Monday, September 11, 2017

Two Boston PCC cars cut up

It hasn't been an auspicious summer for Boston PCC cars. Following the scrapping of the ex-Dallas double-ender a few months ago, the Seashore Trolley Museum this past weekend cut up two more Boston cars. These were 3099 and 3122, both "standard" Boston cars built in 1945 by Pullman-Standard.

The photos above were taken in 2007. These cars were not accessioned parts of the Seashore collection; in other words they hadn't been acquired for the purpose of ultimate preservation, but rather had been purchased as parts sources and had been utilized mainly as storage lockers for spare components. In 2015 or 2016 they had been moved due to yard construction but at that time it was discovered that both cars were experiencing serious frame failures, so the parts were unloaded from the cars and they were designated for disposition.

This is not a great historic loss. Seashore has another car from this exact order, 3127, preserved as part of its historic collection and that car has been repainted to its earlier orange-and-cream service livery. Another car from the order, 3100, is preserved at the Connecticut Trolley Museum and has been the subject of on-again, off-again restoration work. And of course there are many Boston PCC cars of substantially similar design preserved at various museums and on the MBTA itself on the Mattapan line.

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