Eric Moskowitz highlights the work of photographer Jack Lueders-Booth, who captured scenes in a bygone era of life along the long gone Orange Line el. More photos from his collection.

WBZ reports the reason the Orange Line remains particularly slow after being shut down for a month in part to make it go faster is because the T found extra track work to do between Assembly and North Station, which it's doing at night, at least, and for which it has no current scheduled end date (plus, of course, 5 to 7 days to let the new tracks settle). Read more.

WBZ reports on and photographs the first of the old Orange Line trains to be trucked out of the Wellington Yards for the trip to a Middleboro scrapping facility owned by Costello Dismantling Co., whose logo consists of a preying mantis.
Read more.

If yesterday was the Day of Shiny Floors (and smiling ambassadors and Dunkin' gift cards) on the Orange Line, today is Return to the Old Days Day: Read more.

So stop being so cynical, no? Well, OK, there is one teeny little thing: Orange Line rides at first might actually be slower to let the redone tracks in the old slow zones settle. But you'll be sitting in brand new hard-plastic seats with the nubbly surfaces, since most of the cars, like 75% of them, will be the new bing-bingy new 'uns.

Baker reports he was glad to, adds: "As of today, 59% of the planned diversion work has been completed, including signal upgrades, track and rail replacement."

Ed. note: We're going to assume he means he walked the tracks (without a helmet) at Community College, unless the T is also using the Orange Line timeout to add a Community Center stop.

Where were you when the Orange Line shut down? One Jamaica Plain resident was out getting a tattoo to commemorate the reasons for the shutdown. Photo by Katherine Brainard.

More T tattoos:
T map.
T logo.
Red Line at Fields Corner.
Red Line and more T maps.

Transit Police report they arrested Steven Wade Coffey, 27, on Monday on charges he raped a woman at the Tufts Medical Center Orange Line stop on Aug. 4.

He's the second man arrested for a Chinatown rape this month.

Innocent, etc.

Miles Bowman spotted a charter bus from Arkansas turning into Oak Grove today - although Jacklyn may have won today's competition (and so a month's worth of free rides on Orange Line shuttle buses!) with a Golden Gate Legacy bus from the San Francisco area. Read more.