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Center Entrance in Boston - Part 3, Continued
< Previous page
Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Historical Development
Part 4 - Boston Center Entrance Car Characteristics
George Sanborn collection.
As mentioned, the Boston center-entrance cars had a distinct aesthetic. In fairness, virtually all center-entrance cars had a low-slung quality that defied attempts to soften or disguise by streamlining. Still there were certain characteristics that made these cars distinctly "Boston" and which could be traced to the line's 26-1/2' box cars of 1903. First was the "Boston Front," which consisted of a dasher with three flat panels and matching windows and fascia above. Earlier versions had a particularly wide center window, unlike the narrower one found on the center-entrance cars.
A second Boston feature was the in-sloping sides, which first appeared in the Type 2 semi-convertibles of 1906 and continued in the design of the Type 3 and Type 4 semis. The Type 4’s, which were chosen to haul the center-entrance trailers, were also distinctive because of their monitor roofs (long considered by the Electric Railway Journal and others to be an anachronism) and large rectangular roof-mounted Hunter destination signs. On many of the Type 4’s, and all of the center-entrance cars, a Hunter sign was positioned at each end of the monitor, providing a rather attractive finishing touch. This feature was eventually added to many of the line's other cars, including the Type 2’s and 3’s, articulateds, and some of the box cars.
Since the center-entrance trailers were to be hauled by the Type 4’s, and the center-entrance motor cars were, to casual observers, trailers with motors and controls, the consistent styling for all three made sense. One feature that was (fortunately) removed from the center-entrance trailers and the similarly equipped MU cars was the wood plank wheel guards that wrapped around the trucks. This attempt at streamlining or disguising the cars' trucks was, to be charitable, unique. The guards were removed during 1920-22 and replaced by simple wooden bar lifeguards attached to the outer end of each truck frame. Another feature - the Libby drop fender at each end of the motor cars - was also removed at that time.
The new center-entrance cars began to arrive in Boston in
mid-1917 and were first used in single-car operation. In March of the
following year two-car train operation began and by October 1919
three-car rush hour trains were in operation. In his Electric Railway
Journal article on surface-line trains, General Manager Dana described
the immense capabilities of the center-entrance trains:
Conditions at the Park Street loop of the [Tremont]
Street Subway, a heavy main artery, are as practically to demand rapid
transit operation. A close approach to this could be obtained only by
two and three-car trains.
On the whole, the public seemed pleased with the cars, and on
one line - Reservoir-Park Street - an attempt by the El to run
conventional-boarding Type 4's with trailers in place of center-entrance
trains met with so much opposition that the center-entrance trains were
returned.
Newton Corner, 1942. Kevin T. Farrell collection.
Silloway worked on all of the center-entrance types, as operator or
conductor, and recalls that operationally the first series, the
6000’s, were the worst, and the last of the MU cars, the
6200’s, were the best. All the cars, he notes, were heavy for
their small (24"- or 26"-diameter) wheels. The result was that the
wheels tended to pick out and pound any irregularities in the track.
The 6000’s and the trailers, which both had 24-inch wheels, were
particularly rough riding.
The wheels' smallness also made the cars difficult to stop. In
a test, the center-entrance cars had the longest stopping distance from
full throttle of any on the line - something like 105' from a 30 mph
speed - and took some getting used to.
Another tricky aspect of operation stemmed from using the
front pole for power collection, a problem that was true with the
articulateds as well. If a motorman got too close to a car in front
while that car was over a line-actuated switch, it was possible for the
front pole of the following car to throw the switch under the car
ahead, which of course could cause a derailment. Such things did happen
to novice motormen.
According to Silloway, the main bugaboo of the center-entrance cars was
the troublesome sequencer switch, located under a passenger seat - a
difficult location to get at in a crowded car. Other than that, the
cars were reliable and had good acceleration, especially considering
their large weight when loaded.
Farrell recalls: "It was impressive to see a three-car train
come into the subway. The big doors would open up and literally swallow
the people in the crowd."
"Of course there are legions of stories about those big center doors,"
he continues, "the cars coming in, the doors opening up and continuing
right off their track onto the platform."
It was an opportunity made possible by the doors' being outside-hung. The stories are oft-told and no doubt true.
Cummings reports in Street Cars of Boston, Volume 5, that a
1929 Boston Elevated publication, Safety on the "El", noted that new
tracks and hangers were being installed "to eliminate the accident
hazard of doors coming off the tracks while a car was in motion."
Their few foibles notwithstanding, the center-entrance cars were the
class of the property and survived until after World War II. In their
final capacity, they were used primarily in special trains to clear out
after-game baseball crowds at Braves' Field. Earlier attempts to
convert the cars for less costly one-man operation, by adding a front
door, had been unsuccessful. Thus when the Braves moved to Milwaukee
for the 1953 season, the big cars became an endangered species.
Story has it that their doom was sealed one morning that year
when one of them dropped a brake shoe at a major downtown tunnel
station at the height of the morning rush hour. It tied up the line for
hours. Colonel Ralston B. Smythe, Superintendent of Rolling Stock and
Shops since 1936, and known for his dislike of the cars, is said, upon
hearing the news, to have banished at once the remaining
center-entrance cars from revenue service.
Center entrance in Boston died that morning in 1953, but with
renewed interest worldwide in low-floor easy-access cars, and with the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 mandating provision by transit
companies for the mobility impaired, there is new life to the Boston
articulated/center-entrance story begun eight decades ago. The new
Boston Type 8 car now in design is expected to be double-articulated
and provide a low-floor center section for easy access.
Meanwhile, the center-entrance legacy lives on at the Seashore
Trolley Museum where cars 6131 and 6270 await funding for the
restoration work that could someday return an original Boston two-car
center-entrance train to operation.
< Previous page
Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Historical Development
Part 4 - Boston Center Entrance Car Characteristics
Al
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If you want to be notified when a new article arrives, join the VR-News group at Yahoo. This group is purely for notification. Anyone can join; only the moderator can post.
©2006 Alfred Barten. All rights reserved.
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