by RailBus63
How are MARC and VRE about railfan photography on their platforms? Can I expect any issues if I go on the platforms at Alexandria, New Carrollton or Rockville without a ticket to take a few photographs?
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RailBus63 wrote:How are MARC and VRE about railfan photography on their platforms? Can I expect any issues if I go on the platforms at Alexandria, New Carrollton or Rockville without a ticket to take a few photographs?You shouldn't have any problems at all at Rockville. I used that station until about a year ago, and all MARC trains on the Brunswick Line stop there so it can be pretty busy in the morning and evening. I've never done any photography there, but there's no one there to say anything to you anyways, except for the CSX station manager and train crews who could care less.
gprimr1 wrote:I would also generally discourage people from using NCR, it's not the nicest area.Says who? New Carrollton might not be chichi Montgomery County, but the station is far from being in a dangerous slum. I've been using both the Metro and Amtrak stations for the last seven years whenever I go to visit my aunt in Annapolis, and I've never had a problem. My uncle has been commuting into the city via New Carrollton daily for the last few years, and he hasn't had a problem either.
RailVet wrote:Whether one thinks the New Carrollton station does or does not have a crime problem, Metro itself seems to think so, as indicated by this recent news article.This recent issue makes it seem that the end-of-line Metro stations have high crime, but this can be deceiving at is only relative to the other stations on the line. A washington post article from about a month ago went in depth into the situation and listed other stations such as Branch Ave, Greenbelt, and Vienna. The end stations seem to have a large number of crimes because:
http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1438350&nid=25
Kaback9 wrote:When my dad was down at Ft. Belvoir for work I went down with him using public transit I went to the Franconia-Springfiled Metro VRE Station and did some railfanning. That was a good spot I saw lots of CSX, some VRE and some Amtrak. This was back ion 2006 so things could have changed. I felt very safe at that station BTW. I think in terms of places to stay away from while riding the Metro is probably some Orange and Green Line stops.I've never been to Franconia, but ironically it has the most crime of all the VA stations (remember this is relative, so the chances of getting mugges are still very low). I have been to Braddock Rd/Union Station and like Franconia, has excellent views of VRE (both lines), Amtrak, and the Blue and Yellow lines.