Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 0559 and 0562

In 1951, Boston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) acquired 40 cars (Nos. 0548 - 0587) to equip the Revere Extension of the former Boston Elevated Railway’s East Boston rapid transit line. (All Boston rapid transit cars have a “0” in front of their numbers to distinguish them from streetcars.) The 1951 cars were termed No. 3 East Boston cars, which supplemented the No. 1 and No. 2 East Boston cars built in 1923 and 1924. The MTA purchased the No. 3 East Boston cars from St. Louis Car Company, unlike other postwar Boston rapid transit cars that came from Pullman. The No. 3 cars were an innovative design of the Transit Research Corporation based on PCC principles, and they are the only examples of TRC’s Design “B”. As such, they had TRC B-10 trucks specifically designed for PCC rapid transit applications. The No. 3 cars were the first rapid transit cars with extensive use of “maintenance-free” interior materials including formica, stainless steel, etc. They were also the first rapid transit cars with rubber-cushioned draft gear and composition brake shoes. The MTA painted the East Boston cars two-tone gray with an orange stripe. The MTA extended the line to Wonderland in 1954, using the former Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad right-of-way. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority acquired the MTA in 1964. The MBTA adopted a color coding scheme to identify Boston’s various transit lines; the line to Wonderland became the Blue Line. So, the MBTA painted the cars blue and white replacing the former gray. A major cracking problem arose in the cars’ B-10 trucks, requiring their complete replacement with the General Steel 70 model in the early 1960s. In 1979, new cars, known as “Bluebells,” began to replace the No. 3 East Boston cars as well as the venerable No. 1 and No. 2 East Boston cars. After several years in storage, Nos. 0559 came to Seashore in 1985, and No. 0562 came in 1965. Although the two cars are mated together, they have never operated together as a pair. The museum replaced broken windows on the cars, but the cars have not been equipped with poles for operation at the museum. A cursory inspection in 2012 indicated that the arc chutes on many contactors have deteriorated and must be replaced. Besides Nos. 0559 and 0562, Seashore also owns older and newer East Boston Blue Line cars. In 1982, Seashore acquired No. 1 cars Nos. 0512 and 0513 and No. 2 cars 0546 and 0547. In 2010, Seashore acquired “Bluebell” No. 4 cars Nos. 0622 and 0623.