The EGE wrote:MBTA3247 wrote:The EGE wrote:East Boston Tunnel trolleys were hauled through the Cambridge Subway from the Longfellow to Eliot Shops from 1916 to 1924 (and EBT subway cars from 1924 to 1952). I believe those cars would clear third rail (as they were early high-floor designs) though they used wire while in the subway. Trolleys and subway cars never mixed in revenue service.
The crossovers from the streetcar tracks to the Red Line on the Longfellow Bridge weren't built until 1924. There would have been no need for streetcars to utilize the Cambridge Subway in the years prior to that - they could just use the surface tracks all the way to Brattle Street.
Excluding work cars, I think the only streetcars to ever travel through the Cambridge Subway were PCCs being towed to/from Ashmont.
Thank you - I stand corrected.
Ah, not quite...
In the days before Everett Shops opened, from about 1912 to 1922, just about every new streetcar received by the Elevated was bought into the Eliot Shops to be prepared for service, Which included installing most of the running gear. Some may have been tested in the subway after hours.
Cars prepared for service at Eliot:
235 Type 4s: 5241-5475
225 Trailers: 7000-7224
405 Center Entrance Motor Cars 6000-6404
865 cars total
5191-5240 and the Birney cars were probably done at Bartlett
Not sure on the first 100 Type 5s possibly Eliot, possibly Everett
Also, the connecting crossover at First St. existed as early as 1911. The first 60 Cambridge Tunnel cars were delivered on their own wheels via the Grand Junction, then towed by surface cars over a temporary connection and along Broadway and Main St. to First St. where they were shifted onto the rapid transit tracks. Crane 0551 came the same way, a ticklish move because its steel cab was about the same height as the trolley wire in the subway. When it arrived at Eliot its cab was resculpted to provide the necessary clearance, but the boom had to be at a certain height before the crane could move. This was insured by two tie-down cables, which kept it centered and at the proper height. Some No. 7 Elevated cars were delivered to Eliot the same way in 1919, and then shipped back to Sullivan that way following the arrival of the No. 3 Cambridge Tunnel cars in 1919.
Lastly, from 1916 to April, 1924, there was scheduled passenger service between East Boston and Cambridge/Somerville via the Longfellow.
BTW Brattle St only provided a connection between Harvard Sq. and Mount Auburn St. - the car house was off
Bennett St.
Back closer to the topic:
The Red - Blue Connector could be implemented at low cost with an El structure from S. Russell St ending with a terminal adjacent to the existing station. It would cost a couple of hundred million less than extending the subway, but would not go over well on Beacon Hill.
Gerry. STM/BSRA
The next stop is Washington. Change for Forest Hills Trains on the Winter St. Platform, and Everett Trains on the Summer St. Platform. This is an Ashmont train, change for Braintree at Columbia.