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!

  

Streetcars Kill Heavy Rail

The Milton Branch's Central Avenue station in 1928, prior to the 
demolition of the station building and the construction of the High-Speed Line.
(City of Boston Archives, Public Works Department)

The Old Colony Railroad in 1893, as purchased
by the New Haven Railroad.
(Marcbela)

Before the invention of streetcars, the line running from Mattapan to Ashmont was originally built by the Old Colony Railroad in 1872. Dubbed the "Shawmut Branch Railroad", this line was more attractive than the similarly-routed "Dorchester & Milton Branch Railroad" as the Shawmut Branch went through more densely-populated areas instead of the swamp land along the "Midland Division" of the former Dorchester & Milton. The rail lines in South Boston soon came under the control of the New Haven Railroad (NH), as they purchased the Old Colony in 1893. 

Streetcars soon invaded the Shawmut Branch in the early 1910s, when the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) expanded its Cambridge-Dorchester line from Andrew to Codman Square. The new planned alignment paralleled the New Haven's Shawmut Branch, with planned connections at Forest Hills, Egleston, Dudley Square, and Andrew. However, by 1920, passenger numbers on the BERy and NH dropped and the two railways decided it was in everyone's best interest to downgrade the heavy-rail Shawmut Branch into a rapid transit line. That way, passenger numbers still met streetcar demand.

The New Branch Line

BERy "Type Three" Car No. 5194 stops at Central
Avenue Station in 1929. The lack of a canopy or
benches are quite noticable.
(City of Boston Archives, Transit Depahtment)

Plenty of Boston-area real estate developers welcomed the new BERy Rapid Transit extension, as new streetcar lines also brought with it new possibilities to sell land. This deal also extended to local and state politicians, who benefitted significantly from new property taxes in the new terminal at Mattapan Square. Construction for the line was approved on March 23, 1923 and the last steam trains ran in 1927. From there, significant modifications were made to convert the line, including adding an overhead wire, double-tracking the main line to Ashmont (where it met the Red Line's Southern terminus), and adding new ground-level paved stations in Dorchester, Milton, and Mattapan.

Despite the station at Ashmont serving bigger rapid-transit cars that ran out north of the Charles River, the BERy made a conscious decision to keep the Mattapan-Ashmont for streetcars. This was because. at the time, it was extremely cost-prohibitive to lay third rail and construct raised-platform stations along what was basically a two-mile boonie extension. This penny-pinching extension meant the BERy could run the line with countless opportunities for expansion as the area saw fit, and in turn the line would still be useful to South Boston residents even as the first three stations (Ashmont, Cedar Grove, Milton) opened on August 26, 1929, just in time for the Great Depression. Three more stations opened later that December (Central Avenue, Valley Road, and Mattapan), with the last two (Capen Street and Butler) opening in 1930 and 1931, respectively.

Ashmont Station, now rebuilt, would not get its streetcar loop until 2016. Before then,
transfers from the Red Line to the trolley were done by cross-platform.
(Pi.1415926535)

Local Attractions

An unknown "Type Four" motor and trailer putter
along the Neponset River on a freezing winter's day.
(Boston Streetcars)

Despite the endless opportunities for urban development, the area served by the Mattapan-Ashmont line was as quiet and pastoral from when it opened and even into the modern era. No urban development within a couple hundred feet of the Neponset River meant the line was attractive to day-trippers who enjoyed a streetcar ride through verdant green or powder-white winter scenery. As one journeyed south from Ashmont, they could stop at Cedar Grove to pay their respects at Cedar Grove Cemetery or spend a day at Dorchester Park (which is not a trolley park). 

Further down the line, the trolleys turned west and followed the old Milton Branch into Milton, a fishing landing and bustling small town center. Between there and Valley Road, the line paralleled the Neponset River before splitting off and crossing again just east of Mattapan. According to contemporary reports, the "M Line Trolley" only took 20-30 minutes to traverse its 2.54 mile route.

The Mattapan-Ashmont High Speed Line in its entirety, since 1931.

(Pi.1415926535)

Higher Speed from the PCCs

Pullman "Wartime" PCC No. 3294 in MBTA "T"
service crosses the unguarded Capen Street Station, early 1990s.
(Boston Streetcars)

While the line was originally run by the BERy's standard classes of cars (more information on them next Tuesday), their most famous residents have been their 1945-1946-built fleet of Pullman-Standard PCCs that originally came from the wider Metropolitan Transit Authority (better known as the MTA) system. Under the MTA, the PCC cars that later came to the Mattapan-Ashmont operated on the Green Line, and many of them retained these liveries when they arrived in 1955. Despite being single-ended cars, the MTA PCCs were equipped with multiple-unit operation (which Pullman excelled at, as St. Louis-built PCCs were usually run as single cars), so seeing two cars at peak service was not uncommon.

The best thing about the PCCs was the faster speeds they offered compared to the standard BERy types. Despite having light streetcar rails, the PCCs were able to handle interurban speeds as they shot between Mattapan and Ashmont at 40 miles per hour. Even as the MTA morphed into the modern MBTA by 1964 and the Mattapan-Ashmont line became part of the new "Red Line" map in 1966 as the "28 Mattapan-Ashmont", the little "Toonerville Trolley" continued to do its thing as if nothing had changed on the line. In fact, the most the PCCs changed came in 1978 and 1999. In those two periods, the PCCs underwent significant rebuilds to bring them up to modern standards. 

An ex-Dallas double-ended Pullman Standard PCC at Mattapan Yard in 1961.
The car is still in BERy colors despite running in MTA service, and three years later
it would be painted in "Green Line" colors.
(IronMike9)

MBTA "Wartime" PCC No. 3263 chills with its pole
up at Mattapan Yard on July 18, 2010. The white
unit is the new air conditioner/heater.
(ck4049)

The latter rebuild (from 1999-2005) involved assistance from the Seashore Trolley Museum's vast spare parts bin and volunteer workforce, as at the time, the Mattapan carhouse lacked the historic trolley parts and maintenance know-how as all PCCs were retired after the 1980s in favor of new Breda and Boeing-Vertol light rail vehicles. Blacksmiths from all over the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) were also employed, teaching the Mattapan shops how to conduct their own heavy repairs and replacements such as forging new parts and wheel maintenance. To celebrate this heavy rebuild, the trolleys were repainted from Green Line green to BERy orange and cream with a special MBTA "Geographic" logo.

The last piece of equipment on the line worth mentioning is the Portec RMC Hurricane Jet Snowblower RP-3, better known as "Snowzilla". With the PCCs unable to shove the snow out of the way due to the risk of shorting out the traction motors from so much melted snow, the MTA employs a "gas-guzzling plaything" (as the Boston Globe called it) to clear the snow along Mattapan-Ashmont line using really fast, hot air. Yes, even the snow-blower on this "high-speed" line is "high speed". "Snowzilla" first went into service in the 1970s, and since then this "giant hair dryer" that "requires 900 gallons of gasoline per trip" has been the one thing keeping Boston's light rail system (and the Mattapan-Ashmont Line, which the Boston Globe claims serves "half of 1 percent of T riders") going in the harshest of winters.

"Snowzilla" after a fresh overhaul in 2015. The jet engine mounted on it is a 
Westinghouse J34 turbojet originally applied to such aircraft like the 
Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar".
(MBTA)

Accidents and Incidents

Milton Station in August 2016.
(Pi.1415926535)

Even the sleepiest of boonie lines aren't exempt from major accidents, and the Mattapan-Ashmont line has the dark distinction of having some of the worst on the MBTA. In 1968, the Neponset River flooded its banks at Milton Station on March 18 and the station wasn't back in service until the afternoon of March 21. Thankfully, this has been the only time bad weather's knocked out the trolleys, but that hasn't stopped them from knocking out each other.

The aftermath of the December 2017
Collision, showing how strong the
PCCs still are for 74-year-old trolleys.
(Dorchester Reporter)

Three major collisions have happened along the Mattapan-Ashmont line, with thankfully no fatalities. The first occurred on March 20, 1979, when three trolleys crashed between central Avenue and Valley Road. After two streetcars had stopped to avoid a stuck police cruiser on a crossing, a third car swung around a curve blindly and smashed into the first two trolleys at speed. Unfortunately, the Mattapan-Ashmont line lacks any kind of signaling (possibly due to its boonie status and low service intervals) but unlike many other "token" or "un-signaled" lines guarded only by its timetable, the crashworthiness of Pullman-Standard's PCCs and the low speeds kept accidents like these from being worse.

This issue was soon remedied beginning in 2009, when the MBTA began testing collision-avoidance systems on the Mattapan-Ashmont cars using similar technology that's now found in your luxury sedan that keeps you from running over a pedestrian. The system is described similar to an "electronic deadman", able to detect and alert the motorman (or motorwoman) of any obstacle on the line, then employ positive train control to stop the car if their reflexes weren't fast enough. If successful, the the former Green Line PCCs would give this technology back to the Green Line. It would have been especially useful, as two bad collisions in November 2014 and December 2017 gave this idea more impetus for development and testing.

Modern Living History

MBTA No. 3087 passes Capen Street Station. Between 2007 and 2008, the station signs
were changed from red to green to indicate a "light rail character". This was later changed in 2008.
(Boston Magazine)

Ask anyone, including me, and I can tell you the Mattapan-Ashmont line has no right to exist today. The fact that a revenue mass transit service, with modern contactless fare collection, wheelchair accessibility, and bus connections to all parts of Dorchester and South Boston, still depends on PCC cars from WWII and needing spares-upon-spares to continue running what is basically a riverside Hooterville branch is simply astounding. While other systems like the South Shore Line use old alignments with newer equipment, something about the Mattapan-Ashmont keeps it holding steady for both transit fanatics and normal commuters alike.

Commuters cruise on their electric magic carpet,
almost as if they aren't riding a 74-year-old antique.
(Ed Graziano)

Make no mistake, the line is still susceptible to MBTA management. As of 2019, the transit agency is currently looking into alternatives to replace the elderly cars with second-hand light rail vehicles from the Green Line as those get displaced with newer cars. Understandably, the citizens of Mattapan, Ashmont, and Dorchester as a whole went up in arms over this decision, finding that the PCCs being to the area a charm and nostalgia no other line in Boston, and indeed America, can deliver. As it stands, the newest round of rebuilds and line maintenance have given the Mattapan & Ashmont line almost a new decade of life with more rebuilt PCCs entering service in 2018. 

One can only hope that the Mattapan & Ashmont, like the San Francisco Cable Car system or other heritage trolleys similar in vein, can be kept around as a nostalgic piece of New England History. Just don't call it a heritage trolley, as through and through it's proven that these old cars can still serve its city with pride, honor, and loyalty.

Car 3254 negotiates the tight loop at Ashmont in 2010.
The sprinklers are to help quiet flange squeal on the tight curves
for the sake of the neighbors.
(Boston.com)

  

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today came from two Boston Herald articles about the Mattapan & Ashmont, The Boston Globe's damning opinion editorial on "Snowzilla", and the various small historical sites and books that make delivering this information possible. Today's MBTA PCC gifs were made by Alex Stroshane and can be found on his Trainweb Site here. On Tuesday, we hunker down and take a look at the other varied and unique rolling stock that ran in Boston under the BERy and MBTA banner. For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!)  Until next time, ride safe!