Greetings from MegaBus as I return from 3 days for the website in Boston where I photographed every station on the Red, Green, and Blue Lines and every underground green line station plus the ‘E’ Heath Street Branch. Had I not also been using this trip to stay and eat dinner both nights with relatives I could have had enough time to finish the green line branches but the rest of the green line gives me an excuse to return.
Anyway Monday morning began with a ride up to Providence, RI with a friend who’s taking a class at RISDY from his country house in southern Rhode Island. From there, due to the infrequent shedule of the commuter rail I had to wait until 9:43 for a train which I took into Back Bay Station. bought a 7 day link pass for only $15 and began my day doing photo essays of all the blue line stations ending at the Airport Station. Here I had my only altercation over my photography of this trip from an undercover cop who told me I couldn’t take pictures of the station. MBTA’s policy is a ridiculous you can take pictures but you may be questioned.
Next I had a slow ride on an empty Airport shuttle bus to terminal C to try the Silver Line deciding that undergound bus way stations do count and I will add them to the website. I got off at World Trade Center walked back to Silver Line Way (where propulsion switches to trolley wire). Did a photo essay of Courthouse before continuing to South Station and finished with every stop on the red line except on its two southern branches. Then I was onto Harvard for bus 71 to Belmont Center and my relatives for the night.
The next morning was slower, I did a commuter rail photo essay of Belmont Center before walking to Waverley for that photo essay and taking the trolleybus (there noises are so different than a regular bus) to Harvard and the red line down to Braintree and did that branch which took the morning, it only gets half the service along with every stop on the Ashmont Branch and then the PCC operated Mattapan high-speed trolley Line. Next I took the bus to Forest Hills and did the southern half of the Orange Line before heading back to Belmont (red line to the bus).
Today Wednesday started with finishing the northern half of the orange line. Then doing all the underground stops on the green line before a photo essay of the ‘E’ Heath St branch including all the sign poles for the in street stops. These are the only places where the Massachusetts state law that vehicles must yield to passengers leaving streetcars still applies. The front door of each LRV is also the only one that is opened. The rear leaf of this door also is red and says STOP for traffic. I then ended up on a Boston College train, the one branch I’d never ridden which is an extremely slow ride before walking back to Reservoir and had a much faster ‘D’ Line ride back to Park St for the red line to South Station. I picked up some not very good Chinese food in the food court for dinner and joined the line for the 6:00 MegaBus trip to New York where I am now the third seat from the front window without a seat mate.