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On December 28, 1985, at a little after midnight, the last Arborway train left Park Street station for the Arborway carbarn. The last two-car train, an unusual late night consist required by the number of people riding the train, wound its way through the subway and out in to the cold night air. The mood was like that of a funeral, many people on the cars feeling like they had lost a good, reliable friend to a disease which came about agonizingly swift, and left no way to save the victim. As the train rolled through Jamaica Plain for the last time, the car was quiet, save for the normal noises made by the streetcars in motion.
Upon arriving at the Arborway yard, the scene was devastating. Trolleys were parked in a haphazard manner, contrary to the normal order of a transit facility which would by now be preparing the cars for the next days runs. Some carbarn personnel were removing fareboxes from the cars, while others were moving the remaining cars to the back of the yard, and pulling the trolley poles down from the wire. Many of these cars would never run again, and this was very apparent to the passengers alighting that last train.
Signs in the trolleys had announced the impending doom. The buses would roll tomorrow. The word had passed swiftly, cruelly, leaving a community without its transit link once again. This time, the trolley did not seem to be returning anytime in the near future, and the Jamaica Plain community, would be forced to endure bus service once again, but this time it might be for good.
In July 1959, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) opened its brand-new Riverside line, which extended some twelve miles from Park Street to the suburbs of Brookline and Newton. The new line was an immediate success, and required that the MTA use even more resources than originally planned for on the new line. The MTA's fleet of President's Conference Committee (PCC) cars ranged in age from eight to eighteen years old, and by 1960 would total some 344 cars. The number of cars were just barely enough to operate the entire system, and the burden that the Riverside line put on the rest of the trolley system was resulting in car shortages.
In November 1961, the MTA, under General Manager Thomas J. McLernon, Jr., began the first phase of eliminating the street-running streetcar lines by terminating service on the Tremont Street line which ran between North Station and Lenox Street in the South End. The move helped alleviate the car shortage, and eliminated the need to purchase additional trolleys for the system. What remained of the Lenox Street line was a short shuttle that operated between Boylston station and the Tremont Street portal, allowing passengers to connect to the replacement buses to continue their trip. This shuttle was mercifully eliminated a few months later.
The desire not to purchase additional trolleys was precipitated by a newspaper article that effectively slammed the MTA for purchasing twenty-five trolleys second-hand from Dallas, Texas. The cars required extensive modifications to make them useable on the Boston system. The MTA contended that the low purchase price ($3,500 per unit) and the cost of the modifications was less than the cost of new cars.
The next lines targeted were the Watertown and the Arborway lines. The 1963 annual report announced an ambitious ten-year plan for transit in the MTA district. Included in this plan were the extension of the subway under Huntington Avenue to the Museum of Fine Arts, and the subway under Commonwealth Avenue would be extended "easterly of the Cottage Farm Bridge". Both of these extensions would allow the MTA to discontinue trolley service on the Arborway and Watertown branches, and presumably the Boston College branch, but no mention is made of this directly. Public objection to the loss of a one-seat ride into Downtown Boston prevented this plan from becoming a reality.
In 1964, that MTA became the present Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The new system would serve 78 cities and towns, compared to the fourteen served by the old MTA. The new system was also poised to acquire the new federal funding that was now available. Funding would be used for both capital improvements, and operating subsidies.
The MBTA faced continued car shortages on its newly dubbed Green Line. In 1967, with continued opposition to the conversion of either the Watertown line or the Arborway line to bus service, the MBTA was forced to shop around for additional second-hand vehicles to supplement their aging PCC fleet. Vehicles were available at other systems, like Pittsburgh, but the agencies could not agree on a price for the cars. In June 1969, the MBTA declared the car shortage as critical, and closed the Watertown line on a temporary basis. Revenue service was never restored to the route, and presently the catenary and some of the track have been removed.
The remainder of the system continued along, with the MBTA beginning to scrap a number of PCC cars in 1971, that had been out of service for some time. A second scrapping program for 1972 was postponed at the request of the City of Boston for fear that the elimination of more cars would eventually lead to the termination of service between Heath Street and the Arborway.
In 1973, the MBTA ordered 150 Light-Rail Vehicles (LRVs) for the Green Line, and later expanded the order to 175 with the additional units intended for the Watertown line. The MBTA again began to scrap PCC cars. Also, the MBTA received a federal grant to rehabilitate much of the PCC fleet, although many of the cars would simply get little more than a coat of green paint.
Through the mid-1970s, the Arborway line saw several closures and service disruptions as the PCC fleet was stretched to the limit. Streetcar service to Jamaica Plain in 1975 ran on nights and weekends only, as the cars were looped around at Heath Street during the day, and a bus service filled in for the trolleys during the weekdays. The arrival of the LRVs in 1976 did not alleviate the Arborway lines problems, as the new cars experienced several technical problems, and deliveries were halted. In 1979, LRV availability dropped to about 34 cars daily, out of 135 on the property, and the PCC cars slated for scrapping, or continued service on the Arborway line, were relocated to the other Green Line branches.
In March 1980, the Arborway line was closed to allow the rebuilding of the reservation between Northeastern and Brigham Circle. All of the PCC cars, except the cars that were in the new PCC rebuilding program were isolated at the Arborway yard. At the time several questions had arisen as to whether the line would be reopened. A late decision in 1982 had the line reopening, with a combination of rebuilt "wartime" PCC cars, and rehabilitated "picture window" PCC cars. The mechanical rehabilitation of the picture window cars was performed at the Arborway, and the painting of the cars was to happen at Watertown, but since the line was impassable until just before the re-opening, many of the rehabilitated cars entered service in their old shabby paint-jobs, splotched with "bondo" and other forms of body filler.
By this time, the MBTA seemed committed to maintaining Arborway trolley service. The rebuilt and rehabilitated PCC cars were performing admirably. A number of PCC cars that had not received any major work were kept on hand for rush-hours. This gave the Arborway line the most generous compliment of streetcars for service in years.
In November 1985, with very little warning, the MBTA announced that it was going to hold public meetings on a two-part plan that would again necessitate the closure of the Arborway line. The City of Boston planned to rebuild the stretch of Huntington Avenue between Brigham Circle and South Huntington Avenue. Also, the MBTA wanted to "fill" the incline at Northeastern, which was built in 1941 using a wood and steel "elevated" structure, to allow the cars to climb out of the subway. As the actual subway extends out beyond the incline (in case the subway was ever to be extended further) this work was to be performed to allow the new Type 7 cars, the heaviest trolleys in the system's history, from destroying the incline. The project was to take slightly over two years in length, beginning in December.
After the last train operated in the end of December 1985, the MBTA initiated a study of the Jamaica Plain corridor, to determine the best plan for mass transit in the area. The study continued on for some time. In 1986, the residents of Jamaica Plain voted 2 to 1 in favor of restoration of the trolley service in a non-binding referendum. In 1987, when service was to be restored, it was not. The PCC cars, that had not been reassigned to Mattapan, remained in the Arborway carhouse and yard. Some were heavily vandalized. It was clear that if the line was to reopen, the PCC fleet would not be available.
In 1989, the trolley service resumed beyond Brigham Circle to Heath Street, using Type 7 cars. In 1991, the PCCs at Arborway were put up for sale. Most of the rebuilt cars were sold, and the remainder of the fleet was either sent to museums or scrapped. Two un-rebuilt cars remained, presumably for a supply of spare carbody parts. The status of the Green Line has remained relatively unchanged since 1991, save for the scrapping of several LRVs, which due to accident damage and parts stripping would not have returned to service.
The following photo essay documents the last days of operation of the Arborway Line in 1985. Most of these images were taken beyond the Heath Street Loop, but a few show the cars on sections of the line that are still active in 1996, but now served by Type 7s.
Scott Moore
The rebuilt "Wartimes" (or "Rebuilds) was originally constructed between 1944 and 1946. These cars were providing almost all of the service on the line. In a rather questionable move, all of the active "Rebuilds" at Mattapan were assigned to the Arborway line just prior to the closing of the line.
The "Picture Windows" originally constructed in 1951. These cars provided service primarily during rush-hours. As twelve of these cars had been shipped to Mattapan just prior to the closing of the line, the Picture Window cars were rather tough to find.
The "Lone Ranger". Car 3241 was the last "Wartime" remaining in service that was not a product of the rebuilding program in the late 1970s and early 1980s, although it did receive some rehabilitation work in 1984. The distinguishing marks for a "non-Rebuild" are the headlight and the destination sign glass. 3241 was regularly operated in trains with the Rebuilds
...was not always easy on the cars, as several of them started showing
signs of neglect towards the end.
Top Left: 3086 has just left
the Arborway yard and is headed inbound toward South Street.
Top
Right: 3093 is headed inbound on South Huntington Avenue.
Bottom
Left: 3259 on South Street in Jamaica Plain (J.P.).
Bottom Right:
3267 heads outbound at South Huntington Avenue and Perkins Street.
3287 leads a train inbound on Centre Street.
3237 on Centre Street in J.P. Center.
J.P. Center wasn't always easy to navigate in a trolley.
3222, a former Mattapan car, heads inbound on Centre Street, just past J.P. Center.
3246 heads outbound at South Huntington Avenue and Centre Street.
3321, the last new PCC car purchased by the MTA, leads a two-car train inbound on South Huntington Avenue.
3268 heads outbound on South Huntington, just beyond the Heath Street Loop and the MSPCA Building.
3237, as seen through the windshield of another Rebuild, heads inbound on the Huntington Avenue reservation past Brigham Circle.
3269 crossing Forsythe Street on Huntington Avenue.
3241 loads at Northeastern before heading into the Subway. The bottom part of the frame shows the incline that was rebuilt. Note the extensive use of wood on the right-of-way, typical of most elevated structures in Boston.
3255 makes its "Swan Song" appearance.
3230 in its final appearance in the Central Subway. 3230 presently serves the Mattapan line.
5138 is at Copley being moved to another part of the Green Line for continued service.
3235 and the trailer 3261, shown here at the Arborway yard, would be the last train into Boston.
3235 and 3261 wait at Park Street for the last connecting Red Line train and orders to proceed out. Note the illuminated sign next to the car which has its "Arborway" destination already covered up.