Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail (South Coast Rail)

[DBM]

I've been to several of these places and I just don't hold them in the same esteem as you do, but there's nothing wrong with that. I will say the walk from the T station to the Tipsy Toboggan is a bit of a haul and not very scenic, while hoofing it to Columbia Rd really seems like a long distance for not much payoff. As an aside I had the pleasure of camping out overnight on the USS Massachusetts with my boys scout troop and while it was uncomfortable as all hell the staff did a really good job. I recommend trying it...once.

It's easy to dismiss the USS Massachusetts for precisely that reason--"oh, it's just an attraction for Boy Scout troops"--but I contend it's an amazing (even if not possessing the most slick and sophisticated "production values") WW2 museum, with some haunting memorabilia. I'll always be struck by seeing, in its gallery of wartime media artifacts, a framed Life magazine cover from 1943 or so, at the height of the Nazi terror machine, featuring Himmler superimposed over a graphic of hundreds of skulls. The caption: "Europe's Policeman."

Also, if you have the chance to visit the USS Alabama in Mobile Bay, it's a similarly awesome spectacle. (When I was there in late March, conditions were already getting oppressive, so it's probably best done between Halloween and St. Patrick's Day)

 

[themissinglink]

Service Changes Planned for Fall River/New Bedford Line This Weekend | News | MBTA

Official website of the MBTA -- schedules, maps, and fare information for Greater Boston's public transportation system, including subway, commuter rail, bus routes, and boat lines.

www.mbta.com

"We understand how these changes impact our riders who deserve an appropriate level of service and we want to express our appreciation for their continued support of transit by extending the fare-free weekend travel on this new line through the end of May," said MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng.

 

[stick n move]

It's easy to dismiss the USS Massachusetts for precisely that reason--"oh, it's just an attraction for Boy Scout troops"--but I contend it's an amazing (even if not possessing the most slick and sophisticated "production values") WW2 museum, with some haunting memorabilia. I'll always be struck by seeing, in its gallery of wartime media artifacts, a framed Life magazine cover from 1943 or so, at the height of the Nazi terror machine, featuring Himmler superimposed over a graphic of hundreds of skulls. The caption: "Europe's Policeman."

Also, if you have the chance to visit the USS Alabama in Mobile Bay, it's a similarly awesome spectacle. (When I was there in late March, conditions were already getting oppressive, so it's probably best done between Halloween and St. Patrick's Day)

I got to visit the alabama when I was at A school in pensacola for my MOS. Its a navy base but Marines get sent there for school. One of the coolest things ever. I was at nas pensacola for an aviation MOS so we more went to mobile for the aviation museum right there and holy cow it delivered! It has a lockheed a-12 (variant of the sr-71) which are suuuuper rare and suupr badass and a bunch of other badass planes in the massive hangar. Def recommend it.

Speaking of battleship cove nobody has talked about it before that I know of, but I think there should be consideration given to adding the aegis cruiser uss bunker hill (cg-52) which was decommissioned in 2023. Cruisers dont get built anymore so once these are gone they may be the last cruisers ever. On top of that the uss bunker hill was the first us warship to use a vertical launch system, which is now ubiquitous across all navies across the world. It wasnt involved in a world war, but its an extremely important part of us history, naval history, and has served in most modern conflicts from the 80’s to today. Its in long term reserve now, but I wish that instead of eventually scrapping it that we would save it either for battleship cove or charlestown.

She was commissioned in charlestown and supported desert storm, desert shield, southern watch, the taiwan strait crisis, iraqi freedom, and even made historic port calls to vladivostok russia and qingdao china during times of less tension. She was in the gulf when the uss cole bombing happened and was sortied out to provide cover to the other ships in the area where it took place. She was also sent on humanitarian missions to indonesia after the massive earthquake, and the humanitarian mission for the haiti earthquake. I really hope that this piece of modern history doesnt get scrapped and we can add another warship to one of our floating museums.

Lockheed A-12

Uss bunker hill cg-52