What's this, a bus on a Rail Fest???
I don't normally "cheat" and have bus rides when we're supposed to be riding trains, but I think you'll find this one worth it. We are taking a bus where there once was a trolley route, and hopefully someday it will return as a trolley route. Since this portion was all street running track, our bus will be riding right over the rails (where they still exist) anyhow!
The Arborway, or "E" branch of the Green Line used to serve the old Forest Hills station of the Orange Line -- not the one we just visited but an elevated station above Washington Street a little east of here.
A street rehabilitation project back in 1985 caused the MBTA to "temporarily" suspend trolley operations beyond the Heath Street Loop. The street has long been fixed and reopened, but the trolleys have not yet returned. In some places, particularly near the Forest Hills station, there are no wires. And along South Huntington Avenue closer to Heath Street, the tracks were paved over.
The trolley loop at the current Forest Hills subway station was probably never used for its intended purpose, since this station opened around the same time as the trolleys were suspended from running to the Arborway terminus at Washington Street.
The #39 bus does not use the bus boarding/discharge area on the east side of the station, but instead it runs right on the trolley right-of-way, located on the north side of the station, running right on the trolley tracks. Were the trolleys running, the buses would be running against the direction the trolleys go; in other words the bus makes the loop in a clockwise fashion. Then again, the bus most likely would not be necessary here if the trolleys were to return.
We are going to run through part of the Jamaica Plain section of Boston, along South Street and then Centre Street. We then veer to the left onto South Huntington Avenue. You will notice that South Huntington is quite wide, certainly wide enough to continue supporting in-street trolley running. South and Centre Streets may be narrower, but no narrower than those found in the Philadelphia area where similar trolleys have been running for years. Those who were at the PhillyFest in July of 2001 remember how narrow Orange Street in Media was, yet trolley service continues.
Once on South Huntington, look for the V.A. Hospital on the right side. Right after this is where we will get off the bus, at a bus stop outside of Heath Street Loop.
At the Loop, we walk to the outside track, and board the first Green Line "E" trolley that comes.