IRT and BRT/BMT cars in New York.

Interestingly, recall the period in the late 1950's, when a group of IRT "Lo-V's" were transferred to the BMT for several years, due to an equipment shortage; the IRT car had to have "skirting/flanges" attatched to allowed the narrower cars to safely platform at BMT stations.

A similar situation once arose in Boston, on the BEry., when a group of "Main Line" El cars were temporarily assigned to the Cambridge line, during an equipment shortage.

These narrower cars had to be equipped with temporary steel extension plates at the door sills, to bridge the gaps resulting when cars 9' wide stopped at platforms designed for wider equipment........

"NYO"
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Like New York, Boston's rapid transit network employed (and still does) lines that use rolling stock of different dimensions.

For instance, The "Main Line El" (and the later East Boston Tunnel Extension) utilized cars that were roughly of the same dimensions of the IRT and the H&M.

On the other hand, the Cambridge-Dorchester line (today's "Red Line") used rolling stock that were similar in dimension to the BMT/IND.

It is also interesting to note that, unlike the New York elevateds, all wooden cars on Boston's elevated lines were gone by 1928, replaced with all-steel equipment.

By the time the last wooden El equipment in Boston was retired, their open platforms had been enclosed.........

"NYO"
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