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Nothing ever dies on the Red Line
By adamg on Thu, 08/26/2021 - 11:02am
Jon Hillman wonders at the age of this route map he spotted on the Red Line today.
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Comments
That map is at least 40 years
That map is at least 40 years old.
bullett over broadway?
n/t
1970s
Most likely the map that was put in when the trains entered service. Extensions north and south came in in the 1980s, while the cars entered service 1970-72.
Pre-1984
According to this:
https://preview.redd.it/evjqffg8wip21.gif?format=mp4&s=3eaa84ee99c208954...
Ok Young'uns
The area at the corner of Washington and Summer became Downtown Crossing in 1978 and the name was changed soon after.
Someone in 1982 spray painted every single one of the signs at the then Columbia Station changing it into Columbian Gold and the T left it up there for a while. In 1982 the T was broke. Bowdoin and Boylston were closed except for rush hour. I think the line to Arborway didn't even run on Sundays. They were funneling every dime they had into the extension to Alewife.
So, this map is probably original to that car coming into service in 1971. By the way, to get a "Quincy Car" to Ashmont, meaning one of these, that had AC as opposed to one of the "Ashmont" cars, the 1963 Blue Birds, with fans only, was like finding a candy bar in the back of the fridge. It felt like some dispatcher had screwed up and sent us peasants something nice to ride in.
Ok Young'uns
So nothing has changed since 1982...........
Thankfully, we will get to
Thankfully, we will get to relive these fun times soon.
The 1963 cars didn't get the
The 1963 cars didn't get the cab signal equipment required to operate on the South Shore Line until sometime in the 1980s. Once they had that equipment installed, they started running both types of cars on both lines and people had to actually start paying attention to the destination signs on the cars. Before that, if it was a blue painted train, you knew it was Ashmont, while the new silver trains were going to Quincy (with the occasional rare exception as noted)
Perhaps it dates back to ...
Around the time of George Parkman's unfortunate demise?
This should be dated...
somewhere in between September, 1971 (when the South Shore extension first opened with the 3 stations shown in Quincy) & December, 1973 (when Charles Station became Charles/MGH).
Alewife?
When did the extension past Harvard Sq happen?
early 1980s
March 24, 1979 - A temporary Harvard-Brattle Station opened (where JFK School of Gov't is now, served as a bus transfer station & was outdoors at Eliot Yard.
January 31, 1981 - The original 1912 Harvard Station closed & simultaneously the temporary-yet still can be seen today in the tunnels, Harvard-Holyoke Station Opened
September 2, 1983 - The two temporary stations (Harvard-Brattle, Harvard Holyoke) closed
September 6, 1983 - The new (and current) Harvard Station opened (with trains running to davis to turn around, but no passengers)
December 8, 1984 - Red Line extended, as revenue service to Porter & Davis.
March 30, 1985 - Alewife Station opens to one line (Braintree), Ashmont trains would not terminate until December 31, 1985 due to an incomplete yard at Alewife.
(I was bored so I looked it up)
And the date and significance
And the date and significance of the condom at Andrew?
AWESOME!
n/t
OT:
This is when the Red Line became the 'Red Diagram'.
Are there positions at the T
Are there positions at the T where someone is responsible for the interior upkeep of a certain number of train cars? I would assume they get cleaned by a crew and checked by a supervisor. I would also expect a supervisor would report needed repairs to seats, doors, windows, etc. So, in the last 40 years, no T employee reported and/or ordered the replacement of an outdated route map? Perhaps someone did but it was ignored. Bottom line: where's the accountability?
That's not what happened. I'm
That's not what happened. I'm pretty sure someone peeled off the newer maps that were on top of this one.
I'll give you a counter
The sign with the current map is slotted in like the advertisements are. A guy got on at Columbia, torn the current map down, then got off at Andrew to get his way down Southampton to continue the rest of his day. The guy who took the photographs got on the train a few minutes later at Washington and saw the original map.
Just a theory, but I do know that they have easily removable maps on other cars in the system.
At Downtown Crossing
One of the signs still indicated "to HARVARD via PARK" up until a few years ago. They finally caught it during the most recent "refresh" a couple of years ago.
Old habits
Still call it Columbia from time to time. (and Essex, and Auditorium :-)