I was into my third year as a Boston Police Officer and I had previously practically lived on the Arborway trolley all while growing up. My second and third year of high school (1967-69) was in town, so I regularly commuted from the Arborway to Copley and back again once per day. My favorite variety of car to get was a Dallas double-ended "Texas Ranger". Back then, the motorman would let you sit in the opposite motorman's seat on the rear of the car. With the exception of the direction that you were going, it felt like operation and was a real thrill to be there while street or subway running. Entering the Huntington Ave. Subway on the wooden trestle of the Northeastern Portal was like being on a carnival thrill ride ! After I graduated high school, I entered Northeastern University, majoring in Criminal Justice (1969), where I went to school days, and became a Police Cadet, working nights full-time, with the Boston Police Department (1970), working the emergency telephones up in the "Turrett". As Police Headquarters was then at 154 Berkeley St. Back Bay, it meant that there were days that I would be on the Arborway trolley four times when there was a break between school and work. My shift got over at midnight and down into Arlington Station I would go for the ride home. Arlington was a lonely place. As I didn't get a car until relatively late (age 19 in 1971), the Arborway trolley was my primary transportation during those years from age 16 through 19. As I commuted to school, it even got me home after my attendance at "frat parties" (I was surprised when my son entered NU that I guess that they don't have those anymore.) Even after I got my '66 Bel Air, I would still use the Arborway line to get into town occasionally, although it was then more common for me to be on the El. The last period for the line was run with All-Electrics, a dependable PCC, and I have always thought that they were Boston's most attractive PCCs with their orange stripes above the side passenger windows and rakishly curved and angled windshields. I'll always remember those rides, I think especially the post-midnight ones in the wee hours after a long day and night of school and work, as it was almost like "my" streetcar. After around Heath St., the car emptied out pretty much at that time of night, as you had exited the hospital and college area and were entering a largely residential area. There were many nights that I had the whole car to myself.
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Last edited by 3rdrail on Tue Jan 04, 2011 2:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
~Paul Joyce~
Moderator: Toy Trains, Model Railroading, Outdoor and Live Steam
Paul Joyce passed away in August, 2013. We honor his memory and his devotion at railroad.net.