Boston Orange Line EL in 1987

[iam916]

the old fashion wooden wscalators were at egealston (If spelled right.) station, and they were steep as fuck! If you sliped on them you would slide straight down and take a lot of people with you. None of them were in town. And downtown crossing was called Washington street, dover station is now back bay, mass ave was north hampton, dudley is now ruggles, egealston is roxbury crossing, and the rest from there are the same as always.

[adelgado75]

Why did they tear down part of this line?

[PKingman]

@adelgado75 I think that many people did not like the way it looked. It was very old and probably needed work.

[R36Coach]

This footage has the St. Elsewhere - esque feel to it completely.

[notfarfromhome]

If you bought a steak and cheese from Joe's then you'd know how close that train came to derailing.The third rail sparks would come down heavy in the winter! Good memories, thx for the upload!

[CJaguar265]

how oftern did the bums keel over and short out the 3rd rail ?

[caribeandude1]

I used to travel the Orange Line in Boston back in those days. Thanks for posting.

[littlelostnebula]

wow  any one remember the old fashioned wooden escalators?

[PKingman]

@littlelostnebula I do. They were downtown somewhere.  Wasn't there a "Summer-Winter Station" where "Downtown Crossing" is now. Maybe there.

[raakone]

@littlelostnebula wondering the same thing. The "Reno" style escalators CANNOT be found on a youtube video anywhere (if anyone can prove us wrong, PLEASE DO SO). Boston was the last place to have them, and either South Station, Harvard Square, or Downtown Crossing was the last hold-out. It was supposed to go to the Smithsonian, but due to budget problems and stuff....it didn't happen! :-(

[Jahhoney07]

I remember those days :-)

[rokarolla]

Totally classic. Good job. I was a rider. I remember Skippy Whites Records as it crossed Mass ave. I love all of Bostons trains. I rode what my dad called the "Curley Cars" on the Green line, when it used to go all the way to the Arboretum in JP. Last time I saw one of those run was in Mattapan Dorchester.

[parejopinto]

Thank you so much for putting this up. Do you mind if I put it up on my site?

[PKingman]

@parejopinto Go ahead.

[nicademastribe]

woe this takes me back makes me think back then they did not have cell phones on the old orange line now they be use-in cell phones on the orange line all the time cool vid

[crazyjoe1148]

hey i was born in MASS ,.

[mellowsky47]

Thank you so much, I must have rode this train thousands of times I worked intown Boston.

[dredre1315]

do u have any videos of the mbta rts if so upload i would love to hear them again

[PKingman]

@dredre1315 I may not. Most of my stuff is rail equipment. But if I come across anything while going thru my old tapes I will post it for you.

[djfanfan]

Hey Thanks for posting this. But the you left out the best part! Dudley Square, where the train looked like it would tip over and the noise it made. I appreciate this though.

[PKingman]

@djfanfan I had some tape of Dudley Square but it wasn't very good. Unfortunately I didn't capture the essence of that place. All differnt now.

[DamageMM91]

@djfanfan Thanks for posting this. It brings back memories from my college days in Boston - Among others life in Forest Hills and one traumatic day of 13 degree weather and an extremely late train at Dudley Station.

[Suldog29]

Really excellent stuff, and thanks for posting it. I took the ride many times - both directions, and both termini - and had forgotten so many of the landmarks yuo showed. The ambient sound - traffic, music of the time, etc. - adds great color and nostalgic value. Really, THANKS!

[Suldog29]

Really excellent stuff, and thanks for posting it. I took the ride many times - both directions, and both termini - and had forgotten so many of the landmarks yuo showed. The ambient sound - traffic, music of the time, etc. - adds great color and nostalgic value. Really, THANKS!

[RobertPaniagua]

Thank you so much, Peter, for posting this movie! This is so good, of the old EL trains being filmed from the sides and the cars and traffic on Washington Street

[PKingman]

@RobertPaniagua You are welcome.

[keon123ful]

I MISS THOSE GMC RTS The best buses mbta ever had used to ride them when alot of them were around please u gotta have more videos of those rts buses!

[2012alexg]

at 0:24 whats was that trolley line because I no it wasnt the E line

[rodeliot]

@2012alexg Actually it is the E line. There used to be tracks along Washington street south of the Forest Hills sta. to the Arborway yard where the old PCCs that ran on the Arborway line were stored. Busses were also stored there. If I ever finish photoshopping these pictures, my first slide show post will have old Arborway yard pics.

[sieman700]

awesome old classic video of the orange line EL and the some mbta gmc rts and flyer D901's i think they called them

[RobertPaniagua]

@sieman700 yes. they were the Flyer D901s indeed, they were retired in 1994/95 when the 0-series RTSs came, and bus 8415 remained in service until the 0400-500 Neoplan buses came along in 2004/05