About Streetcar Tracks
Streetcar Tracks is the product of years of interest in Boston's transit system, the MBTA. Growing up in Brookline, MA, I lived between two Green Line branches and always enjoyed riding the Green Line streetcars through Brookline and into Boston. Naturally, as the years progressed I grew interested in the T's origins. I began to notice inconsistencies in the T's system, such as the lack of an "A" Line and the signs and maps that said the "E" Line went to Arborway instead of Heath Street.
Such curiosities led me to spend hours at a time surfing the web and researching the T's history. Eventually, I found out that there had been an "A" Line, and that the "E" Line really did go to Arborway. But it wasn't until I saw a Boston Elevated Railway map from 1925 that I truly began to realize just how extensive the Green Line once was. Suddenly, I realized that there had been streetcars much like my beloved Green Line ones that ran all over Boston! I was determined to find out more about the old streetcar system, particularly why all of the streetcars had been replaced with buses.
After a long time spent researching Boston's streetcar history, I felt that I knew enough that I should consolidate my research into one place where those who were interested could learn about what the Green Line once was. Of all of the people who ride or have ridden the Green Line or the buses that replaced the streetcars, I knew there had to be others who are interested in learning more about the system's history. Therefore, I embarked to create Streetcar Tracks, a culmination of my research into an easily accessible audio-visual format that anyone who is interested can view.
The resulting creation is a comprehensive documentary film that covers the former extent of Boston's streetcar system from my perspective and from the perspectives of others who met with me for interviews. In twenty minutes, Streetcar Tracks provides a background on the history of Boston's streetcars that will make one better appreciate one's surroundings and lead one to want to delve deeper into Boston's transit history.
Streetcar Tracks is embedded in the homepage of this website and also can be watched at: http://youtu.be/U7aom5r9NeE. Also feel free to check out the script of Streetcar Tracks, which has been uploaded to this website and is accessible by hovering your cursor over "Media" in the navigation pane of this website and clicking on "Script." Thanks for watching, enjoy!
Such curiosities led me to spend hours at a time surfing the web and researching the T's history. Eventually, I found out that there had been an "A" Line, and that the "E" Line really did go to Arborway. But it wasn't until I saw a Boston Elevated Railway map from 1925 that I truly began to realize just how extensive the Green Line once was. Suddenly, I realized that there had been streetcars much like my beloved Green Line ones that ran all over Boston! I was determined to find out more about the old streetcar system, particularly why all of the streetcars had been replaced with buses.
After a long time spent researching Boston's streetcar history, I felt that I knew enough that I should consolidate my research into one place where those who were interested could learn about what the Green Line once was. Of all of the people who ride or have ridden the Green Line or the buses that replaced the streetcars, I knew there had to be others who are interested in learning more about the system's history. Therefore, I embarked to create Streetcar Tracks, a culmination of my research into an easily accessible audio-visual format that anyone who is interested can view.
The resulting creation is a comprehensive documentary film that covers the former extent of Boston's streetcar system from my perspective and from the perspectives of others who met with me for interviews. In twenty minutes, Streetcar Tracks provides a background on the history of Boston's streetcars that will make one better appreciate one's surroundings and lead one to want to delve deeper into Boston's transit history.
Streetcar Tracks is embedded in the homepage of this website and also can be watched at: http://youtu.be/U7aom5r9NeE. Also feel free to check out the script of Streetcar Tracks, which has been uploaded to this website and is accessible by hovering your cursor over "Media" in the navigation pane of this website and clicking on "Script." Thanks for watching, enjoy!
