My father and I were surprised at the glacial speed of MBTA’s Commonwealth Avenue line when we rode from Park Street to Boston College and back last May.
Must Boston’s streetcars travel so slowly? By comparison take Prague’s nimble trams that whisk passengers through the city’s streets. There’s a lesson to be learned.
Tracking the Light posts daily.
After a long interval (33 years), I took a spin out the full length of MBTA’s Commonwealth Avenue Line.
On this most recent trip, my father and I rode from Park Street to the end of the line, made a few photos and returned to Copley.
The trip was longer than I remember; did the trolleys always crawl along the way they do now?
Here are two views from the front of the cars, exposed 33 years and a couple of blocks apart.
Hmm.
Today, Tracking the Light Looks Back!
Sunday Afternoon and Evening.
Boston gets some great light and evening can be one of the best times to make photographs.
Sunday October 27th was clear in the morning, but clouded up a bit during midday. Towards evening the clouds melted away and a rich golden light prevailed.
Tim Doherty and I photographed operations out of North Station as well as the north end of the Orange Line rapid transit, then went toward Boston College, where the Commonwealth Avenue branch of the Green Line crosses over the former Boston & Albany mainline.
The fading light of evening made for a dramatic skyline. I didn’t have my tripod with me, so instead racked up the ISO on my digital cameras. With my 7D I can work with a 4000 ISO rating and still get some very presentable images.
My memories of the Commonwealth Avenue line extend back more than 40 years, and my photography of the line nearly that long.
In the late-1970s, I made a point of exposed Kodachrome slides of the PCC’s that were then waning on that route. I never could have guessed than in 2013 some PCC’s would survive in daily service on the Mattapan-Ashmont line.
See yesterday’s post for more Boston images: MBTA Sunday October 27, 2013—Part 1
See my new book North American Railroad Family Trees for discussion of the evolution MBTA and other commuter rail networks.
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