The news of this evening’s trolley crash in Newton, MA, kinda shook up The IP.  His concern goes out to all involved.  The IP knows that that every one in his family has ingrained memories about the D Line.  It’s amazing that so many people in Boston still commute by trolley.  The D Line is actually a former steam railroad line, so it’s rides like a trolley but commutes like a train.  It still works like it did in 1850.

The below article has an uncanny immediacy about it.  The reporters really committed to the witness interviews and let those guide the piece:

Multiple injuries, operator trapped, after trolleys collide in Newton

May 28, 2008 09:28 PM

By Noah Bierman and James Vaznis, Globe Staff

A trolley car on the D branch of the Green Line in Newton smashed into another car from behind this afternoon, injuring multiple people. The operator of one of the trolleys is still trapped, the MBTA said.

The operator, who is a woman, suffered injuries that “appear to be very serious,” said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Pesaturo said one two-car trolley rear-ended the second as both headed westbound, away from Boston.

The collision occurred at about 6 p.m. on the way into the Woodland station. The trolley that was rear-ended was just emerging from a scheduled stop-light when it was hit from behind, he said. The operator who was trapped was the one in the train in the rear, Pesaturo said.

Six people were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, one was Medflighted to Boston Medical Center, and five were treated and released at the scene, said Pesaturo.

Frank Lam, 41, of Natick was commuting home from his computer job in the frontmost trolley.

“Basically, what happened is we were at a stop, and we just got plowed into by second train,” he said.

He said a few people were thrown around at the time of the impact, but “for the most part everybody was able to walk off the train.”

He said he went to the trolley behind to see if he could help and found one woman trapped but conscious, “wedged into a corner,” and then went out to the front of the trolley and saw through an opening a blue shirt that appeared to belong to the train operator.

“All I saw was a T blue shirt. It looked like her back or something,” he said.

Aerial pictures of the scene shown by local TV stations showed smashed trolley cars, rescue vehicles clustering at the scene, and injured people being placed on stretchers.

The footage also showed rescue workers gathering around the front of one smashed car.

Matt Stone, 46, an accounting manager from Framingham, was also sitting in the frontmost trolley, on his way to pick up his car at the Riverside station at the tail end of the same commute he has made for the past 3 years.

“We were stopped and all of a sudden we got hit from behind and there was no warning, nothing,” Stone said. “There was two separate impacts: the first knocked me off my seat, the next knocked me across the aisle.”

Stone was lightly bruised. Most of the 20 to 25 people on his train were not seriously injured, but a few appeared to be badly hurt, he said.

“One woman hit her face on the seat and had blood from a cut on her nose,” Stone said. “There was a 70-year-old old guy who went ballistic screaming at the conductor, ‘You killed my wife! You killed my wife!’ And the wife is going, ‘I’m OK! I’m OK.’”

After the crash, “Somebody started saying, ‘The train behind is on fire, and we got to get outta here,’” Stone said. The passengers got off, briefly got on another train that was facing the opposite direction, then got off that train because it was stuck behind the crash, and walked along the tracks to the Riverside Station.

Jack Condon, 74, a Dorset Road resident, said, “I was going for a walk and I heard a crash and I said ‘Uh-oh, this is a bad one’ and then I heard what I thought were a couple of explosions, or at least they sounded like they were explosions.”

He said he thought it might be a car accident on the nearby highway and then he saw “all the ambulances, and that’s when I knew it was a train.”

Steve Cadrain, a neighborhood resident, said he ran down to the accident site, jumping a fence and boarded one of the damaged trolleys.

“I went on the train, there was virtually no blood. There was one woman who was bleeding.”

He said he saw a female conductor walking off the trolley, “looking for a friend.” He said he thought she might have been looking for the operator who was trapped in the front part of the trolley.

Joyce Friedman, also a neighborhood resident, said neighbors offered to open up their houses to victims, but none of them took advantage of the offer.

“It was a huge, huge crash. It sounded like an explosion,” she said. “I thought it was an enormous truck crash on Beacon Street. We never think of the Green Line running behind our houses.”

“It was like an accordion, the two front ends squished together,” she said.

The line has been shut down in the area, and shuttle bus service is running between Reservoir and Riverside, the MBTA announced on its website.

Ralph Ranalli, Michael Levenson, and Rachana Rathi of the Globe staff contributed to this report, along with Globe correspondents John M. Guilfoil, Jill Jorgensen, and Matt Collette. 

That reporting is great.  The IP especially likes this quote:

“I went on the train, there was virtually no blood. There was one woman who was bleeding.”

WTF!!!  That was brilliant!! He says there was “virtually” no blood, but then hits you with the whammy “There was one woman who was bleeding.”  You can’t script stuff like that. 

Anywaze.  That a trolley can rear-end another trolley is nuts in 2008.  The IP feels most safe on that electric train at Hartsfield ATL; it has NO human operators.  But let’s not blame the motorwoman on the D Line.  No decent rail system would be designed to let such an accident happen…maybe in 1850, but not in 2008.

Days One & Two: “Tourists don’t go to Wembley!!”

Shortly after The IP’s arrival at the trashy foreign arrivals terminal at Heathrow, he got his first dose of British “charm” in the form of a terribly rude customs agent who demanded to know why he was spending his first nights adjacent to the cavernous Wembley Stadium in the NW London borough of Brent.  The reason was simply that my traveling partner, who was arriving the next evening, had made reservations at an affordable hotel; it was just a starting point and a place to stay.  But the goonish British
customs woman just could not believe The IP.  “Why are you going to
Wembley??  Let me see your hotel reservation!  Tourists don’t go to
Wembley!”  Then she turned to her colleague one desk over and said “He says he’s going to Wembley!  Why would he go to Wembley?”

This treatment not only made The IP have misgivings for having ever decided to go to London, it made him wonder why Wembley was held in such low regard by the British customs woman.  Was he going to be jumped and rolled outside of Wembley Stadium?  Was Brent one of those places they list as “Places NOT to see” in the guidebooks?  WTF?

After a long-but-pleasant ride on The Tube, The IP finally climbed up the
Wembley Central station stairs and onto the streets of the seemingly
questionable borough of Brent, home to The New Wembley Stadium.

As The IP made his way to his hotel, he was struck by the almost complete
lack (except of himself) of any Caucasian people.  Almost everyone seemed
to be from the Indian subcontinent or Africa, and all the stores and restaurants confirmed this observation.  And when he entered his hotel and saw a bunch of guys watching a cricket match from Bangladesh on the wide screen TV in the lobby, he understood what Brent was all about.

The hustle and bustle of Brent’s main drag was punctuated by odors of
exotic spices wafting out of little food shops and restaurants.  If
tourists were not supposed to go to this area, it was hard for The IP to
understand why.  Brent had an undeniable vibrancy about it, and all the
brown people made me feel like I was in a foreign country.  As it turns
out, that is exactly why some Brits, like that woman at Heathrow, questioned
my destination.

In The IP’s guidebook, he would actually tell the reader to visit Brent, to
get a good dose of the new, post-colonial Britain.  This is the Britain
where immigrants from all the countries it colonized flood the city and set
up shop for themselves.  If today’s Brits gripe, they should read some
history and put it all into context.  Besides, after a big and cheap dosa,
they might just change their tune.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosa

OK.  On to some pics and observations from Brent:

Most pithecanththropes have heard that London Town is a rainy place, but The IP did not expect bangs of thunder and hail on his first day there.  The above pic was taken from his hotel room just after such a storm.  Check out The “New” Wembley stadium with its big suspension arch…

The “Old” Wembley still evokes great memories for a lot of Londoners, mostly for epic soccer games and epic rock concerts.  It’s twin towers became iconic…all gone.

 The “New” Wembley has a roof that moves back and forth depending on the weather, much like the one in Seattle.  The arch is the key to supporting the moveable roof. 

Above are The IP’s short-term buddies and inteviewees.  They were so honest, open, and friendly, The IP almost cried…  Here is the “diversity” that no Benneton ad can really capture…How else would they pose so naturally?  You know what’s so funny?  The IP asked them what they most wanted for Brent.  They said “Better football fields.” 

 The above pic does not really capture the hustle and bustle of Brent, but it will do.  To think this place is miles from the traditional “center” of London is amazing…

The bourough of Brent is an amalgam of immigrants…check out that sign…  “Afro Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Asian…”  WTF?

Walk a couple of blocks and you think you are in some stereotype of the classic London suburb…  note the looming arch of Wembley…

For the two days The IP was in Brent, he could not figure out the popularity of chicken joints…they’re everywhere, regardless if they really know about Tennessee.

 OK.  The IP will be back with more London adventure and an update on the bowling-ball landscape project…stay tuned.

Hey all you pithecanthropes!   It sure has been a long time since The IP blogged at ya.  Ever since he had to move, go to London, establish utilities at his new pad, document weird structures in the backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains, do some home improvement projects, and generally adapt to his new neighborhood, he just hasn’t had time to post. 

Rather than jump right in to the London trip (he’s already written some text and formatted pictures of that) The IP will share some “events” from his most recent weekend here on Skyland Drive.

RETURN OF THE BOWLING BALLS

Some of you pithecanthropes may recall The IP’s bowling ball collection from way back when he lived in that little apartment in Brookline, MA.  He made a pretty cool bowling ball sculpture garden just outside the place; some neighborhood bastards stole the balls eventually.  Ever since that first garden, The IP has longed for another opportunity to do some bowling ball landscaping.  That time arrived!!

First, The IP had to prepare the area adjacent to his duplex apt.  With no gutter system, rain at The IP’s new pad just drips off the roof and creates a “drip line” on the ground.  

Borrowing an approach from Japanese and FLW rain-control designs, The IP first enhanced the drip line by filling it with egg stone so the rain would drip onto the latter and not gouge out a little muddy trench in the dirt.  Then to make the new drip line stand out visually, The IP put in some black mulch behind it along the length of the wall.

Then, choosing from his collection of swirly-colored bowling balls (never can pass up a good one at the thrifts) he placed them symmetrically along the base of the wall. 

The overall effect, in The IP’s mind, is both serious and insouciant.  Don’t you agree?

SUNDAY MORNING COFFEE WITH WHITE PEOPLE AND A B-17 AT PDK

Atlanta’s Peachtree Dekalb Airport (PDK) is adjacent to The IP’s new pad.  In fact, this was a major factor in his choosing this location to live.  The air-traffic around here is a constant entertainment for The IP, as he has always loved airplanes (and heliocopters [sic]!!!).  

Yesterday, while driving to the Krogers [sic], The IP was dumbfounded by the sight of a huge B-17 bomber taking off from PDK.  WTF!  So, figuring that it would be there thru the weekend, The IP took his Sunday coffee to go over to the surprisingly accommodating viewing area at PDK. 

Sure enough, the big B-17 was running rides ($500 a pop!) all morning long.

The scene at PDK on the weekends is a lovefest of very White parents and kids.  Hey, The IP has no problems with that, but he thinks he will never wear another golf shirt again. 

OK you pithecanthropes, be patient and you’ll be rewarded with a London series of posts with pics and commentary and, as always, a few surprises, like this pic from Great Smoky Mountains National Park:

A SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT TO THE INJURED PARENTALS AND A WISH FOR A QUICK REPAIR!!!