Trolley Thursday 10/29/20 - Charlie on the MTA

Talk to any musically-minded rail enthusiast and you'll be met with plenty of hits that celebrate the colorful history and identity of America's railroads. From bittersweet ballads like Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans" to joyful hobo songs like the "Wabash Cannonball", it seems all of America's railroads has its identity and popularity set in musical form. Oddly, the same cannot be said for street railways; perhaps it's their mundane nature that keeps them from being romanticized in song, or it's the fact that Meet Me In St. Louis' famous "Trolley Song" is enough to fill the nostalgic void. However, in the City of Boston, there is one song that's lived on in fame, and infamy, about what was once one of the most confusing fare systems ever implemented on a street railroad. On today's Trolley Thursday, make sure you take along an extra dime as we look at the odd and colorful history of Boston's most famous subway song: "Charlie on the MTA."

Trolley Thursday 10/27/20 - Notable Streetcars and Rapid Transit of Boston

 While Boston has had a fantastic and varied streetcar history, possessing both the oldest subway in America and some of the longest-running revenue streetcar lines in the world, one of the biggest oversights we've had this month is discussing just how varied and unique some of Boston's streetcars actually are. We already touched on the differences between heavy- and light-rail systems, so now that we've established where these cars have run (and still do), we can dig deep and see what sets Boston's streetcar fleet apart from the rest of America. Climb aboard and indulge in your inner nerd as we excitedly discuss the different types of streetcars to grace the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (better known, of course, as the MBTA). 

Trolley Thursday 10/22/20 - The Mattapan-Ashmont High-Speed Line

As we've gone through the many avenues of streetcar history, we've seen lines that've never closed since their inception, lines that were returned from the dead with brand new technology, and many many many heritage streetcar lines. What we haven't talked about yet is such an outlier it seemingly only exists in Southern Boston. To my knowledge, and to my editor's, it's the only revenue (non-heritage) streetcar service in America that still runs with heritage equipment. Why is this "Hooterville" streetcar so unique a branchline, both on the MBTA and in America? Why hasn't it been closed? And more importantly, what makes it a "high speed line"? All of these questions and more will be answered in today's Trolley Thursday, all about the Mattapan-Ashmont High Speed Line!

Trolley Tuesday 10/20/20 - Lowell National Historic Park & Seashore Trolley Museum

Heritage trolley lines have long been a mainstay of American cities since the Bicentennial of 1976, and cities such as Seattle, Dallas, and New Orleans alike have seen their heritage streetcars run well into the 21st Century on their own dedicated routes. With heritage streetcars come the possibility of urban revitalization and that nasty word, "gentrification", but don't underestimate the power of a heritage streetcar. Even the filthiest and most industrialized city can find itself beautified with a street railway, and no heritage trolley exemplifies this more than the longest-running heritage streetcar in America, the Lowell Street Railway in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Trolley Thursday 10/15/20 - Springfield Electric Railway

 Springfield, Vermont, is a small town on the western side of the Connecticut River, with the state of New Hampshire in the east. Just 14 miles south along Highway 91 is the town of Bellows Falls, where F. Nelson Blount's famous Steamtown USA museum was originally located. Though Springfield is a small town (with its population not yet cracking 10,000 people), its railroad history is rich with both streetcar and heavy rail operations. One of the biggest names out of that region is the Springfield Terminal Railway, which came to prominence as the operations wing of the Guilford Rail System (now Pan Am Railway), but originally started out as yet another boom-town trolley. On today's Trolley Thursday, let's board the little Springfield Electric Railway and find out why this legendary line deserves to be remembered.

Trolley Tuesday 10/13/20 - The Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway

Shelburne Falls is a tiny town housing 1,731 people, and is only 15 miles from Massachusetts's northern border with Vermont. This area is lush with green foliage, making it just another exemplary New England small mountain town, but despite only being a whole 2.6 square miles in size, Shelburne Falls was once home to a thriving street railway like any other American town. Connecting to the town of Colrain just 6.5 miles north by road, this Toonerville Trolley only lasted until the 1920s and has had much of its history scrubbed away by time. However, there is one piece of rolling stock that continues to keep this fallen flag on the lips and memories of locals and tourists alike. On today's Trolley Tuesday, let's take a short look at the history of the Shelburne Falls & Colrain Street Railway.

Trolley Thursday 10/8/20 - The Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad

Public beaches are such a fact of life in America, today, that any normal person would be up in arms at some rich person encroaching upon a public recreational land. However, prior to 1896, no city-owned beaches existed in the United States and, as such, it was a free for all. Even after receiving rail connection in 1875, "Chelsea Beach" was just another ownerless public common until the Metropolitan Park Commission (now the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation) assumed control and opened the renamed "Revere Beach" to the public on July 12, 1896. Since then, the beach has continued on with tens of thousands of people visiting its temperate waters every single year, and almost always on an MBTA Blue Line train. As autumn draws the curtains on one of the hottest summers on record, return with us now to the thrilling trains of yesteryear as we recount the history of the Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn Railroad.

Trolley Tuesday 10/6/20 - The Boston Elevated Railway

Today, Boston's North Station is home to the mighty nest of Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, TD Gardens, which sits directly atop one of the city's most prestigious and famous railway terminals, North Station. Not only is this area still the hub of rail transit in Boston for Amtrak, MBTA, and the Green and Orange Line subways, but in 2004, it played host to the final moments of one of the city's most beloved (or maligned) city transit services. On June 25, 2004, the last "streetcar" service along the Washington Street Elevated entered North Station and closed yet another chapter of century-old history in the Hub of the Universe. Today, we'll look back on how the Boston Elevated Railway both captivated and caused distress for the City's people, and why it still deserves to be remembered.

Trolley Thursday 10/1/20 - The Boston Subway System

Another month brings another rich stock of streetcar, interurban, and rapid transit history to sink your teeth into. I want to thank all of the people and museum organizations who frequent, share, and find our series both entertaining and educational, whether it's insulting streetcar executives' facial hair or lamenting the loss of another legendary system. From Nakkune and I, you are all loved.

Today's month of October concerns the City of Boston (or to quote one of its own beloved mayors, "da cittabossun") and its rich electric railway history. The City of Champions is home to many firsts: the first shots fired in the American Revolution, the first American Dynasty through the Kennedys, and where we're concerned: the first subway in America. Despite being well over 120 years old, the combined system continues to serve as the main backbone of the Green and Red lines for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (better known as the MTBA). Today, let's ship up to Boston and uncover the deep, congestive history of the Subway Tunnels!