The wooden beams that ran along the ceilings of the MBTA’s Green Line tunnels were installed when the line was built in the late 1890s, a decade before the Ford Model T was released and Oklahoma became the 46th state in the Union.
And for the next nearly 130 years, the beams capably served Boston’s transit system. Although most riders never noticed, the beams — known as “troughs” — provided a crucial barrier between electrified train wires and the tunnel ceiling overhead.
But the time has come for them to take a well-earned retirement…