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  • Metrorail Red Line 40th Anniversary - March 27, 1976

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

 #1377252  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone:

40 years ago today - March 27, 1976 - The first Metro Red Line segment opened which was 4.6 miles between
Farragut North and Rhode Island Avenue. About 51,000 people rode this free service on this first day which was
far more then originally expected which was around half that total.

I found this information about an event scheduled for 6:30 to 9:30pm Tuesday March 29th at 600 F Street, NW
from the Washington Business Journal - it looks like it is not open to the general public and has a high admission
price to take part in whatever will be presented at that time. Note the 1976-2016 40th Anniversary special logo.

See: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/event/148702" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If anyone was there on that first day - or remembers that first line in service during that first year 1976-77 please
post pictures and videos of what Metro was like back around that time.

For the first 2 years 8 months Metro was open weekdays only from 6am to 8pm. During that time period Metro
opened the Gallery Place Station on December 15, 1976 and two Red Line extensions: Farragut North to Dupont
Circle on January 17, 1977 and Rhode Island Avenue to Silver Spring on February 4, 1978. The Blue Line was the
second route to open for service on July 1, 1977 from Stadium-Armory to National Airport.

Metro added more operating hours until Midnight on weekdays and weekend hours when the Orange Line to New
Carrollton opened November 20, 1978. What made this significant was that it was the first line built to a terminal.

Washington Metro Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Metro" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does anyone know of any mention in any Media or publication concerning Metrorail's 40th Anniversary today?
Is any group or organization - rail enthusiast or other - making note of this date?

MACTRAXX
 #1377285  by Nicholas Chen
 
I was being tourist in DC today and took the Metro everywhere. There was not one mention at all, not even something on a TV or announcement. I doubt anyone on the Metro was aware that it was their 40th birthday. It's not a coincidence that my video for the week is a recording out the front of a Metro train back in November.
 #1425631  by ExCon90
 
One cultural change that came about soon after the original opening was the discovery by people working around Capitol Hill that at lunch time they could take the Red Line west where a lot of restaurants were (and are) and get back in a reasonable time--unthinkable before Metro. I think I remember reading that in the beginning the Red Line peak ridership was around noon--2 pm.
 #1425659  by Sand Box John
 
"ExCon90"
One cultural change that came about soon after the original opening was the discovery by people working around Capitol Hill that at lunch time they could take the Red Line west where a lot of restaurants were (and are) and get back in a reasonable time--unthinkable before Metro. I think I remember reading that in the beginning the Red Line peak ridership was around noon--2 pm.


No thinking about it, you did read about it. WMATA discovered, to their surprise, a lunch time peak a few weeks after the beginning of revenue service. If memory serves, Cody Phanstiehl inform me of the lunch rush before he told the AP, Post and Star.
 #1504378  by Sand Box John
 
"JDC"

Today's GGW post, which repeats some stuff from prior years, includes information I was aware of, including the B and O lines changing colors depending on destination. In honor of Metro’s birthday, watch the system’s evolution since 1976


That went up after I posted this in the Breakfast links
 #1506857  by walt
 
I remember taking a walking tour of the tunnel from Judiciary Square to Metro Center before this segment was fully completed. A group of DC Teachers was given this tour as a part of a teacher education summer course on career education. Very interesting and somewhat erie to be in that tunnel in that situation.
 #1506865  by Sand Box John
 
"walt"
I remember taking a walking tour of the tunnel from Judiciary Square to Metro Center before this segment was fully completed. A group of DC Teachers was given this tour as a part of a teacher education summer course on career education. Very interesting and somewhat erie to be in that tunnel in that situation.


I aided the late Cody Pfanstiehl in the conducting of those tours. Every so often we would do a tunnel tour between Foggy Bottom and Rosslyn