T Time, Part 1

While in Boston, I made extensive use of the T, their mass transit system. The T consists of five lines, Red, Blue, Orange, Green, and Silver. The first three of these are heavy rail subway lines. The Green Line is the last vestige of Boston's streetcar system, and the Silver Line is bus rapid transit. During my most recent trip I rode every line except silver.

 So many colors!

 For this post, I’ll discuss the Red, Blue, and Orange lines. The Green Line will get a separate post. The MBTA is probably America’s most interesting mass transit system from a historical perspective. Almost all of its lines are a result of streetcar tunneling, heavy rail abandonment, disconnected rapid transit stubs, and a desire to submerge previously elevated tracks.

I’ll start with the Red Line, the newest of the four. The first section of what is now the red line was constructed in 1908, beginning operation in 1912, and connected Cambridge with downtown Boston. It consisted of five stops: Park, Charles/MGH, Kendall/MIT, Central, and Harvard. This was later extended to South Station in 1916, to Broadway in 1917, and in 1928 to Ashmont. The Braintree branch was opened in 1980, and the northern extension to Alewife in 1985.

“But wait,” you say. “The Red Line doesn’t end at Ashmont, it ends at Mattapan.”

Well, yes and no. There is a light rail line, the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, which connects the two. While this is branded as part of the Red Line and no fare is required to transfer to it, there is no physical connection and trains are not compatible. The AMHSL opened in 1929, at a time when “high speed” meant “separated right of way” and nothing more. In fact, it still uses PCC streetcars from the 1930s.

A PCC Streetcar on the AMHSL

The subway portion of the Red Line uses three different types of cars the 1600, 1700, and 1800 series. The 1600 and 1700 series are painted in the older white and red scheme, and date to between 1969 and 1988. The 1800 series are stainless steel and were manufactured in the early 1990s. All cars feature longitudinal seating. Generally, 1800 series cars work the Alewife-Braintree segment, while 

older cars work the Alewife-Ashmont portion of the line. 

An older Red Line train composed of 1600 and 1700 series cars

A newer 1800 series Red Line train

Next is the Blue Line, which began as a streetcar tunnel in 1904. This tunnel extended from Maverick to Court Street, with an intermediate stop at State. Aquarium (then known as Atlantic) station opened in 1906, and in 1914 Court Street was closed to allow for an extension to Scollay Square (now Government Center) and Bowdoin. During one weekend in 1924, the line was converted from streetcar to subway. This required obtaining subway cars significantly shorter than on Boston’s other two subway lines. In the early 1950s, this line was extended from Maverick to Wonderland along a disused narrow gauge commuter train route. Interestingly, the Blue Line is one of only two North American rapid transit lines (the other being Cleveland’s Red Line) to operate via overhead catenary as opposed to third rail, doing so east of Maverick.

The Blue Line uses the 700 series of cars. These were delivered starting in 2007 and are the T’s newest trainsets, as well as being their only rapid transit cars with automated station announcements. These cars replaced the 600 series, those being built in the late 1970s by Hawker Siddeley to the same basic design as the Orange Line’s cars, except shorter and with one fewer set of doors.

A 700 series Blue Line train

The Orange Line is the second oldest of the T’s transit lines, and its oldest subway line. It began life as an elevated train running through the heart of downtown Boston, connecting Sullivan Square to North Station in 1901. This, interestingly, also included temporary conversion of what is now part of the Green Line to subway use. This was reversed in 1908, when the alignment was re-routed to a subway under Washington Street. The northern and southern parts of the route were still elevated at the time. The line was extended south to Forest Hills in 1909, and north to Everett in 1919.

In 1975, the northern portion of the Orange Line was rerouted from Everett to Oak Grove and partially converted into a subway. The southern portion of the line was converted to a subway in the late 1980s, bypassing many of the neighborhoods served by the elevated train.

Trains on the Orange Line are composed of 1200 series cars, generally operating six to a train. These cars were built in the late 1970s by Hawker Siddeley, and feature longitudinal seating along the sides of each car. These subway cars definitely show their age, much more so than the older Red Line cars. They are scheduled for replacement in the next five to six years, along with most of the Red Line’s trains.

A set of 1200 series Orange Line cars

Stay tuned for part two of this post, where I examine the Green Line in all its glory.