Three successive generations of East Boston Tunnel equipment are seen here staged at the Orient Heights Yard. All cars were built to smaller dimensions than a standard U.S. rapid transit car as they were built to use the East Boston Tunnel, the tunnel that joins downtown to East Boston. The tunnel had been built for trolley use under Boston Harbor. When heavy-rail rapid transit cars were substituted in 1924, they had to fit. The cars seen are (left to right); 1978 Hawker-Siddeley E.B.T.#4 cars, 1951 Pullman-Standard E.B.T.#3 cars, and the 1923 Pullman #1 E.B.T. cars. The #4's were new and being introduced on the line at the time of the photo, thus the display was coordinated by the MBTA and BSRA, an otherwise highly unlikely trio to be seen together.

Photographed by Paul Joyce, May 20, 1979.
Added to the photo archive by Paul Joyce, June 24, 2006.
Railroad: MBTA.

Paul Joyce's awards:

» Contact the person who posted this photograph.