Folks sharing a couple of videos with you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNbwNGFP_JY&feature=related
Next:
A film produced by Boeing-Vertol in the 1970s about the then new LRVs. Shot on the MBTA in Boston, MUNI in San Francisco, and at the Boeing plant - Parts 1 and 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9fHJOcEOr4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtto__LXZLc
Boeing on a layout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owiJhHoSoJU&feature=related
Retired car:
Some interesting facts about this mass transit product:
Mass transit
For much of the 1970s, Boeing Vertol entered the railroad rolling stock market in an attempt to keep government-funded contracts in the wake of the Vietnam War. During this period, Boeing Vertol manufactured the Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system for West Virginia University, the 2400 series Chicago 'L' cars for the Chicago Transit Authority, and the US Standard Light Rail Vehicle (marketed as the Boeing LRV). It was the last vehicle, an attempt at a standardized light rail vehicle promoted by the Urban Mass Transit Administration, that led to the company's ending rail production due to a myriad of problems which cost Boeing and the vehicle's two buyers (authorities in Boston and San Francisco) millions and led to premature retirements of the vehicles.
Unlike the LRV failure, however, the company's subway car manufacturing program was relatively successful. By the late 1990s, their cars were still in use after more than twenty years. Among the reasons why the company left the subway business was that their competitors may have underbid on a key contract and the post-Vietnam War military build up provided the company with far more lucrative military contracts.
I was also reading about the origin of the name "Boeing Vertol":
"Boeing Helicopters was created as Boeing Vertol when the Vertol Aircraft Corporation (formerlyPiasecki Helicopter) company of Morton, Pennsylvania was acquired by Boeing in 1960; the Vertol name was an abbreviation for Vertical takeoff and landing."
More details here in links:
Towards the end of this first link, in the references section, some photos can be found.
http://www.enotes.com/topic/US...d_Light_Rail_Vehicle
http://www.enotes.com/topic/Boeing_Rotorcraft_Systems
Prairie
