All Things WMATA 7000 Series

Spotted cars 7345, and 7346 testing on the Green line in a four car set yesterday.

Should see car #7400 by end of summer at this rate.

I saw a 7000-series train on the Yellow line this morning at L'Enfant, with destination of Huntington. That was the second 8-car train I saw on the Yellow line this morning (the other was not 7000-series). It reminded me to raise the issue why the LEDs on the 7000-series' exterior destination signs show up as green instead of yellow for trains going to Huntington or operating as Rush Plus Yellow line trains? Clearly the display can show a yellow, as the text itself is yellow. But the LEDs are definitely green, the same as the green displayed when it is a Green line train.

I noticed this too. 7K trains on the yellow line always show green instead of yellow. But its a lighter shade of green than what is used for the Green line.

I've been wondering about that myself.

Is it lighter? I have never been able to compare side by side. The closest I've gotten is a Green or Yellow train followed by one of the opposite color. I am also pretty color blind, so that may not help haha. Everyone else agree there is a lighter shade?

Here is some video you can compare:

7k Yellow line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJH8-r1Oon4

7K Green line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmydDj00hc8

Hmmm...seems like some edits to the sign programming would be helpful. No reason an LED can't alternate text so it flips between "DESTINATION NAME" and "LINE NAME." I.e., "GREENBELT/GREEN LINE." Would be helpful to many riders - not all of those different colors of LEDs are easy to read/view under all conditions.

"octr202"
Hmmm...seems like some edits to the sign programming would be helpful. No reason an LED can't alternate text so it flips between "DESTINATION NAME" and "LINE NAME." I.e., "GREENBELT/GREEN LINE." Would be helpful to many riders - not all of those different colors of LEDs are easy to read/view under all conditions.

This is why I have always believed WMATA should have spec'd RGB displays with a higher resolution (32 pixels high). The present displays are 10 pixels high and the RGB diodes are only on the part of the display that identifies the line color. A higher resolution would not limit the display to only matrix fonts.

Are the door and window positions/size the same on the A and B cars (except for operator window obviously)?

YOLO wrote:Are the door and window positions/size the same on the A and B cars (except for operator window obviously)?

Yes.

"YOLO"
Are the door and window positions/size the same on the A and B cars (except for operator window obviously)?

I will also note that the side windows on the (Front) F end of the B cars are in the same positions as the side windows on the (Rear) R end of both cars.

So basically the two halves of the sides of the B car are mirror images of each other.

Chris Brown wrote:I noticed this too. 7K trains on the yellow line always show green instead of yellow. But its a lighter shade of green than what is used for the Green line.

I've been wondering about that myself.

Maybe WMATA should try being more like Boston, and have the line painted on the cars (red cars on the red line, blue cars on the blue line, etc.)!

jayo wrote:Maybe WMATA should try being more like Boston, and have the line painted on the cars (red cars on the red line, blue cars on the blue line, etc.)!

An interesting concept but a challenge when equipment moves between lines, That Yellow train car could be Green tomorrow. Orange could be Blue or Silver.

jayo wrote:

Chris Brown wrote:I noticed this too. 7K trains on the yellow line always show green instead of yellow. But its a lighter shade of green than what is used for the Green line.

I've been wondering about that myself.

Maybe WMATA should try being more like Boston, and have the line painted on the cars (red cars on the red line, blue cars on the blue line, etc.)!

Jayo:

Color striping on MBTA Rapid Transit equipment works because of Boston's system design over
time in which each line's car types are not compatible for use on the other three routes.

The only exception is that Orange Line cars can run on the Red Line since they are shorter in
length being the only distinction in this comparison.

Metro was designed for all car types in service being able to run on any line - striping cars for
service on just one line would be more problematic then it ever would be worth...

MACTRAXX

Does anyone know if there are any good pictures of the HVAC system on the roof? I'm building the 7000 series train for a video game and want to get the best textures possible. Nothing good on Flickr/Google...

YOLO wrote:Does anyone know if there are any good pictures of the HVAC system on the roof? I'm building the 7000 series train for a video game and want to get the best textures possible. Nothing good on Flickr/Google...