Metro's oldest rail cars will be rolling out of service

The 1k cars won't be retired until well after Phase II of the N Route Silver line opens. The first 2 batches of 64 cars of the 7k procurement are for the N Route Silver line. The next 300 are to replace the 1k cars. 220 more after that will expand the fleet. Sometime after the delivery of the first 128 cars the schedule call for doing a full rehabilitation to the 100 4k cars. I don't think the 1k cars will be pulled from service until 428 of the 7k cars are in revenue service.

JackRussell wrote:

Robert Paniagua wrote:Maybe Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunk, Maine will take a pair

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It would be nice, I guess. It is a shame that there is no place closer that could ttake them (somewhere within a 2 hour drive, or somewhere along the NEC).

The museum at Rockhill Furnace, PA, which may be a little more than 2 hours away comes to mind. It has the only operating Philadelphia & Western Brill Bullet Car, and a 1936 Brill Bridge Line Rapid Transit Car ( No 1009- built for the line which ran over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge between Philadelphia & Camden, NJ---now part of PATCO's Lindenwald Line)-- both cars had trolley poles installed to permit them to be run over museum trackage.
The Metro 1000's may not be as attractive as a museum exhibit because they don't look any different than Metro's newer equipment--- ie they don't show their age. Metrorail is unique in that all of its cars look basically the same, no matter how old they are, or who built them. A casual observer viewing a 1000 series car sitting next to a 6000 car, will not realize that the 1000 is more than 30 years old. I suspect that this may have an effect on whether or not a museum can be convinced to acquire one or more of these cars.

They will however look different than the new 7000 series being delivered.

Davis

Now with the manual mode policy in effect since the 6/09 collision, it makes sense IMHO to have a Rohr pair bring up the rear and be in the head car since the ATO has been disabled for safety, especially with their impending retirement, one may want to see out front off the 1000s since their seat is at a good angle unlike all newer classes

I have brought the subject up with Metro, and they did say they'd like to keep some preserved. But there's still a few more years before the 7000 series, so right now Metro's just focusing on keeping the 1000 cars going until then. I think they should donate one or two to the Smithsonian and/or the National Capital Trolley Museum. Metro said they would see if those museums would be interested, so keep your fingers crossed...

Or even uphere, such as Seashore trolley Museum in Kennebunk, ME and Shore Line trolley Museum in CT.