THE WINTER OF 1969 Boston Transit Copes with Heavy Snow Photos by Lawrence D. Mills

The storm of February 9-10

A major snowstorm hit Boston on Feb-ruary 9, 1969. That afternoon inbound service on Beacon was slowed by a downed wire and derailment of grey PCC 3164. The car was rerailed but once running snow accumulation had blocked the line causing the car to stall in Cooldge Cornor and following cars to back up. Plow 5123 was stuck in the middle of the group.

Outbound cars also became stuck. 3247 sat by the inbound station while crews inside ran it back and forth short distances to keep warm. Another group of cars sat at the outbound station led by fan equipped Tremont 3017. These views were taken early on the

morning of Monday the 10th.

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Shovelers worked that morning to clear around the plow. A crossover which had been used for decades by work cars had been removed in 1967; it would have allowed the plow to change ends and use the outbound track. It was later restored during the LRV era .

A temporary shuttle bus ser-vice was put in place. Dur-ing most such storms the rail services had been the most reliable.

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The storm had passed by afternoon and it was now a sunny day. The stuck equip-ment remained in place with normal bus service running on the Allston Dudley as well as subsituting on Beacon.

The depth of the snow was soon evident and the cars sat in place waiting to be dug out.

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A close up of plow 5123 in front of Tremont PCC 3016. Famed grocer SS Pierce was still in business at that time in Coolidge Cornor. The following morning service had been restored as inbound PCC 3095 shows.

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A broken wire caused by a tree branch just west of Marion St and a break at Chestnut Hill Avenue did not help. PCC 3231 shows a large burn on the left side after being hit by the falling live wire.

Snow also piled up at the Reservoir car-house and Type 3 plow 5138 stood idle.

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Coordination was lacking as the emergency busses were still running even after normal Beacon ser-vice had been restored the morning of the 11th. Riveriside was largely plowed out and Type 3 plow 5159 had done its job.

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Commonwealth Avenue managed to keep running. Inbound PCCs just west of Chesnut Hill Av-enue the morn-ing of the 10th.

The yard at Lake St had not been thoroughly plowed even though service was running.

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February 24 - March 3, 1969 Storm

The winter was not fin-ished. On February 24th another storm struck. Tan top PCCs approached the Longwood stop on Huntington just as the snow was getting started.

It was close to noon as these views from the Kennedy Build-ing at Boston State College show.

The schools let out early and the stop became very busy. The single unit ex Dal-las PCC was loading students from Boston State, Went-worth, and the Boston high schools of Latin and English.

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The plows were out early in this storm and it made a differ-ence. Plow 5122 headed out Beacon on the afternoon of the 25th; shown at St Paul St and entering the Reservoir Yard.

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On Wednesday the 26th a Type 3 plow pushed a 3 car PCC train on the High-land Branch . 5138 is shown early that afternoon pushing the PCCs west-bound at the Reservoir.

The train went under the loop and Chestnut Hill Avenue.

A view outbound at Wood-land Station. The mov-ie ad helps date the photos.

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The train went by the old Woodland Station now a Country Club garden shed. The scene recalls the interurbans of old such as the Boston & Worcester.

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The train arrived at Riverside. The plow is coupled to one of the systems oldest PCCs (Tremont class of 1941) while one of the newest (picture window car 3318 of 1951) sits in the yard.

Upon reaching the Grove St Bridge it was necessary to await clearence to enter the yard. The present passenger station is the other side of the bridge.

Plows 5106 and 5159 sit next to the station. It was a busy week for them.

Increased snow related ridership and delays at the line’s western end prompted short turn service to the Reservoir. 3256 is shown looping on the 26th.

During the 1980s the yard was rebuilt. The loop required by single ended PCCs was demol-ished in 1982 and a new short turn station with crossovers was put in. The bus transfer loop shwon with its station is still in place.

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Plow 5098 sat at Blandford St on Febuary 27th. It had frozen brakes and shovelers were helping to dig it out.

Outbound Watertown PCC 3101 passes the plow at Blandford.

Inbound PCC 3132 is shown passing the plow. Unfortunately this was the last winter of Water-town through service as it was discontinued the following June.

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Winter wasn’t through yet. On Monday March 3rd another storm came. Maybe not as in-tense as the others but drifts around Newton Highlands forced Riverside cars to loop for a while at the Reservoir. Beacon was running normal with the snow coming down.

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Commonweal th service was nor-mal as shown at Chestnut Hill Av-enue that morning.

Problems were taking place on the Water-town line as three PCCs were placed on the cen-ter track at Blandford.

A Commonwealth train passes the wating cars. The 1969 blizzard wasn’t quite up to 1978 but it certainly left its mark on transit in the city of Boston.

HIGHLAND TANKER PUBLICATION

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