Cyclops

I graduated from the then Boston Technical High School in 1968. Our yearbook was dedicated to a really nice kid who died during our junior year. (He was drinking with his friends somewhere along the Mattapan-Ashmont line, tried to scramble up the embankment when a streetcar came, slipped back down, and was killed.) Our yearbook was pretty well done, but I've always thought that the caption that went with our friend's photo on the dedication page was weird...it starts, "----- was killed Jan. 14, 1967, when he was hit by a trolley on the Mattapan ashmont line..." It goes on to offer "heartfelt sorrow" to his family, but I always thought the opening line was macabre and unnecessary. To this day, I can't drive by or hear mentioned "the Mattapan-Ashmont line" without thinking of this poor, sweet, hapless kid.

I grew up, and lived for more than 35 years, just a couple of blocks from the trolley line, at Central Ave. Used to ride it to go to the Oriental Theatre in Mattapan, and to catch the Red Line to downtown. Sounds weird, but I truly love the trolley line and it will be a sad day when it finally shuts down...

WE CALL SOMEONE WIT A HUGE ZIT BETWEEN THEIR EYS A CYCLOPS

These cahs are actually known as PCC (Presidents Conference Committee) and were designed to be the ultimate trolley. In Boston they operated over the entire Green Line until the coming of the Boeing LRV's (Light Rail Vehicles) In 1985 the last PCC's operated on the Green Line. The MBTA recently rebuilt the remaining ones on the Mattapan line to resemble the old MTA paint scheme. The plan for the Ultimate Trolley is more true than people realize as PCC's also soldier on in San Franciso and a variety of other places.

I grew up just down the street from this line too, and I've never heard it called the "cyclops" - we just called it the trolley, and laughed our asses off when anyone called it the "Mattapan High Speed Trolley."