How They Did It In Boston

 

Bill loaned me an old book about Boston Rapid Transit with this interesting picture of third rail shoes on a steeplecab.  The picture on the left zooms in on the truck.

There are two wire brushes that can be pushed down by springs, but the springs don't look very strong.  I fail to see how this could be very effective.  In the picture, the brushes are both held off the rail by the wooden handles above them, which are in the vertical position.  And the shoe itself is just a flat bar bent into a U shape.  It can't be very heavy, but there's also a spring above it.  I guess it must have worked.   It appears to me that most rapid transit cars had the same type of third rail pickup, but without the wire brushes.