One of the Association’s most popular activities is our monthly meetings, which are currently being held virtually via Zoom. 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) is followed by an entertainment program, consisting of past and present transit operations from around the Northeast, the nation, and the world. Entertainment usually begins at approximately 8PM and generally lasts about two hours.
August Virtual Meeting Information
The August Meeting will be held on August 6 at 7:30PM EDT. BSRA Members and guests can access the meeting live via Zoom using the link below. Regular Members should also review full reports at this link before the meeting, as they will be voted on for approval.
Dial in by phone (audio only):
Call 1-646-558-8656 (Outside the US? Find your local number here) and enter the below details when prompted:
Meeting ID: 899 9687 4665
Passcode: 850038
We use the Zoom platform to conduct our virtual monthly meetings. At 7:30PM on the day of the meeting, you can join by clicking the link posted on this page, or by dialing in using your phone to the number listed on this page. Please note a few basic rules:
- All attendees will enter a “waiting room” before being admitted into the meeting by the host
- All attendees will be muted on entry, and are asked to keep themselves muted for the duration of the meeting
- Attendees are asked to use the chat feature in Zoom to raise any questions, rather than speaking, to allow the meeting to run efficiently and minimize cross-talk
- Anyone wishing to raise any items of New or Old Business, or any Current Events items, should also post them using the Chat feature when prompted during the meeting
- Voting and making motions are limited to Regular Members in good standing only; all others are asked abstain from voting. Motions are subject to member verification by the Board before proceeding
Note: You do not need to install the Zoom software to join the meeting, though it does provide a better experience. Instead, you can click “join in your browser” after clicking the meeting link, or you can dial in by phone.
We do not currently record our monthly meetings. This is primarily due to both the effort required to do so properly, and copyright concerns around the sharing of content created by others.
The BSRA does not permit any video, still, or sound recording of the entertainment programs at our in-person, live meetings. This policy applies to entertainment provided at our virtual (Zoom) meetings as well. This is out of respect for the rights of our presenters and out of consideration for all members of our audience, and to ensure that we are in compliance with copyright and intellectual property law.
If individual members want recordings of entertainment programs provided at our meetings, we suggest that you contact the presenter and make arrangements directly with the presenter for the material you want. It is up to the individual presenter to determine to what extent they are willing to do so.
We appreciate your co-operation. Thank you.
Upcoming Meetings & Entertainment
Below is a list of our next scheduled meetings and their entertainment programs.
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 transit subjects, especially those involving cities in the Northeast.
August 6, 2022
East Germany After Reunification
Donald Nevin presents a tour of the city of Dresden by tram, plus a ride on the Thüringerwaldbahn — a rural tramway in the state of Thüringen, running from the city of Gotha to the winter sports resort of Bad Tabarz — all from a trip he took to East Germany in 1993, just three years after German reunification.
September 10, 2022
Early Railroads Serving Boston’s Inner North Shore
In an encore presentation for those who missed our meeting on September 8, 2017, Bill Lieberman (a BSRA member living in San Francisco!) will present a visual summary of steam railroads that served Winthrop, Orient Heights, and Revere Beach in the 1870s and ’80s, based on his recently published book, The Train on the Beach. He’ll give a thorough presentation about narrow and standard gauge railroads that complemented — and sometimes competed with — the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad.
NOTE: This meeting will be on the second Saturday to avoid conflict with Labor Day weekend.
October 1, 2022
The First Very Last Trackless Trolley Show (Part One)
George Chiasson will present the first segment of a program on all four MBTA “North Cambridge” trackless trolley routes (71–Watertown, 72–Huron, 73–Waverley, and 77A–North Cambridge), from the early days of the last generation of trackless trolleys — the MBTA Neoplan-built, Skoda-equipped 4100-series trolley coaches — to the last day of operation, all geographically arranged in great detail. A couple of photos of the previous New Flyer generation will also be included.
NOTE: This is also serves as our Annual Meeting; the Business Meeting will be longer than normal.
Additional Meeting Dates (Entertainment TBD):
November 5 and December 3, 2022.
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.