Boston Trolleybus Scenes - 1960s & 70s
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2018
- This presentation features Pullman trolleybuses operating on the 4 routes that run through the tunnel at Harvard. There is some 8mm movie footage as well as a slideshow.
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Grew up in Davis Square in the 50’s . We had a trackless trolley to Lechmere through the Square. Thanks.
Hi Paul, Thanks for watching and for your comment. Yes, Boston had lots of trackless routes until the axe fell in the mid-1960s. A sad time. Cheers, tassiebaz.
I remember all these buses! My dad called them "trackless trolleys." We moved to Boston from California in 1966 when I was 11. My mind was blown with all the different transportation vehicles -- these, streetcars, subway trains -- running along roads, going behind my friends' backyards, over bridges, into tunnels. I got to ride all of them as a kid; it was like carnival rides for me! Boston was so different for a California kid. Does anyone remember red-and-yellow traffic lights? In Boston, when red and yellow shone together, it meant pedestrians cross, traffic stops. They had no "walk" signs then.
Hi rftulie, Thanks for watching and for your comment. If you had moved there a few years earlier, you would have found many more trackless trolley lines. They vanished almost overnight, leaving only the lines running through the tunnel at Harvard. Still it was an interesting smorgasbord of transport operations (and still is). Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
I rode the Narth Cambridge line all the time. We called them trackless trolleys too!
watched part of this while listening to Leroy Shields music (from Laurel & Hardy and Lil Rascals). Very fitting background, too.
Hi merc, Sounds appropriate!! Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😃
Excellent footage of a snapshot of life in the past
Hi John, Thanks for watching and for your kind words. Regards, tassiebaz.
In the 1940's and 50's, Boston had a large trolleybus network that operated throughout the area. In 1959, a new General Manager of the MTA named Thomas J.McClernon came in and decided that trolleybuses were old fashioned and needed to be replaced by diesel buses. By 1963, all of the trolleybus network was gone except for the Cambridge routes that operated through the Harvard Square tunnel. The tunnel offered an easy, underground connection to what today is the Red Line Subway. If buses were used in the tunnel, the pollution produced by the diesel vehicles of the 1960's would have been toxic for those using the underground platforms. Today, the number of trackless routes using the tunnel has been reduced from four to two, routes #71 Watertown and #73 Waverly. "Clean diesel" buses operate through the tunnel on several other routes that take riders through Cambridge and beyond. Currently, the MBTA (successor to the MTA) is experimenting with battery buses that can be used in the Harvard Square Tunnel and in the Silver Line Tunnel that connects Boston to South Boston. If these tests are successful, they will lead to the purchase of a fleet of electric buses without trolley poles that will replace both the Harvard Square and the Silver Line trolleybus routes. Should this happen, it will be the first time since 1936 that there will be no trolleybus service in the Boston area.
Hi Jim, Thanks for your detailed explanation of what happened to Boston's trolleybuses. Unfortunately, through incompetent management (small "m") and/or deliberate sabotage, many American transit properties were deteriorated under the guise of improvement. Regards, tassiebaz.
Are there any films on your channel of what Jim Jacobs detailed above regarding the large amount of trolleybus routes/operations from the 1940’s and 50’s ??? This film that is shown brings back a lot of memories I wonder what the “new” trackless trolley’s looked like in 1977 because I grew up between Huron and Concord Ave’s in Cambridge in the 1970’s and 80’s and I forgot what they looked like....
Having started traveling to Harvard Square in the late 1960s I realize from these still and videos that so much has changed over the years both on Mass. Ave and Mt. Auburn..thanks for memories..
Hi bfvinyl, These streetscape changes kind of sneak up on you over the years. Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. It's my pleasure to be able to share these memories. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
The Story that I Heard from Sources is that some T Operators wouldn't Operate the Newer Trolley Busses that were Delivered in 77 because the New Ones T Operators Claim had Issues.
& It Took a Direct Order from Management to Order T Operators Driving the Old Trolleys that those Busses were Off Limits & Considered No Longer Operative & to Start Using the New Trolleys Immediately! Or Face Disciplinary Action from Management.
Is there any way you could post this video to the group "Save the trackless trolleys Facebook "?
I can't seem to be able to share it with them.
The end of trackless service forever will be on March 12 of this year, unfortunately.
This video will bring it to full circle .
Hi thetrolleyfreak, I am aware of the unfortunate situation happening in Boston and cannot understand their logic. Of course, I couldn't understand it in the early 1960s when they had their mass abandonment of trackless trolley routes. Personally, I don't use Facebook, but would love to share the presentation with those that are interested. Could you tell me how I might do this, either using Facebook (without an account) or another method that may accomplish what you are seeking? I see that there is a "share" icon below the video, but I am not sure how it works if I don't have a Facebook account Cheers, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz
Hi.
I used to be able to share this information with my groups on Facebook but for some reason, they disappeared when I try to share.
I can post to my groups from a photo but not video.
It's weird. But I'll keep trying.
I can try to send you the link through here.
Hi thetrolleyfreak, As I said, I don't use Facebook or am familiar with the way it works (or doesn't work). If there is some way you think I could help, please let me know. Cheers tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz
Someone showed me how to get to the link so I think I'm all set.
Thanks.
Great video and shots by the way.
@@thetrolleyfreak2537 Hi, Great!! Glad you were able to do what you wanted. Glad you liked the video and appreciate your kind words and taking the time to let me know. 😄Cheers, tassiebaz.
¡Guau! ¡Qué bonitos son también éstos trolebuses!
Hola Videos musicales de coleccion.Josue Uribe, Gracias por mirar y por tomarse el tiempo para comentar. Me alegra que lo hayas disfrutado. Mantenerse bien. Saludos, tassiebaz.
Have any of the classic Pullman trolleys formerly used by the MBTA been preserved? Probably not in running order, but perhaps at a museum? Thanks for this evocative film, watching it is like making time travel! Harvard Square is one of my favorite places in New England, for transport, architecture and more.
Hi Trains and Trams, Thanks for watching and for your comment. Sometimes the streetscapes are as interesting as the vehicles.
I don't know of any coaches that might have been preserved and found no information on an Internet search. I'm not that familiar with museum operations, so there may be some somewhere. However, remarkably, there are similar Pullmans still operating in regular service in Valparaiso, Chile. I have a RUclips presentation posted on this, if you are interested. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
The Pullman trolley us has been preserved at the Seashore Trolly Museum in Kennebunkport Maine
Those Pullman trackless trollies were in rough shape by the 70's
Hi Fenway94182764452634, Thanks for watching and for your comment. They didn't look so good, but still ran all right back then. Very similar vehicles are still running in Valparaiso, Chile. Regards, tassiebaz
@a0799353 Thanks for watching and for your comment. Personally, I would rather be warm than freezing, like some of the Brills and Marmons with minimal heating. Regards, tassiebaz.
Los mismos modelos de trolley que vemos en estas imágenes, aún recorren Valparaíso
Hi Guillermo, Gracias por ver y por tu comentario. Sí, estuve en Valparaíso en 2016, y he producido una presentación en RUclips de ellos. Por favor, tenga una mirada si usted está interesado. saludos, tassiebaz.
That is me in my com/electric van
Hi Donald, You look good. Thanks for watching, Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
Except for the cars, nothing much has changed except Cronin's.
Hi Johnny, Thanks for watching and for your comment. Regards, tassiebaz.
. . . and the buildings around the Mt. Auburn Street portal of the bus tunnel.
At 11:49 that is Mass ave at SALVI Ford and fire station eng 4 . I bought my first new car there 1977 ford f100
Hi Bob, Thanks for watching and for your comment. Sounds like the presentation brought back a good memory for you. Sometimes the backgrounds are as interesting as the vehicles. Regards, tassiebaz.