Imagine: Dude was taking photos out the window of a Providence Line train:

... Shortly after taking a few pictures, a conductor came along and told me I wasn't permitted to take photos on the train. 'Why not?' I asked politely, turning off my camera and putting it away. The answer was along the lines of 'Because.' ...

Do a Google search on MBTA and look at the fun Canton-related ad that pops up on the right.

Via Rick Burnes, who took a screenshot for posterity.

Tried to avert crash when he saw runaway box car heading his way.

As I read through the accounts and talk with co-commuters, I am struck by what seems to be a stark contrast in the efficiency and effectiveness of the responses to the accident in Canton yesterday. From all accounts, local first responders recognized the scale of the accident and the high number of casualties, and responded accordingly with triage and, eventually, treatment and transportation to the hospital for those who needed it.

Triage at the scene. By Cliff Francoeur, who has more photos and a report from the scene. Matt Pillsbury also posted photos.

Andrew was on the train that got hit by a box car in Canton. He reports:

... We came to a dead stop (again, not surprising), and I waited to get going, knowing we weren't too far out of Canton Junction. What happened next was certainly the most surprising and startling moment of my life, as there was no advanced warning of any kind - suddenly I found, in one swift yet disjointed motion, my head thrown against the glass pane of the door, and my entire body lurching in the opposite direction - and not just away, backwards, but down.

The lights were out, my hat was thrown clear, and my IPod wasn't playing; in fact, my headphones weren't in at all. ...

Sitting on the 5:40 at South Station, they just announced that there was a collision at Canton Junction between a commuter rail train and a freight train. They're holding us at South Station until further notice.

Train 917 hit when a CSX boxcar rolled off sidetrack onto main line.

BNSFGP38 posts from the scene:

Figures. Those disintegrating, cracked Northeast Corridor ties will affect some MBTA commuters out of South Station. The Globe reports the rail lines between Back Bay and Readville will be shut June 14 through 17 to allow for replacement of the ties there. That means buses for commuters on the Attleboro/Providence, Franklin, Needham and Stoughton lines (dear Globe: What about the Fairmount Line?).

Commute-a-holic, meanwhile, points us to this fun story about the Winchester commuter-rail stop:

Signs warning pedestrians away from the in-bound entrance to the commuter rail station along Waterfield Road in Winchester are still in place, more than two weeks after hundreds of pounds of concrete fell from the ceiling. ...

Thanks to a downed electric line somewhere around Ruggles and Back Bay, commuter rail is all bolloxed up this morning. Coming in from Providence, they sent us onto the "Dorchester Line" (I didn't even know there was one!), which took us around those two stations, much to the consternation of those who planned to get off there.

Even without stops, we're still 15+ minutes late to South Station. I wonder how long it'll take to fix this mess!

I've had two colleagues report the availability of WiFi on MBTA Commuter Rail trains this week, one on the Greenbush line, one on the Providence line. It seems legitimate enough, has a splash screen & requires one to agree to terms & conditions.

Has anyone else seen this? It's definitely not station-based.

The technology seems to be based on Parvus RiderNet.