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The man who recreated Boston trolley lines in his Toronto basement
By adamg on Sat, 05/07/2016 - 12:40pm
Tiny Tracks is a documentary, debuting this week, about a woman who has to decide what to do about her late husband's opus: A Boston model-streetcar system he built over 20 years in their Toronto basement. The CBC interviewed her.
Ed. question: Is that the Watertown car barn in one scene?
H/t John Keith.
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Comments
Is this for sale?
My husband would want this.
Just another 60's Memory
God, do I miss Eric Fuchs on Tremont Street down from the Steaming Kettle.
Remember being down there as a kid, during the lunch hour, it was the best time to skip outta school, the crowds helped avoid the truant officer. Yeah, there was a bunch of 'em down around the Cross & Park Street Under, back in the day.
I was looking for some trucks, which means the chassis and wheels for trains, and some guy in a suit is in buying a golden Super Chief Diesel Engine for $500.00 which was a jaw dropping amount back then.
Thanks for the memories.
LoL
Hey! I found this first! (John got it from me). I found it on an Abandoned Rails FB Group Post
It's really a shame that the BSRA or some other Boston History transit org doesn't have an actual museum. This would be perfect for something like that.
Yes!
I would love to see a transportation museum! I know so many MBTA nerds that would love something like that!
We have the Larz Anderson Auto Museum
in Brookline for cars, but at least we do have the fantastic Seashore Trolley Museum (today is the season's opening day) up in Kennebunkport for the real deals.
There are a number of model railroad clubs throughout the Northeast, including the one in Roslindale, and hopefully that display can make its way to one:
http://www.railserve.com/Models/Clubs/North_America/New_England/
Lowell Trolley Museum
Yes you will need to dodge some really sketchy people on the way there. But it's worth the visit.
While we're doing plugs...
...worth mentioning that the streetcar museum in Lowell is a branch of Seashore Trolley Museum ( www.trolleymuseum.org) in Kennebunkport, ME. Yes, it's a little bit of a hike from Boston, but there's a massive collection of almost everything under the sun transit-wise, including much of Boston's history. You can even sign up to learn to operate them starting in June.
Boston-related cars operating this season are likely to include a Type 5 (sister car to 5734 displayed at Boylston), the ex-Blue Line #4 cars (0600's), and possibly a circa-1900 handbrake-only Boston Elevated car.
If/When Bowdoin closes as a
If/When Bowdoin closes as a station maybe it could be a museum? Move the PCC & Type 5 stored at Boylston there. It would free the tracks up at Boylston to be reopened to the portal buried under Eliot Norton Park for conversion/restoration of the Silver Line on Washington Street to the F branch of the Green Line.
Wonderful Idea
NYC Transit did that with the former Court Street station in Brooklyn. It's a magnificent place for a transit nerd like myself to visit. Bowdoin is a smaller space, of course, but Boston is a smaller system. I think it's a wonderful idea. As it now stands, Boston doesn't do nearly enough to celebrate the nation's first subway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Transit_Museum
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Even if they close Bowdoin,
Even if they close Bowdoin, they'll still need to use the track loop there to turn trains around.
I'd rather see the Bowdoin loop closed
and the Blue/Red connection at Charles/MGH be built instead to alleviate some overcrowding on the Silver Line to the airport.
A man can dream...
True that
Yes, I did! I was going to edit my Tweet but Adam posted right away. Also, I didn't want to out you. lol.
The video and accompanying story mentions that the railway is attached to the walls of the woman's house, so it would be very difficult to remove. The way I understood the story is, her husband built the railway over a series of years (decades) in their basement, with the help of friends (and, my guess, not a few Labatts). He died, in 2002, and later she decided she wanted to sell their home, and that meant putting the railway up for sale, too, separately. Apparently, she decided not to sell the house but someone had already put in an offer on the railway. It wasn't clear to me what the end result was, where the railway ended up, if anywhere.
The buses and rails seem accurate, sure, but are the streets? It seems he made those up, no?
Why do people blame Vimeo for this not being available? The documentary had its theatrical premiere on May 3rd, according to the director's website. Surely, she'd like to have a paying audience (or, two) before making it readily available.
I'll keep an eye out for future developments, as they happen!
If we gave her two billion
If we gave her two billion dollars, we could run it out through Sommerville!
If you lived here
..you'd know how to spell Somerville.
(but with the mighty power of the internet, you can carp from anywhere)
This display should be
This display should be preserved and not just on video. I hope a sugar daddy steps up to fund a museum site, around here preferably. Why isn't this screening here ? Or everywhere for that matter. I hate that I will probably forget all about this by the time it goes P.P.V. or public on vimeo and I hate that vimeo seems to be becoming all about teasers for something I won't actually have the chance to watch. Whats the matter vimeo, afraid your slice and dice policy won't be enough to keep people from downloading it ? Show us the doggone film already ! Also: no credit given for the stills which are great.
Children's Museum?
Wouldn't it be great to see something like this at the Boston Children's Museum? Of the Museum of Science? Or maybe even Children's Hospital? Then children of all ages could enjoy it for decades to come.
South Station concourse
Rather than another grilled cheese stand or whatever, perhaps we could have this installed in the South Station concourse or something. Or maybe in the new Back Bay. Have times when the public could come and control it themselves. Might be fun.
That would be awesome, except ...
I suspect you'd have more than one Gomez Addams out there.
South Station Concourse
Gets my vote, unfortunately the Ring of Steel will probably block the view
*Orson Wells clapping
That is amazing! Or, as my grandma would say: God luv him.
This is pretty awesome! What
This is pretty awesome! What a handy and crafty guy!