I will never forget my first ride on the 'T'. My father took us to our first Red Sox game. It was 1990. We drove to the commuter rail station in Swampscott and then hopped on the Green Line into Kenmore Square.

I'll never forget the squeak. The high pitch squeak of the "T" comes from the sideways grind on the wheels on the track when it's cornering.

At 111.3 decibels, the screech of Green Line trolleys peeling out of Boylston Station in downtown Boston represents the loudest regular sound in Boston -boston.curbed.com

The decibel level is immense. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. It's the color coding.

What The 'T' Subway Colors Mean In Massachusetts

After the consolidation of Boston area transit into the T in 1965, a local consulting firm was hired to make a rapid transit map. Rather than labeling the transit lines by the cities they served, the new map color-coded the lines. -mbta.com

Most things that need to be distinct from one another are color coded, but normally it's random. That's what I thought anyway. The colors of the T in Massachusetts actually mean something, however.

Red Line

The color comes from Harvard's crimson color. This was the original end of the line. The origins of Harvard Crimson date back to 1858 when two rowers from the university chose crimson scarves to distinguish their team.

Green Line

The color comes from the Emerald Necklace which this line runs through.

Boston’s park system was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted between 1878 and 1896. Later coined the Emerald Necklace, this 7-mile-long chain of parks, parkways and waterways includes the Back Bay Fens (and Charlesgate Park), the Riverway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond, Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park. The system spans over 1,000 acres and accounts for half of the City of Boston’s park acreage.-olmsted.org

Blue Line

This color comes from the Boston Harbor. This line runs underneath the harbor.

Orange Line

It was first decided to be yellow, but that didn't make for a bold enough background for signage.