24-01-19 PHOTOS: Mattapan Snow

The Mattapan PCC's are perhaps the crown jewel in Boston's railfanning scene featuring un-reconstructed streetcars that have been in continuous service since the 1940's. Operating as an extension of the Red Line subway, the 2.6 mile Mattapan branch connects the Mattapan Square transit hub with the Red Line terminus at Ashmont. Therefore it is rather surprising that the last time I had ridden the line was all the way back in 2008 despite visiting the Boston area at least once or twice per year. A part of this gap may have been due to the extra fare it costs to transfer to the Mattapan Line, although more recently Boston has had a bunch of more pressing retirements such as the trolleybus network and the Orange Line's 1980 stock. Anyway, in 2024 I made a point to rectify this oversight and reserved a morning of my winter Boston trip to ride the Mattapan Line. This post will contain the still photos ( mirror )while video content will be in a follow-up post.

While I had originally been booked on a mid-morning Acela, the season's first cold snap disabled many of the increasingly worn out trainsets so I was forced onto the second run of the day, departing Washington Union Station before dawn. The rear power car was #2028 and it was stabled adjacent to ACS-86 #620 on track #20.

Passing ACS-86 #612 underneath Penn Station New York.

Passing MBTA 1800-series cab car #1838 in the Southwest Corridor trench.

My trainset's lead power car was #2007.

The next morning I set out early from downtown transferring at JFK-UMASS from a Braintree to an Ashmont train after having taken the opportunity to rice a train of classic Red Line stock led by c.1970 Pullman Standard 01600 series car #01644. I can never get over how British these look.

On the same platform I happened to catch the lead car of the 01800 series. This order of cars from Bombardier replaced the remaining 01400 series cars from 1963.

Finally arriving in Ashmont, my train gets a lineup into the yard. The Ashmont branch used to be a New Haven RR commuter rail line up through the 1920's and until the PCC loop was rebuilt in the 2000's, featured a period interlocking tower from when the line was first converted to rapid transit use.

Up through the mid-2000's the Ashmont PCC loop was at the same grade level as the Red Line faregates with an elevated flyover at the north end of the trainshed-like station. As part of the rebuild the PCC loop was moved to the south and completely elevated. One of my very first rail videos is of a Mattapan PCC squealing around this loop.

It didn't take long for PCC car #3268 to arrive and climb the ramp up to the loop.

On the outbound run my run passed PCC car #3087 at Milton on a crew training run and #3265 at Central Ave providing 10 minute peak period service. While I was out one of the two PCC's pulled into the shoppe increasing headways to a lackluster 20 minutes.

PCC car #3268 discharging and recharging passengers at Mattapan. The second track at the inbound island platform is no longer in use for revenue moves, partly reflecting the decreased service frequency of recent years.

PCC #3262 was involved in a serious collision in 2017 and is currently being used as a parts car.

PCC #3268 departing past the crew base at Mattapan.

An elevated cycleway constructed along the nearby creek now provides and elevated view of the entire Mattapan PCC complex. Walking from the station I managed to catch #3087 arrive from its training run.

This view of #3265 arriving from its revenue run shows both the cycleway ramp and some of the new housing that has gone up in the area. Mattapan is a far cry from my first visit around the year 2000 when I was asked if I wanted to purchase drugs while trying to take (film) photos from a public sidewalk due to the MBTA photo ban.

At this point test car #3087 was found to be in working order and was placed into service, seen here with #3265 performing work at the Mattapan Station.

PCC #3265 was then pulled out of service and proceeded down the old second station track to the shoppe loop.

At this point PCC #3268 arrived from Ashmont, passing #3265 at the crew base. Note the out of service switch that used to allow for use of both inbound tracks at the Mattapan station.

Here we see PCC #3265 rounding the shoppe track loop with the shoppe building in the background. One has to be impressed by the skills of the mechanical forces who are able to keep these 75 year old PCC's running in daily operation.

Walking back to the station I found that my return journey would be provided care of PCC #3268. Back when I first rode the line, some of the Mattapan PCC's were still painted in their 1980's Green Line livery. Most of MBTA's PCC fleet were retired with the arrival with the Type 7 LRV's in the latter half of that decade.

After dropping me at Ashmont, #3268 rounded the loop and set off back to Mattapan. The short back and forth operation definitely has a bit of a streetcar museum feel.

B ends of CRRC Orange Line cars #1422 and #1423 coupled together at the Chinatowne station. It's interesting how the state of the art in transit construction has gone from a space aged material, aluminum, back to an industrial age material, stainless steel, instead of to something more 21st century like carbon fibre.

Heading back south my Acela Express trainset's power car #2011 was platformed across from MBTA Rotem bi-level cab car #1818.

Given the lackluster performance of the Siemens SC44 Chargers, the MBTA was pretty fortunate to get this GE powered HSP-46 locomotives when they did.  Here #2012 pushes a trainset into one of the high number tracks at South Station.

That's all for the still photos. Tune in next time for a selection of video content from the same trip.