New Red and Orange Line Cars

Brattle Loop said:
The #1 Red Line cars (01500s and 01600s) were rehabbed between 1985 and 1988, so when they were between 15 and 19 years old. The 1979-81-built #12 Main Line (Orange Line 01200 series) cars indeed never had a proper rebuild, so while they're a good bit younger in absolute terms than the #1 Red Line cars, in terms of mechanical systems/components, they've been going for several years longer since (re)build than the Red Line cars have, in part accounting for why they were first to be replaced. By presidential analogy, Ford was president when (most) of the #12s were built, and Reagan was when the #1s were rebuilt, even if they were originally Nixon-era products.
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Thanks! But be that as it may, we've now come to the point where all of the old cars on both lines have served their purposes very well, now it has almost come to the era of where they'll ALL soon bow out to the new cars & be "laid to rest", wherever their final resting places may be. Some will be given to museums where they can live new lives as part of what they used to do. Much like what THIS car is doing now.
Old Red Line Car now a Couch Potato..jpg
:)
 
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And if my mind serves me correctly (correct me if I'm wrong), but the 01500's on the Red Line were the very first cars to feature air conditioning. No other line that I know of had a/c in their trains back then. The buses may have. :)
 
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Would the T keep some of the old cars for work car conversions / other misc one-off uses do you think? Some of those specialty vehicles are incredibly ancient.
 
Maybe vynal-wrap or paint a couple in yellow for money cars. But I don't even see THAT happening since, like you said, they are so ancient. :unsure:
 
erom said:
Would the T keep some of the old cars for work car conversions / other misc one-off uses do you think? Some of those specialty vehicles are incredibly ancient.
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Depends on parts availability. If they can strip enough components to keep a fleet of old work cars operating for 10 years, it's probably inexpensive enough to do it. If not, they probably won't. "Ancient" doesn't have to mean much on the work shift; ease-of-repair will be the deciding factor.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Depends on parts availability. If they can strip enough components to keep a fleet of old work cars operating for 10 years, it's probably inexpensive enough to do it. If not, they probably won't. "Ancient" doesn't have to mean much on the work shift; ease-of-repair will be the deciding factor.
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Some of the old cars have already been weened out & selected to be scrapped or given away. I think that they are still on the property though. The ones deemed to be particularly troublesome will go out the door first, then the ones that still appear as though they can stick around a little further will probably get to stay a little longer. Nonetheless, ALL of them will eventually be put out to pasture. It would be shocking for the riders to still see these old cars still darkening the T's door long after all the new cars have arrived & been put into service, say like 3 years down the road. :eek:
 
Does anyone have any insight as to when another batch of new shells will be sent over from China? I tried to find out online, but it seems that no info is getting out. We could possibly start to see some of the old cars disappear from the Orange Line at that time! :)
 
cburns said:
I noticed today on https://newtrains.today/ that 1900 is currently in service. Yesterday, it was 1904 in service. Is this the same 4 car set? Are there two sets running intermittently? How do I find this out?
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I would imagine that's the same set, with 1900 being the lead car on one end and 1904 being the lead car on the other end. The trains switch which car is leading at Alewife and I believe GTFS only reports the lead car.
 
HelloBostonHi said:
I would imagine that's the same set, with 1900 being the lead car on one end and 1904 being the lead car on the other end. The trains switch which car is leading at Alewife and I believe GTFS only reports the lead car.
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They're 6-car sets. 1904 can be on the other end of 1900, but they'd be lashed up out-of-sequence for that to happen (example: <-1900-1901-><-1902-1903-><-1905-1904->).

There's actually 8 total RL cars in-service now, so expect to start seeing 1906-1907 get some rotations in the lone set with any 2 of the other cars being idled.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
They're 6-car sets. 1904 can be on the other end of 1900, but they'd be lashed up out-of-sequence for that to happen (example: <-1900-1901-><-1902-1903-><-1905-1904->).

There's actually 8 total RL cars in-service now, so expect to start seeing 1906-1907 get some rotations in the lone set with any 2 of the other cars being idled.
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They are well known to match up cars in unconventional orders, no idea why. Last time I saw the new train it was 1900-1901>1903-1902>1905-1904. Frustratingly out of order for anyone who notices that kinda thing.
 
Yeah, one operator cab at the end of each car. Riders used to be able to look through the window of the front of the train to see the tracks ahead, but I think they stopped it now by putting a shade on the inside of the cab. :( :mad:
 
Jahvon09 said:
Yeah, one operator cab at the end of each car. Riders used to be able to look through the window of the front of the train to see the tracks ahead, but I think they stopped it now by putting a shade on the inside of the cab. :( :mad:
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Used to love looking though when I took the old Orange Line el as a kid.
 
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