One of the Association’s most popular activities is our monthly meetings, which are held at the Midtown Hotel, 220 Huntington Avenue in Boston. They are always open to all and free of charge.

Meetings begin at 7:30PM, typically on the first Saturday of every month. A short business meeting (including a detailed current events segment on MBTA news and transit happenings near and far) is followed by an entertainment program, consisting of film and digital slideshows, videos and films of past and present transit operations from around the Northeast, the nation, and the world. Entertainment begins at aproximately 8:15PM and generally lasts about two hours.

In the event of severe weather, we may be forced to cancel a meeting. A notice will be posted on the home page of this website, and on our Facebook and Twitter feeds, by 4PM the day of the meeting in the rare event of a cancellation.

We are always looking for presenters at future meetings! If you are interested, please contact us. We generally seek presentations of historic or recent-event subjects, especially those involving cities in the Northeast.

Upcoming Meetings

May 4, 2019
Donald Nevin’s Canadian Travels, Part 2
Donald Nevin will give a slide show of his Canadian travels in March 1988, starting on the Adirondack from Albany-Rensselaer (NY) to Montreal. He’ll show his trip across Canada to Vancouver on the Canadian and the Supercontinental, with scenes of light rail and trackless trolley operation (including GMC Fishbowl trolley coaches) in Edmonton. He’ll show the SkyTrain in Vancouver, and finish up with a combination bus and ferry ride to the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island.

June 1, 2019
My Beantown Transit Adventure 2.0
Following up his popular previous show on the subject, Byron Nash will show more photographs he took of every MBTA transit mode (other than paratransit), along with more archival photographs, now also including video footage. This will include buses; the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green Lines; Commuter Rail; and boat service; plus coverage of the current status of each transit vehicle fleet.

July 13, 2019
Pennsylvania and Ohio Transit and Transit Museums
In May and June 2018, Georgia Chiasson went to the Vintage Electric Streetcar Company in Pennsylvania to examine stored equipment as a possible parts supply for antique transit equipment still in use in Boston and Chicago. In addition, he made stops in Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, and went to Cleveland, Ohio, and the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. Now, he’ll show us what he saw. This meeting will be on the second Saturday of the month to avoid conflict with the Fourth of July holiday.

August 3, 2019
American Light Rail Vehicle Construction
Jim Matthews, Senior Analyst at LTK Engineering, will give an overview of light rail vehicle construction in the United States, showing an inside view of the manufacturing facilities of three different carbuilders.

September 7, 2019
Cleveland and Dayton, Then and Now
Len Bachelder will present scenes from Ohio in the old days and in modern times, featuring Cleveland and Dayton.

October 5, 2019
The Last Days of the Main Line Elevated
In the mid-1980s, when the old southern Orange Line elevated structure was about to be replaced by the Southwest Corridor, Donald Nevin — along with other rail fans including BSRA members Stanley Genthner and Tom Engels — documented the architecture of the old elevated structure. This is our Annual Meeting.

Additional Meeting Dates (Entertainment TBD):
November 2 and December 7, 2019.

Past Meeting Entertainment Reports

We have offered a wide variety of entertainment through the years, and provide detailed reports of past meetings at the link below.
View Entertainment Reports

Items for Sale at Our Meetings

We typically offer a selection of books and other items for sale as part of our effort to offset the cost of room rent and meeting expenses. As such, we typically do not permit outside vendors to sell items at our meetings.