Track fire shuts Orange Line from State to Downtown Crossing

By adamg on Sat, 10/01/2016 - 2:20pm

Some trash burst into flames shortly after 2 p.m. on the inbound tracks just past State Street station sending light smoke towards Downtown Crossing and forcing the shutdown of service not long after.

An MBTA inspector put the fire out with an extinguisher, but Boston firefighters then had to walk down the tracks to figure out what caused the fire. Once they determined it was trash, not a cable, they left the tracks and let the T resume service, around 2:35 p.m.

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Comments

Curious to know what caused

By maria c on Sat, 10/01/2016 - 2:36pm.

Curious to know what caused the fire. Stay tuned.

Trash

By adamg on Sat, 10/01/2016 - 2:38pm.

So once the fire was extinguished, no further threat to the riding public, at least until more trash from slobs builds up and catches fire.

maybe they were cooking

By EM Painter on Sun, 10/02/2016 - 9:17am.

grilled cheese and bacon

Baker

By cybah on Sat, 10/01/2016 - 5:54pm.

Good thing Baker and his FCMB decided to cut the janitors ! Cuz like ya know, Janitors don't pick up trash or anything that cause these fires.

*eye roll*

Orange Line Trains Use "Dynamic Braking" Resistors Beneath Car

By Dynamic-railfan on Sat, 10/01/2016 - 7:28pm.

Orange Line Trains Use "Dynamic Braking" Resistors Beneath Car.

When braking, in addition to the wheel shoe brakes, the traction motors are switched into generator operation, with their elecrical output dumped into resistor grids under the car. If you look cross-platform on arriving trains on the Orange Line, you can sometimes see the 6-pack of resistors glow red from the energy they are dissipating.

Using electric dynamic braking saves wear-and-tear on the mechanical shoe brakes, extending their life.

Unfortunately, you only need a floating plastic grocery bag drifting into the hot grids to start a fire.

Or a paper shopping bag and a

By maria c on Sun, 10/02/2016 - 9:12am.

Or a paper shopping bag and a moving truck blanket.