Okay, so thanks to track work on the Red Line my train from Shady Grove arrived 5 min late and I missed the very first EB Silver Line (originally Orange LIne) train to Wiehle *smh*. I did manage to get on the 2nd one though, which left Metro Center at 12:20pm. The operator officially switched over to Silver at 12:30pm at Rosslyn iirc:
A couple of notes from the trip:
- the train started with the normal number of weekend riders, but a ton of people got on at EFC
- You get a great view of Tysons between the Dulles Access Rd and McLean station
- Spring Hill seems to be the most elevated station in the system (even more so than Rhode Island Ave) by my judgement. According to wikipedia the platform is 48-51 ft agl
- As I've mentioned before, it's really weird how the three Tysons stations are all pretty much within a mile of each other, then it's a 5+ mile stretch (I think the longest in the system) to Wiehle-Reston E. As cool as riding through Tysons was, the ride between Spring Hill and Wiehle must be the most boring above-ground segment in the entire system. (I did spot Bentley and Ferrari convertibles on the Dulles Toll Rd though
)
- It was interesting to see FFX County Police patrolling the stations and not Metro Transit Police. I seem to remember an incident at the Silver Spring Metro station where the Montgomery County Police claimed that Metro property was under the jurisdiction of the Transit Police primarily
- I definitely like the feel of the interior of the new stations--very light, airy, and contemporary. In terms of exterior architecture I like Spring Hill and McLean the most, by far. Their designs are a nice update to the classic peaked roof designs of some current stations. The other stations look too massive and bulky.
- The "next station" interior LED displays on the outbound train displayed "Silver" the entire way after the changeover from Orange. The inbound train displayed the next stations but it was a bit off (it showed "Ballston-MU" at Virginia Sq for instance)
- Overall, it was a great trip. Now I can't wait to ride the Silver Line Ph II, the DC Streetcar H St line, the Baltimore Red Line, and (most of all) the Purple Line over the coming years...
You can see the rest of my photos from my trip here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjZwWFVo.