11 P.M. Move

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Lesley Delaney Hawkins called this evening. If I remember the message correctly, she said that NStar is moving equipment on Thursday the tenth, beginning at 11 P.M. from Broadway to Willow to Elm to Beech to Cambridge. The move will take about three hours.

Comments

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Hmm another convoy? I'll have to fight temptation and keep my comments in this one post. Unless I get pics. Than I'll start a new post.

P.S. The last one was supposed to take 6 hours, but it was done, or was at least out of Somerville, in nowhere near that time.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

I suppose posting the lyrics to CONVOY would be off-topic?

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I was strongly tempted to list that as "current music" when I posted about the one last week. I didn't know if anybody here would get the reference.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

...and eleven long-haired friends of Jesus in a chartreuse microbus! Ten-four!

I was telling someone in his twenties about the CB radio craze, and he looked at me like I had three heads.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm in my 20s, and I'm familiar with that. My uncle had a HAM radio that gave us hours of entertainment growing up.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I'm old enough to remember when "friends of Jesus" were long-haired chartruse microbus lefties. :-)

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

When I was in college I rode my bike 60 miles downhill to the Oregon coast. Coming back was a drag, so I hitched a ride with long-haired friends of Jesus wearing togas driving a white box truck. They put my bike in the back. I sat in the front where they tried to convince me to throw my sneakers out the window because the swoosh stripe was made of cowhide. When we reached our destination, they gave me back my bike and sped off. All my valuables in the saddlebags had been stolen.

[ron_newman]

At least back then, those wouldn't have included a cellphone, an ipod, or a GPS.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

True. Back in those days, credit was hard to come by, so I didn't even have a credit card. But I did have cash and a checkbook and a driver's license.

[ron_newman]

I do!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

I'm curious as to what they will be moving.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

A transformer, like last week.

[ron_newman]

Again? I wonder what went wrong the last time.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

The last one went from Willow to Broadway to 16. This sounds like the reverse.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I think the City's just giving people a head's up, which I appreciate.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Well someone commented in one of the posts about the first one that they might have seen it go down Rindge Ave, Cambridge. Which would make sense because there's a lot of power-utility stuff opposite the Fresh Pond shopping center, and probably a place where they could put it on a railroad car.

If that's where they ended up, going through Davis sounds easier than going up and around through Teele.

Maybe tonight they're moving another transformer from someplace further up Broadway ( in either direction ).

[ron_newman]

a lot of power-utility stuff opposite the Fresh Pond shopping center

Oh is there ever. Did you know that field of power equipment used to be the Fresh Pond Drive-In theatre?

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

If they're going Willow to Elm to Beech, they must be going the wrong way on Willow for a couple of blocks, but it's much easier, I am sure, than going around.

I wish I could drive my car that way on Willow. Then I could avoid the Davis Square congestion that I have to drive through every morning to get to Mass Ave.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Yes, they have everything around Willow blocked off for this.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

Well, it's coming from Broadway at Alewife Brook Pkwy, maybe from Arlington.

Photos

[bigfatwhale.livejournal.com]

I caught slightly better photos (http://blog.bigfatwhale.com/2008/01/11/return-of-the-somerville-mystery-object/) of it this time.

It looked like they're returning the same tansformer from last week.

Re: Photos

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

Actually, they had to take out the old transformer that had been replaced by the newer unit shipped in overnight on January 3-4.

Re: Photos

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

So, where were they coming from / going to?

Re: Photos

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

As others have correctly speculated above, the new transformer went into the big substation over by Fresh Pond.

The new unit came up from NJ by barge to Chelsea Creek, and the old one is going back the same way. But please don't ask about travel routes through other communities: I'd have to call NSTAR to find that out, and I can never get those guys on the phone.

Re: Photos

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

OK but the one last week, did that start in Somerville ( Willow @ bike path ) as speculated in last week's post, or did that come up from Cambridge as well?

Re: Photos

[tomchampion.livejournal.com]

It crossed in from Mass Ave in Cambridge, traveling on Beech Street before heading up Willow.

Re: Photos

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Those poles on top of the container are there to push the low-hanging wires up and over the container as it travels down the street. Very clever.

Also, there seemed to be a tree trimming vehicle at the end of the convoy. Maybe to clean up any tree carnage left behind by the big metal container.

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

I think this wins the prize for the most interesting way to avoid Alewife.