|
Photo from the collection of Peter Folger, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
The Boston Type 2 was designed with the Boston front, a railroad roof and sides which taper inward at the top. This unique Boston feature was supposed to keep the car from dragging on subway tunnel sides if a truck spring should fail, and was used on all subsequent traditional Boston streetcar designs. Designed for operation in the East Boston Tunnel, the Type 2 was used there for many years and later served on various surface routes before three of them were rebuilt into work cars with large compressors and air tanks to supply pneumatic machinery for track work.
Although definately a streetcar, the Type 2 exhibits many features of rapid transit cars of this period, perhaps because Boston was the first city in which all surface, elevated, and subway lines were operated by one company. These rapid transit features included Sprague's multiple unit control, permitting the operation of a train of several individually powered cars by a single motorman. There were train air brakes, two motors in one truck and none in the other and, originally, sliding doors. These last were covered by patents of the Easy Access Car Company of New York. Contending that the idea was not patentable, the Boston company refused to pay royalties and was upheld in the courts. The sliding doors, it might be noted, were later replaced with folding doors.
The three compressor cars remained in that service long after all of the rest of the class were scrapped. All of them are now at the museum. The compressor and other machinery have been removed from No. 5060, acquired in 1954, and the exterior of the car is restored to its passenger car appearance. Ultimately, it is planned to equip the car with seats and suitable folding steps so that it can again carry passengers.
History from Historic Cars: The National Collection at the Seashore Trolley Museum by Ben Minnich
Photos on this website are not to be used elsewhere without permission from the photographer or the Society.
Return to - Boston Streetcars - Collection Index 
|
