Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 4006

Flyer Industries’ predecessor, Western Auto & Truck Body, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, began producing buses in 1937. The company was renamed Western Flyer Coach in 1945. The Manitoba government acquired the company when it was failing financially in 1971 and renamed it Flyer Industries. Flyer Industries began building electric trolley buses in 1968 with its model E-700 after traditional builders of trackless trolleys had left the market. Flyer introduced its series 800, available in either diesel or electric coaches, in 1973. The province privatized the company in 1986 when it became New Flyer Industries. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) ordered a fleet of 50 Flyer Industries model E-800 trackless trolleys (Nos. 4001 – 4050) in 1975. The E-800s arrived in 1976 and replaced a fleet of aging 1951 Pullman trackless trolleys serving Cambridge, Watertown and Belmont from the Bennett Street and North Cambridge car houses. The MBTA’s trolley coaches had unusual left-side doors for the station at Harvard Square. The E-800s served Boston’s last trackless trolley routes, operating from Harvard Square to North Cambridge, Belmont, Watertown and Huron Avenue. The MBTA was also operating Silver Line trackless trolleys in the Seaport and under South Station. The North Cambridge coaches operated until replaced by a fleet of new Neoplan trackless trolleys. The first Neoplans entered service in 2004 and replaced all the Flyer Industries coaches by 2009. The MBTA used trackless trolleys to avoid diesel fumes in the Harvard Square Tunnel, but, in 2022, the MBTA replaced the North Cambridge trackless trolleys with hybrid diesel and battery buses. Seashore acquired MBTA Nos. 4013 and 4028 in 2007 when both operated for the museum’s Transit Day event that year. Seashore also acquired MBTA Flyer coach No. 4049 at the end of 2008. Seashore planned to use No. 4013 for operation and to preserve Nos. 4028 and 4049. In 2010, the MBTA donated a fourth MBTA Model E-800 coach – No. 4006 – to Seashore which the museum then intended to use as the primary vehicle for its planned trackless trolley shuttle route. Seashore sold No. 4013 in 2015. In 2020, the museum scrapped No. 4049, leaving Nos. 4028 and 4006 in the collection. In 2015, Seashore also acquired another Flyer Model E-800 coach, San Francisco No. 5148. The San Francisco coach lacks a left-side door that is on the Boston coaches.