Boston Elevated Ry. 5071

The opening of the East Boston Tunnel in 1905 changed the character of East Boston from a maritime center to a streetcar suburb, by reducing the travel time from Maverick Square in East Boston to Downtown Boston from almost a half hour to less than 5 minutes. The Boston Elevated designed a large car for the line, based on its elevated cars, built a prototype and tested it. In the meantime, it assigned its newest double truck cars to the line, the 26-1/2 foot group, and quickly replaced them with larger cars off-the-shelf from Brill (the “Type 1”). In 1906, the Elevated ordered 50 new “Type 2” cars from Brill (Nos. 5041 – 5090), 32 of which were specially fireproofed for use in the tunnel. No. 5071 is one of these “tunnel cars.” These “Type 2s” were 45 feet long overall, with sliding “easy access” doors, two motors and automatic air brakes similar to those used in elevated cars. The BERy ran the “Type 2s” in multiple unit, rapid transit-style operation. Continued East Boston Tunnel ridership increases caused the BERy to replace the “Type 2s” with 3 car center-entrance trains in 1917 and full scale rapid transit in 1924. The BERy moved the “Type 2s” to various surface streetcar lines. The BERy replaced the sliding doors with folding doors. The Type 2s did not last long after being displaced from East Boston, as they were heavy and underpowered compared to more modern cars. In 1927, the BERy installed large air compressors and large tanks inside No. 5071 for use supporting major trackwork around the system. BERy did similar conversions on Nos. 5055 and 5071 in 1926 and 1928. One of these, No. 5060, was released from service in 1954, and moved to Seashore. Nos. 5055 and 5071 were used sporadically afterward, and were isolated at Charlestown Neck carhouse when that facility was cut off from the rest of the system. No. 5071 remained in maintenance service after the Metropolitan Transit Authority acquired ownership in 1947 and after the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority acquired ownership in 1964. In 1973, Seashore acquired Nos. 5055 and 5071. No. 5060 has seen extensive restoration work, but has been dormant many years. Nos. 5055 and 5071 remain as compressor cars. One feature unique to these cars are the drawbars, which are tubular instead of rectangular, making towing awkward. Having more than one “Type 2” car gives Seashore the potential of running the cars in their historic, multiple unit operation.