{"id":20039,"date":"2017-12-21T07:52:28","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T12:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=20039"},"modified":"2017-12-20T21:55:07","modified_gmt":"2017-12-21T02:55:07","slug":"puzzle-revealed-mbta-at-south-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/puzzle-revealed-mbta-at-south-station\/","title":{"rendered":"Puzzle Revealed: MBTA at South Station."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The other day I posted:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-5cy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">An Unusual Scene: MBTA at South Station, Boston December 2017.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With a photo similar to the one below.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"20037\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/puzzle-revealed-mbta-at-south-station\/mbta_2008_south_station_p1710170\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?fit=1731%2C1155\" data-orig-size=\"1731,1155\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DMC-LX7&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1512237139&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.7&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;200&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.25&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?fit=709%2C473\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?fit=474%2C316\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-20037\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?resize=474%2C316\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?w=1731 1731w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?resize=205%2C137 205w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?resize=709%2C473 709w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?resize=1022%2C682 1022w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?w=948 948w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?w=1422 1422w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>What makes this \u2018unusual\u2019?<\/p>\n<p>On MBTA, the normal operating practice is have push-pull train-sets with the locomotive on outward end of the train. Thus the locomotives should face away from Boston. This has been the standard practice since the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>In my photo a locomotive is facing South Station, and that is <u>un<\/u>usual. While not necessarily unheard of, nor \u2018rare\u2019, this is not the usual practice.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not an every day visitor to South Station, but this is the first time I recall seeing an MBTA road-locomotive facing the station since the early 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>What isn\u2019t evident from my photo is that there are actually locomotives on BOTH ends of the train. Which is also unusual. The bottom photo shows the same train set at Worcester, and focuses on the outward facing locomotive.<\/p>\n<p>Quite a few Tracking the Light readers guessed my puzzle correctly. One reader asked why the locomotive is facing the station. I\u2019ll be honest, I don\u2019t know why. However, I can guess. Maybe you can too.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20038\" style=\"width: 1731px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"20038\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/puzzle-revealed-mbta-at-south-station\/mbta_worcester_at_night_p1710172\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?fit=1731%2C1155\" data-orig-size=\"1731,1155\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Brian Solomon&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DMC-LX7&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1512244664&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.7&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.16666666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?fit=709%2C473\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?fit=474%2C316\" class=\"wp-image-20038 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?resize=474%2C316\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?w=1731 1731w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?resize=205%2C137 205w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?resize=709%2C473 709w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?resize=1022%2C682 1022w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?w=948 948w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_Worcester_at_night_P1710172.jpg?w=1422 1422w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Worcester, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!<\/span><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The other day I posted: An Unusual Scene: MBTA at South Station, Boston December 2017. &nbsp; With a photo similar to the one below. What makes this \u2018unusual\u2019? On MBTA, the normal operating practice is have push-pull train-sets with the locomotive on outward end of the train. Thus the locomotives should face away from Boston. &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/puzzle-revealed-mbta-at-south-station\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Puzzle Revealed: MBTA at South Station.<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10],"tags":[678,790,788,1003],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MBTA_2008_South_Station_P1710170.jpg?fit=1731%2C1155","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-5dd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20039"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20040,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20039\/revisions\/20040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}