There are certain ways of telling if people haven’t been in a city very long. If you wear an “I love New York” shirt, then you haven’t lived in NY. If you say that Boston has a well run public transportation system, then you haven’t spent much time in Boston.
The green line trolleys are a particularly lovely feature of Boston. These are trains that travel both above and below ground. While above ground, they run down major streets, stopping at lights without any sort of right of way. Particularly, painful is one line that has about 7 stops through the middle of the Boston University campus, every two blocks or so. It is best way to travel almost 5 miles in under an hour. Generally by painful I mean figuratively, but there are exceptions.
People new to Boston often live on the Green Line. It has the appearance of being a highly convenient place to live. Thankfully, like most people not on their first lease, we no longer live on it, but we are still required to take it occasionally. We were riding along last Tuesday when the train came to a sudden stop. The passengers also stopped, though that occurred a couple seconds later than the train. I held for dear life with one hand and caught Mouse with the other. Seeing everyone behind me fly about was kind of surprising. My balance is generally such that I expect to be the first one falling.
The conductor jumped into immediate action, ensuring everyone that this problem was not her fault. Her next act was to determine whose fault it was. Somehow the emergency break had been activated. She asked if anyone accidentally leaned on it, an impressive feat given that you have to reach into the door to pull it out. I don’t think I want to see anyone who is that flexible. Once she was able to ascertain that it was not the fault of anyone in her train car, she attempted to communicate with the driver in the back car to see if it was the fault of someone on his train or him, to limited success.
The problem with an emergency break being triggered, beyond the flying action, is that the train won’t start again until it is reset. Having no idea what set it off in the first place, making the train move again was a significant challenge. About ten minutes later, after a series of resets, awkward attempts at communication, and outside help, the train started up again. We rolled along until just before the next stop where, amazingly enough, we get stuck behind a disabled train. After a few more minutes we reach Arlington, the next stop. A passenger comments “I wonder how many people are going to get off here.”
*We are going to stop this story for a moment for a brief public service announcement. If you are on a train and its emergency break goes off for no discernable reason, get off at the next stop. Thank you.
We didn’t get off. The train started up again and headed towards Copley. Mouse sat down, and suggested I hold on. We got back up towards normal speed when screech Thankfully, I once and while listen, and was holding on to two bars above me. Beyond being a little stretched out and catching a guy with my back, I remained secure.
The conductor asked if everyone was okay. Wait that is not right, rather the conductor tells everyone that they are okay. I’m sure that was reassuring for any potentially injured individual. It was now clear that this train is not up for the task of transferring passengers without hurling them about. There was, however, one remaining problem. We needed to be at a station in order to disembark. The conductor told everyone to hold on and started the train again. She went slower now, but as in turns out, a slow train coming to an abrupt halt still inflicts a large amount of pressure.
After a third trip towards the rear, we manage to make it Copley. We were awaited by a sea of rush hour travelers shooting looks that would scar children for life. I don’t think I could describe, unless you have spent time enough time in New York to not where a T-Shirt. We got out at Copley, and gave up on venturing further.
We did eventually learn what caused the malfunction. It turns out the train was being modified by a body rolling under it. In this case though, the problems were not caused by brake failure, but by the wrong kind of person on the track.
Pleonast, aka the Liquid Monk, a Moderator (Town) will relocate no more.
If only that was the only problem. Blaster master lay on the ground, the back of his head stove in with a very large hammer
Blaster Master, aka
Shadowfacts mumbles “Ogsh darn it, there aren’t actually any scum in this game are there. It is just a battle with our darker selves.
No. Blaster Ma
Hal interrupts “No there are scum, we just are really bad at this.”
The town continues to argue amongst themselves about the cause of their frustrations.
**Blaster Master, aka DEQ, a Junior Moderator (scum) resting quietly at their feet **.
