MBTA Bus Fleet Electrification

I wonder if the steel line poles on Aberdeen were replaced at the same time as the work on Trapelo/Belmont (late 2015 into 2016). Much of the poles on the Belmont portion of the 73 (where the road was rebuilt) were either replaced, or overhauled and painted, and look to be in remarkably good shape.

I also wonder if the Aberdeen pole line is actually a feeder to much of the 71/73 routes. That might explain why those poles were replaced, but since the 72 really hasn't run much as an electric route, they decided to never finish moving the bracket arms and trolley wire over to the steel poles.

Keep in mind this is the same agency that reinstalled 2/3 of the special work for the Benton Square loop, then left it to sit without completion for 6 years, while running diesels on the old morning Benton Square short turns. (Pre-COVID, there was a single AM diesel assignment that started at Benton Square instead of Waverley for a few trips.)

octr202 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 8:45 amI also wonder if the Aberdeen pole line is actually a feeder to much of the 71/73 routes.

That could well be the case. There are no feeder wires along Mt. Auburn St east of Aberdeen Ave (unless they're buried), but they run continuously west of there.

From Aberdeen Ave. the overhead feeders continue down Huron Ave. a ways. There are a few small cross arms on the wood utility poles on Aberdeen Ave. suggesting that the feeders were there for decades and only recently were put on the new MBTA line poles.

The feeders transition to underground somewhere between Alewife Brook Pkwy and Concord Ave. The picture below is of Huron Ave. near Concord Ave. and shows a connection from an underground feeder to the trolley wire.

The box on the pole might contain a manual switch to shut off a portion of the overhead for maintenance, and/or a circuit breaker to protect the power system from short circuits in the overhead.

Thought. Almost certain the feeder lines are insulation covered copper wires. The Atlanta ones appear same, and they were copper. Maybe someone's idea of big savings? If so, they should look at the Milwaukee removal of wires.

Scenes from last night.
https://twitter.com/jeremyzorek/status/ ... rHrfQQYL6Q

Looks like 4121 got the last honors.

4121 did the honors on the last 73. 4117 ran the last 71, which ended up being the final trackless run as it operates about 5-7 minutes later than the final 73.

Also, the special trip(s? Looks like the took more than one trolley) went inbound via the 72 on Huron/Concord at one point, so it turns out the BSRA trips in February weren't the last runs over Aberdeen/Huron/Concord after all. Kinda glad that a 4100-series gets the last honor, not one of the Silver Line dual modes.

https://twitter.com/jeremyzorek/status/ ... 0834780164

By diesel, do you mean a straight diesel, or a hybrid? The 73 under normal circumstances should operate only with the hybrid "Xcelsior" New Flyers (the ones with the kind of streamlined look), numbers 1925 or higher. Route 554 to Newton Corner via Waltham runs out of Albany St garage, which does use older straight diesels. The 554's usually lay over on Trapelo Road, while the 73's use Church Street.

I'll try to post back here when any of the overhead I encounter starts to disappear. So far, nothing's been touched on the portion of the 73 within Belmont, but I suspect that will be some of the last wire to come down. With construction projects on Mt Auburn St (at least the whole Watertown portion, and possibly up into Cambridge, too, Huron Ave (west of Fresh Pond Parkway), Belmont St (between Belmont line and Mt Auburn), and Mass Ave, I expect any of those areas to see the wires cut sooner. I would assume most work will happen at night.

The new schedules for these routes appear to need some tweaking. It appears that at rush hour, the operator's layover/recovery happens at Watertown or Waverley, and the buses do an unload/load/go at the Harvard upper tunnel. No time to hold for a schedule adjustment at Harvard, but they should only be working off any inbound delay minutes. They do still have to transit through Harvard Sq on the surface to get back to Mt Auburn St.

Off-peak (especially midday), the pattern reverses, and the longer layover shifts to Harvard. Buses arrive into the upper level, unload, then drop back through the Square to Bennett St alley to wait for outbound departure. At that time, they go back into the upper level tunnel, load, and have to loop back through the Square again to head out the route.

I've only watched a couple middays on Pantograph App (https://www.pantographapp.com/newengland/routes) but it seems as the midday period goes on, the outbound buses fall further and further behind schedule. Being 4-8 minutes off is normal, but I've caught much higher at times. I would imagine at the next schedule rating they're going to need to add more time to the off-peak schedules to cope with traffic in Harvard Square.

when Atlanta took their wires down they closed streets down town on an early Sunday morning and just cut the support wires on each side dropping all trolly wire into street. Then just cut up debris and was clear by noon. Might be what they will do there?

I suspect they'll try something a bit neater with removal of the TT wires. I think a lot of the corridor has many other "things" (other utility wires, traffic lights, trees, etc) which would require a more delicate approach. I suspect they'll come through and disconnect and roll up the contact wires first, then come back for feeders and span wires. Anyone's guess as to whether they'll take down the line poles which are no longer needed (i.e., ones which support only TT wires and nothing related to commercial electric lines, streetlights, etc). I suspect they'll just abandon those and it will be up to municipalities to remove them in future roadwork projects, which means the ones in Belmont will be there for another 50+ years.

I would hope that much of the overhead components can be salvaged from the Belmont portion of the 73. All of that stuff is only about 5-6 years old and looks to be in good shape.

Yeah, Dayton or philly should bid on those.

What of the coaches themselves? Although the MBTA describes them as "obsolete" and "past end of service life" (per FTA bus service life standards), they're relatively modern and ran well. Will they be offered for sale to another property or is it a case of Seashore gets one if they want one and all the others get scrapped before anyone changes their mind?

I doubt anyone would want the Neoplan ETBs at this point. While 18 years is not all that old for electric vehicles, remember they're effectively a generation behind what's in use on other ETB systems in North America, given that those all have battery/off-wire capability. And in general, Neoplan-designed buses are getting scarcer around the country as it's been while since they ceased production.

Given an owner that wanted to care for them and prolong their life, I think the fleet (or some of it) could have lasted much longer, but it would probably be throwing good money after bad for a new owner to get set up to operate and maintain them, versus procuring new ETBs from New Flyer.

If it weren't for the pandemic, I could see some of the better ones getting re-assigned to the Silver Line for a short period to operate rush hour tunnel services (which a few did when they were first delivered), at least as long as the wires last in there. But given current ridership, I doubt that's a concern.