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Discussion related to DC area passenger rail services from Northern Virginia to Baltimore, MD. Includes Light Rail and Baltimore Subway.

Moderators: mtuandrew, therock, Robert Paniagua

 #129306  by Head-end View
 
I'm from Long Island and I've just come back from my latest trip to the D.C. area. I spent 2 interesting days riding Metro.

Well, it looks like the car fleet is now starting to show its age. I assume the oldest cars (1000 series) are almost 30 years old, right? Well, either they're not being washed very often or the windows are just old. Either way, they've gotten very dirty and fogged up and are now hard to see thru. Including the front railfan window which is either tinted too dark or was just very dirty on many trains. I spent both days feeling like I was looking thru a haze. I don't remember this ever being a problem in past years. I've been riding this system about once every 2 years since 1988. The fleet always seemed in good condition until now. :(

On a positive note, I rode some rehabbed 3000 series cars and new 5000 series. They were in a little better shape. I liked the brightly lighted red and blue interiors. Does anyone know why they're doing the 3000 series, but not the presumably older 1000 & 2000's? Are they maybe going to replace the oldest ones and rehab the 3000 & 4000's? :-D

I bought $6.50 day-passes twice. Cost-effective, yes. But one failed half-way thru the day and I had to go thru the manual gates several times after having the station-agents verify the card was valid. What a pain! Ya' know, I'm getting fed up with these fare-card systems in use in WMATA, BART and NYC! The machines are confusing to operate, except New York MTA's new ones that have touch-screens that walk you thru the process. Much better, but I still think that tokens were the best. At least Boston still uses them. Simple and effective! :wink:

My favorite route is the Orange Line to Vienna, down the middle of Interstate-66. In an earlier post we talked about top-speeds. I now believe the 59 MPH shown in WMATA's website is correct. The traffic on the highway was going a little faster than we were on the train, so 59 is probably right. The Blue-Line extension to Largo was a disappointment. Tunnel almost all the way. It only comes outside in a couple of spots and when it reaches the end of the line; oh well........ The Blue and Yellow lines past Reagan Nat'l Airport are still good to Huntington and Franconia. You can watch parallel CSX freight trains in that area too. :-D

One last tidbit: On the Blue line I rode in lead-car #1000 AC. I assume that this was the very first car in the system! Kind of like LIRR's 9001-9002, right?

 #130645  by Yonge
 
The 2000s (built 1983-84) are being rehabbed along with 3000s (built 1984-88), and most if not all of the 2000s are done and back in service. The 1000s (built 1974-78) were rehabbed in the 1990s. The rehabs are scheduled after about 20 years of service, and the cars are expected to be in service for 20 more years after the rehabs.

 #133357  by Robert Paniagua
 
Well, it looks like the car fleet is now starting to show its age. I assume the oldest cars (1000 series) are almost 30 years old, right?

Yep, they are, as Yonge said, the Pilot (test) cars showed up on property on November 1974, I believe it was 1000/1001, and the remainder showed up in 1975-78, at about the same time as your NYCTA Tunnel R46 Cars.

Well, either they're not being washed very often or the windows are just old. Either way, they've gotten very dirty and fogged up and are now hard to see thru. Including the front railfan window which is either tinted too dark or was just very dirty on many trains.

Yeah, I know, that front window has always been tinted like that, the reason it's like that, and not like the MBTA cars is to reduce sunglare to the operator.

I spent both days feeling like I was looking thru a haze. I don't remember this ever being a problem in past years. I've been riding this system about once every 2 years since 1988. The fleet always seemed in good condition until now. :-(

Yeah, that's the way it is, unfortunately, especially when taking video out the front, it comes out off-colour, and it's kinda stinky :-(

My very first WMATA ride was in June 1986, when I first relocated to the are right from my homeland countery of Puerto Rico, and I was 10 years old at the time. When I lived there until June 1987, I would frequent the metro and me and my father would take railfan rides on it, that was of course before the syetm was finished.

On a positive note, I rode some rehabbed 3000 series cars and new 5000 series. They were in a little better shape. I liked the brightly lighted red and blue interiors. Does anyone know why they're doing the 3000 series, but not the presumably older 1000 & 2000's? Are they maybe going to replace the oldest ones and rehab the 3000 & 4000's? :-D

Well, the 1000s as Yonge reported, were rehabbed in 1994-95, and when you notice them pull in and coming to a screeching stop, and when they start accelerating until around 15-19 mph, they sound IDENTICALLY and ALIKE my MBTA #3 Red Line Car, the 01800s. It reminds me of an 01800 Red Liner Pulling up and out. Also, the 200s were rehabbed the same way as the 3000s, I even looked at the numbers, and some coaches had the 2xxx designations. The main reason is so that the #2 and #3's can easily trainline with the #5 cars, just like my MBTA KinkiSharyo Type 7 Green Line trolleys being Rehabbed so that they can trainline with the Breda Type 8 Trolleys.

However, the #4 cars, since they were built 1990-92, they decided to leave them out, until maybe the next decade when they turn 20. These cars are right now 13-14 years old, so the #4's were left out.

I bought $6.50 day-passes twice. Cost-effective, yes. But one failed half-way thru the day and I had to go thru the manual gates several times after having the station-agents verify the card was valid. What a pain! Ya' know, I'm getting fed up with these fare-card systems in use in WMATA, BART and NYC! The machines are confusing to operate, except New York MTA's new ones that have touch-screens that walk you thru the process. Much better, but I still think that tokens were the best. At least Boston still uses them. Simple and effective! :wink:

Yeah, I understand the agony of the cards, I used them myself, of course, and never had a problem with them. Beware though, if you ever bought a farecard and at your desired destination, it didn't have anought money, it would give it back to you, but the turnstyle wouldn't open, you'd have to go to the addfare machine, and put in the remaining difference but the turnstyle won't give you back the card, because AddFare won't let you go past the required difference.

As for us here in Boston, as mentioned in my MBTA forum, the Charlie Pass is slowly coming, but surely. So that means tokens in Boston by 2008 will become collector's items.

My favorite route is the Orange Line to Vienna, down the middle of Interstate-66. In an earlier post we talked about top-speeds. I now believe the 59 MPH shown in WMATA's website is correct. The traffic on the highway was going a little faster than we were on the train, so 59 is probably right.

Yeah, that's an interesting stretch. BART in San Francisco, CTA in Chicago, and even the TTC Toronto's Blue/Green Line (Yonge-University Spadina Subway) has expressway-median running environment. Not here in Boston (although the new Forest Hills Orange Line and Alewife to Lexington Red Line, which was never built, was supposed to run on highway medians), and not in New York either.

The Blue-Line extension to Largo was a disappointment. Tunnel almost all the way. It only comes outside in a couple of spots and when it reaches the end of the line; oh well........

That's what I was trying to tell you earlier :-), that the New Blue Line alignment was just about all tunnels, just like the Stadium Armory to Addison Road segment, although there was a 1000ft Flyover over an enbankment/shallow grave, although the tracks (each separated) are both encaged, that is, surrounded by fencing. Then ther's Morgan Boulevard, which is a sinkhole-type station, then the 495 flyover, as mentioned the Blue alignment doesn't pop out till right at the very edge of the west side of I-495 at the breakdown lane, and then it descends, albeit elevated onto Largo Town Centre (last stop), and then it drops back to an underground car yard and storage. But there is some elevated provision for and extension of the line, maybe to Annapolis???

The Blue and Yellow lines past Reagan Nat'l Airport are still good to Huntington and Franconia. You can watch parallel CSX freight trains in that area too. :-D

You're right, I've "been there-done that". Especially on the Blue Line to Franconia which runs parallel to the CSX all the way to the last stop, and you can even see Amtrak Passenger Trains too, from Richmond/Newport News to Boston, and from Miami/Orlando to New York as well. Not a bad ride downthere..

One last tidbit: On the Blue line I rode in lead-car #1000 AC. I assume that this was the very first car in the system! Kind of like LIRR's 9001-9002, right?

Yeap, see my above mention of it, although 9001/02 were probably delivered in 1969, I think, while the rest of the 9000s came in later years.