Which lines use which yards?

Hi everyone,

I was wondering which yards supply railcars for which lines. Some of them are safe to assume: obviously the Shady Grove, Glenmont and Brentwood yards supply cars for the Red Line, Branch Avenue and Greenbelt for the Green Line, and Falls Church and New Carrolton for the Orange Line. The Blue and Yellow Lines are harder for me to understand. I would guess that they get their cars from Alexandria yard, but they must need more cars than that. Does the Yellow line use Greenbelt, or does the Blue line use New Carrolton or Falls Church?

Thank you

"redline43"
I was wondering which yards supply railcars for which lines. Some of them are safe to assume: obviously the Shady Grove, Glenmont and Brentwood yards supply cars for the Red Line, Branch Avenue and Greenbelt for the Green Line, and Falls Church and New Carrolton for the Orange Line. The Blue and Yellow Lines are harder for me to understand. I would guess that they get their cars from Alexandria yard, but they must need more cars than that. Does the Yellow line use Greenbelt, or does the Blue line use New Carrolton or Falls Church?

Red - Shady Grove
Red - Brentwood
Red - Glenmont
Blue - New Carrollton
Blue - Alexandria
Blue - Largo (Largo has a small underground facility roughly 30 cars in the tail track)
Orange - New Carrollton
Orange - Fall Church
Green - Greenbelt
Green - Branch Avenue
Yellow - Greenbelt
Yellow - Alexandria

Cars are also stored in the tail tracks at Vienna, Huntington and Springfield-Franconia.

Phase I of the N Route Silver line:
New Carrollton
Fall Church
Maybe Largo
During the Phase I operation cars will be stored in the temporary tail tracks at Wiehle Avenue.

Phase II of the N Route Silver line:
New Carrollton
Fall Church
Dulles
Maybe Largo
Cars will also be stored in he tail tracks at (VA-277) Ryan Road Ashburn Capacity there will be roughly 36 cars.

Cars from all the line eventually get rotated through either Brentwood or Greenbelt as these two yards have heavy overhaul facilities.

Thank you very much for your helpful and informative response.

Because the Yellow and Blue lines use cars from yards beyond their normal area of service, is it common, as demand for railcars rises at the top of rush hour, for Blues to Franconia to be put in service from New Carrolton, or Yellows to Huntington to be put in service from Greenbelt? Conversely, is it common, as rush hour draws to an end, for Blues to run in service from Franconia to New Carrolton or Yellows from Huntington to Greenbelt?

"redline43"
Thank you very much for your helpful and informative response.

Your welcome.

Because the Yellow and Blue lines use cars from yards beyond their normal area of service, is it common, as demand for railcars rises at the top of rush hour, for Blues to Franconia to be put in service from New Carrolton, or Yellows to Huntington to be put in service from Greenbelt?

The storage capacity at Largo governs where the cars are put in from, as New Carrolton is nearer to Largo then is Alexandria. Same also applies to the north end of the Yellow line as Greenbelt is closer to the northern terminal of the Yellow line.

Conversely, is it common, as rush hour draws to an end, for Blues to run in service from Franconia to New Carrolton or Yellows from Huntington to Greenbelt?

A similar situation exists at both the end of rush and at closing, the opposite of the put in takes place at the ends of those lines, see above.

Sand Box John,

I had heard that largo had capacity for cars, but assumed it was a situation similar to Franconia/Vienna/Huntington and only held a train or two, does it hold multiple trainsets, and is the "facility" strictly for holding trains, or do they get cleaned out and such there as well?

It was my understanding that Brentwood lost its heavy repair capability when the yard building was renovated, and that Greenbelt is now the only heavy facility. Am I mistaken in that belief?

Also, here's a photo of a Blue put-in from New Carrollton:
http://transit.schuminweb.com/photo-dis ... age_022422

"LoadLimit"
I had heard that largo had capacity for cars, but assumed it was a situation similar to Franconia/Vienna/Huntington and only held a train or two, does it hold multiple trainsets, and is the "facility" strictly for holding trains, or do they get cleaned out and such there as well?

The underground Largo tail tracks are configured similar to the tail tracks at Springfield-Franconia, the difference is they are longer and there are platforms at their ends and the three tunnels are separated by columns instead of walls like the pocket tracks at Farragut North and Mount Vernon Square. There is an operation building with a back generator on the surface above the platforms at the end of the tail tracks. What activities are preformed there is unknown to me, I would hazard a guess it's pretty minimal.

"SchuminWeb"
It was my understanding that Brentwood lost its heavy repair capability when the yard building was renovated, and that Greenbelt is now the only heavy facility. Am I mistaken in that belief?

Acording to WMATA's 2011-2020 Capital Needs Inventory (4.86 MB PDF file) dated 02 24 2010, PDF page 20, Brentwood Yard is identified as a service and inspection, heavy repair, overhaul and running repair facility.

So what times of day would one see a blue come out of NCR? I guess it might be hard to tell because they use the displays for designations instead of the placards now.

Davis

"strench707"
So what times of day would one see a blue come out of NCR? I guess it might be hard to tell because they use the displays for designations instead of the placards now.

Totally speculation from where I am sitting. I would hazard a guess most of the AM put ins are done before the system opens followed by the stuff stored at the platform and in the tail tracks at Largo.

The photo I took of the Blue at Cheverly was taken at around 3:00 PM, and so I presume that they do them as the rush hours are getting going, but that photo was also taken about five months before Largo opened, so things may have changed.

Also, re: Brentwood, thanks for clearing that up.

"SchuminWeb"
Also, re: Brentwood, thanks for clearing that up.

Some of the back shop activity that was preformed at Brentwood was moved to Greenbelt as the result of the servicing bay expansion. What affect that has on the percentage of heavy repair and overhaul preformed at Brentwood I do not know.

There also is the possibility that the information about shop functions in the 2011-2020 Capital Needs Inventory may have been compiled from an outdated source. It would not be the first time I have read something from WMATA that was source from outdated information.

How come if Brentwood is such an important facility, they don't have a connection to the tracks at WUS. its already a yard environment with slow speeds and CSX can easily get in there. I would have thought they'd have connection just to bring raw materials in and out. And how could it hurt having a connection? Its just a switch and two governing signals, one to enter the Amtrak terriorty and one to enter the WMATA block system.

Davis

There used to be one, SBJ posted about it relatively recently.

There's one at Greenbelt and Alexandria, so Brentwood isn't really necessary.

"strench707"
How come if Brentwood is such an important facility, they don't have a connection to the tracks at WUS. its already a yard environment with slow speeds and CSX can easily get in there. I would have thought they'd have connection just to bring raw materials in and out. And how could it hurt having a connection? Its just a switch and two governing signals, one to enter the Amtrak terriorty and one to enter the WMATA block system.

WMATA use to have a connection to the common carrier network at Brentwood. Thread that discuses the Brentwood connection track Track at the north end of Brentwood.

"HokieNav"
There's one at Greenbelt and Alexandria, so Brentwood isn't really necessary.

The one in Alexandria was severed when the Southern Railway closed their yard and shops and sold off the property that use to extend along Duke Street to the east .

The Greenbelt connection has the rails removed for some reason, likely to prevent CSX equipment from inadvertently entering WMATA property, though they can be put back in place pretty easily.

Why wouldn't they just put a derail on those tracks instead of ripping up the rail?

Davis