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Historic Boylston trolleys steam cleaned overnight

Steam cleaning Boylston Street trolley

Cleaning PCC 3295

Roving UHub photographer John Pellegrino roved down to Boylston station last night, where he watched MBTA workers steam cleaning the graffiti right off those two historic trolleys.

He's posted a series of photos of the cleaning work, including this shot from the start of the work:

Cleaning trolleys

Nearing completion:

Cleaning trolleys

He also got a look inside the old cars, one of which featured this sign:

Reward sign
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Comments

Yay.. Glad to hear it.

Kudos to the T for being so fast acting on this. I have to give credit when its'd due, because the T really does do an bang up job on keeping graffiti down on the system and equipment.

Lets hope they can catch this guy now..

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And let's hope whomever leads them to the culprit gets their $10 reward!

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I'll offer a personal $10 reward for information leading to their capture.

If there is any upside at least the cars are getting a good cleaning.

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Excellent pictures! I'm curious how he got the MBTA to let him in though.

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Sometimes asking nicely can go a long way.

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I went to the U.S. Indoor Track Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center a few years ago before everyone owned a DSLR. I had a nice camera with me because it was new and I wanted to test it out. I had no press credentials, but I was poking around near the track trying to get interesting or cool shots since the setting was fairly intimate between crowd and event.

When I had found a cool spot to stand just outside of some guard ropes near the start/finish line, I started snapping shots and one of the usher/officials came over and said "You can step in here if you want to get a better shot". So I did. Then another one came over and told them "I don't think he's an official photographer". The first one just said "Eh, I don't care". I told them both, "I'm sorry, if I'm in the way just let me know" but they both said it was fine anyways.

Later that day, I was shooting the sprints from behind the mats in the camera pit surrounded by all of the professional photographers from the Globe, Herald, etc. Nobody asked what I was doing there.

If you look the part and you ask nicely, it's surprising what people sometimes let you get away with.

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According to the Boston Magazine article, this happened between 2-4am. Doubt a soul was in the station to even ask.

I'm guessing that.. considering that the station doors are locked after the last train, I'm guessing these folks walked in via one of the tunnel entrances near Kenmore or Symphony, then just walked down the tunnel. I'd be curious to know if more (new) graffiti exists in the tunnels further down toward Kenmore. (or that these trolleys were targeted purposely to tag)

Of course it begs to wonder, if the tunnels are wide open like that... how/why the T Police didn't see some kid(s) walking down the tunnel on camera. Do they not watch the security monitors at HQ at night?

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Wear a vest and a hardhat, move slowly.

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Also begs the question about tunnel security after the system is closed.

We're so into "Anti Terrorism" lately, wouldn't it make sense to monitor these for terrorists. (I hate to be that guy but ya know it is a real concern)

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Silly, cybah.

Transit systems are secured by 10-foot tall backpack props in stations, not through nonsense like ensuring trespassers don't wander into tunnels overnight.

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Looking at some of the photogs other MBTA images on his SmugMug account, there's more than a few from inside MBTA maintenance facilities, so if I had to guess, he has some connections with T personnel that allow him this access.

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You were talking about the photographer not the 'artist'.. Sorry! :)

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NOT ART

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Thanks for this update. I was passing through Boylston yesterday but couldn't see the cars. I'm glad the tags are gone. They're not art. They're aggression.

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