Incident on B Line?

About 40 minutes ago I was on an 86 bus passing by the intersection of Comm. Ave and Chestnut Hill Ave. on the B Line. I caught a quick glimpse of what was either a 3-car train with a Type 8 leading...or a pair of two-car trains that had collided. I couldn't tell how many cars there were in total, I just know there were more than two. There was what appeared to be an inspector's vehicle parked there, with several MBTA personnel standing around, and it generally seemed like some sort of a commotion.

Anybody have any definite information about what happened there? Was it in fact a collision, or - heaven forbid - a Type 8 derailment?

Maybe just pulling out more trains for post-Red Sox traffic?

No, I really don't think this had anything to do with the Red Sox game.

The location I was talking about is near the Boston College end of the line, whereas usually during Sox games they keep extra trains stored on the middle track near Boston University. It's true that this is where that non-revenue track branches off to connect the B Line with the C Line, but the trains I saw were on the outbound track and it really did seem like there were too many cars too close together for it to be anything ordinary.

Another more likely possibility actually just occurred to me - maybe one train was disabled, and the next train came up behind to push it to BC. Still, something was obviously up, since like I said there was definitely a lot of unusual activity going on.

astro,

There's a lot of things it could have been. They very well could have been moving a disabled car and/or train...I've seen those happen in all directions there. Which way was the train heading? It could have been a deadhead move either to/from BC or to/from the B Line...extra cars for the Sox game. They really do use both legs of the wye there every day for equipment moves, both shop moves and deadheads.

Also, just because there was an inspector there, doesn't mean there was an incident...I've seen on occasion that an inspector in the area will throw the switches for a deadhead move. All the switches in the Chestnut Hill intersection are manual.

I'm not absolutely sure we saw the same thing, but the time sounds just about right...

What I saw was a *4* car train at Washington proceeding towards BC...it was being escorted by one of the T suburbans with flashing lights which pulled up in the middle of the intersection to block off traffic so the T could go right through the lights. It was a mix of Type 7's and 8's, and I believe the lights on at least a couple of the cars were out.

I definitely got the impression one had broken down and was being pushed - they were running 2 car trains Saturday and the only other time I had seen something similar was a 3 car train that was being escorted in a like fashion (back when 3 car trains weren't an everyday occurence!)

Yeah, mcham13, that sounds exactly like it. I definitely did get the impression that there were 4 cars together, and I know it was a Type 8 leading with two or more Type 7s trailing it. Your description of the suburban matches too, so perhaps they were getting ready to block off the large intersection with Chestnut Hill Ave. so that the train could proceed to BC or Reservoir. Thanks for adding your own sighting to mine!

Octr202, I've seen equipment move pass through that area plenty of times, and I'm well aware that someone has to get down and throw the switch manually - sometimes you'll see one of those long hooks lying on the sidewalk just outside the Reservoir loop - but I could tell that something bigger was up that day. It wasn't just the inspector's vehicle, there had been some other people standing around and it looked pretty out of the ordinary.

Anyway, glad this has been more or less explained.

astrosa wrote:Yeah, mcham13, that sounds exactly like it. I definitely did get the impression that there were 4 cars together, and I know it was a Type 8 leading with two or more Type 7s trailing it. Your description of the suburban matches too, so perhaps they were getting ready to block off the large intersection with Chestnut Hill Ave. so that the train could proceed to BC or Reservoir. Thanks for adding your own sighting to mine!

Octr202, I've seen equipment move pass through that area plenty of times, and I'm well aware that someone has to get down and throw the switch manually - sometimes you'll see one of those long hooks lying on the sidewalk just outside the Reservoir loop - but I could tell that something bigger was up that day. It wasn't just the inspector's vehicle, there had been some other people standing around and it looked pretty out of the ordinary.

Anyway, glad this has been more or less explained.

Ok...sorry for any implications above. That does sound exactly like the times I've seen them shoving dead cars over the Green Line. The two times I've seen that behavior (the inspectors blocking crossings) it appeared that T7's were pushing dead Boeings. I assumed that in those cases the T7's were pushing a dead train out to either Reservoir yard or BC just to clear the line...I would assume that when they can they'd tow rather than push the dead cars.

mcham13 wrote:one of the T suburbans with flashing lights which pulled up in the middle of the intersection to block off traffic so the T could go right through the lights.

Typical Massachusetts state agency, forgetting that the rules of the road apply equally to them as well.

That Washington St intersection needs to be blocked off so that the train can make a running start to get up the Mt Hood hill . Also if the first car is completely dead, there is no control for the train from that car. The T inspector will coordinate the train movement by radio to the push train. Better to keep them moving than having to start and stop.