Orient Heights

UPDATE, 4:30 p.m. The T reports regular service has resumed.

The T is warning Blue Line passengers to expect "significant delays" this afternoon following a train slipping off the rails at Orient Heights.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo reports the train was moving from the Orient Heights train yard onto the main tracks around 2:40 p.m., so it wasn't carrying any passengers. The T has swapped in buses for trains between Suffolk Downs and Airport.

The MBTA forwards this photo from the Blue Line repair facility in Orient Heights, where workers have made a Christmas tree out of a "bolster rack" of trucks used to hold the axles of Blue Line cars.

Firefighters gearing up to go in. Photo by Steven Klise. A fire reported shortly after 10 p.m. at 358 Meridian St., went to two alarms as it spread from the second to the third floor and roof. The Boston Fire Department reports nine adults and four children were displaced by the fire, but that no residents were injured. The department estimates damage at $250,000. The cause is under investigation.

Rob McDougall reports somebody was shot in the arm shortly before 7 p.m. The suspect was described as a black Hispanic male who fled in an older Civic last spotted headed toward Revere.

Andy Dost reports cops were in no mood to explain what was going on to bystanders:

Armed police have set up a tape perimeter at the Orient Heights stop. An officer told me when I asked, "Escaped zombies."

Boston Police report East Boston Variety, 3 Gladstone St., was held up around 6:45 this morning by a pack of knife-wielding robbers - one of whom gave the clerk a dollar, then pulled out a knife and yelled "Gimme the money!"

A second suspect was described as black male in his late teens early twenties, wearing a black hoodie with red lettering "Lazy But Talented" with the hood pulled up, black hat with 3 stickers visible on the brim, black pants, and black and white sneakers.

Got this interesting T alert earlier today:

Orange Line experiencing 10-15 min delays due to a signal problem at Orient Heights Station. 6/5/2012 5:52 AM.

note - I presumed the alert was for the Orange Line, as I'm not signed up to get Blue Line alerts

Where's the station?

Lisa S. photographed the remains of the Orient Heights stop on the Blue Line today. The T is bustituting this weekend as it renovates the station.

Joel Barciauskas photographed Blue Line passengers being evacuated at Orient Heights late this afternoon. The T blames "wire problems."

One passenger on the Blue Line in Orient Heights seemed a bit squirrelly this afternoon. In fact, the Animal Rescue League of Boston had to be called in.

ARL volunteer Margaret Wirth reports T workers found a baby squirrel running around a Blue Line car around noon. Boston Animal Control worked with the league to corral the critter, whom they promptly named Charlie, of course.

Wirth says Charlie is headed to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Weymouth, where he will be prepared for a life in the wild. She adds that kindhearted T inspectors did not charge him with fare evasion.

Charlie off the MTA:
Photo by the Animal Rescue League.

Power problem at Orient Heights this morning makes for some very unhappy riders. At 8:34, Julianne LaMay tweeted:

Such a cluster. They sent folks to Suffolk first but there were no shuttles there. FAIL

Photo of a waiting horde at Suffolk Downs.

Michael Brannigan, who posted the photo around 8:27, tweeted at 8:41 that one bus finally arrived:

Got about 1% or less of the waiting crowd on it. Gonna be a long day.

Boston Police report officers found a man with "several puncture wounds to the upper body" on Bennington Street around midnight:

The victim, who was somewhat incoherent, told officers that he had driven into the Burger King lot located at 944 Bennington Street and while there he was assaulted by a suspect, described as a white male about 4' tall who then fled on foot towards the Brandywine apartments. Officers attempted to get more information from the suspect but the victim's story continued to change and was somewhat muddled.

Police say the man was taken to Mass. General and is expected to survive. Officers were unable to find any evidence of a stabbing at the Burger King parking lot.

Boston and MBTA Transit Police are looking for a guy they say rear-ended a T worker pulling into the employee lot at the Orient Heights T stop early Tuesday, then "began asking the victim if he had any cocaine." Police say the T worker pulled over and went to call police:

When he returned, he found the suspect had broken into his vehicle, and was rummaging through the interior. Upon the arrival of the victim, the suspect fled the scene in his vehicle.

Police say the guy is in his 50s with brown hair, about 6' tall, medium build and "scruffy looking." The car is registered to a Cambridge resident, who will be summoned to court.

Jim posts a copy of a letter from Tom Menino's East Boston liaison, Ernani DeAraujo, on the BPL trustee vote to shut the Orient Heights library. Among other things, DeAraujo writes:

We can arrange for book return pick up in the Heights and will experiment with delivery services for seniors who cannot walk to Meridian.

He also repeats the promised made by trustees to look at building a brand-new, 20,000-square foot library to serve all of East Boston.

UPDATE: The T says buses will run instead of trains between Airport and Suffolk Downs at least through this evening as workers replace the downed power lines.

Local 718 tweets the train stopped 500 feet short of the station when the power went out this morning; firefighters were called in to help passengers get to the station.

MBTA Transit Police tweet the overhead power lines fell down between Orient Heights and Suffolk Downs.

The T replaced trains north of Maverick with shuttle buses, although Leah McCoy tweets some of the bus drivers were a bit unclear on the concept:

Epic fail. Blue line busing from wonderland to maverick. Except no one tells the bus driver, he kicks us off at orient heights.

Jorge provides the proof.