The January 2010 railfan trip

Well, things are looking ever closer to possibly moving to DC for a job promotion. After a good interview, and since there was a few hours to kill before returning to BWI, it was time to hit the Metro.

My trip started at Friendship Heights by entering on the Western Ave side (right by the bus bays and Chevy Chase Place). From there since I had not ridden the red line to Grosvenor since 2000, it was time. I did notice that the trains dont seem to go as fast on the flyover bridge over the Beltway- maybe its because of manual mode or it could be due to the recent track replacement. This trip marked a first, and that was getting an Alstom train on the red. This was also the second time to not get a Rohr first when using this line. First time was last April when I ended up getting a 3k rehab. Anyways, I took #6091 up to Grosvenor.

Then, because I needed to go to Cleveland Park and see an apartment, I did a cross-platform transfer and ended up taking Rohr #1195. All in all, nice ride.

After this, I still had a while to kill, so I got back on at Cleveland Park and ended up getting another Alstom car on the red- this time #6002 and rode down to Gallery Place where I transferred to the Yellow line because I wanted to finally ride into Virginia and see the Potomac River bridge. I ended up on Breda #3084 for this portion of the trip.

Figuring that I would need to add money to the farecard, I got off at National Airport, added cash, and now that time was starting to wind down, I ended up getting another Yellow Line train to Metro Center. This time, it was Breda #2063 and rode to L'Enfant Plaza.

Once getting to L'Enfant Plaza, I transferred to the Blue Line and got Breda #2035. I took this back to Metro Center. After realizing I boarded the wrong platform, I ended up on Rohr #1293 and since there was still a little bit of time, did the run to Grosvenor one more time.

After this, since I needed to get back to Friendship Heights, I did the cross-platform transfer again and ended up on Breda #4037. Yes, it was complete with the clouded lexan windows and all. Once I got back to Friendship Heights, my job had my car ready to take me to BWI and got home just after 10:30pm.

The firsts:

1.) Got Alstom cars on the red line.

2.) Rode on the Potomac River bridge.

3.) Rode into Virginia and can now add Pentagon, Pentagon City, Crystal City, and National Airport to stations I have ridden through or been on the platform.

4.) First time I rode a 2k rehab. Then again, it's not that often you see them because there are only 76 of these cars.

There were some interesting things I noticed while riding earlier.

1.) It seems like several of the rehabs have switched the door lights. On all of the rehabs I rode today, they now use 6 small LED lights which sort of matches the 6k with the 2 larger LED lights.

2) On both Rohr cars, the "AC" lettering on the blukhead signs were covered up again with the emergency use only signs found on all cars on the bulkhead doors, just like the Rohr car I saw on my April 2009 trip. I wonder if they went ahead and did that on all of the cars inside.

3.) If you look at the bulkhead door on the cab end of 3084, you'll notice that the numbers don't exactly line up. 0 and 8 on the 3084 plate are mounted lower than 3 and 4.

4.) I saw all of the car pairs that have had renumbering done at the top near the air vents compared to the usual position. This was a nice find.

5.) I did see some solid Alstom and CAF train consists. Everything I ended up riding was mixed.

6.) I still have never been on a railcar with a working destination sign. Still always get the line color.

If things work out and I do get the promotion, Cleveland Park will become my home station in the system.

"tommyboy6181"
6.) I still have never been on a railcar with a working destination sign. Still always get the line color.

All of the cars in the train need to be equipped with same for them to work.

Yes- I have never gotten a solid CAF, Alstom or rehab train. Everything for some reason has always been mixed in the past couple of trips minus the solid Rohr train last year.

Sand Box John wrote:"tommyboy6181"
6.) I still have never been on a railcar with a working destination sign. Still always get the line color.

All of the cars in the train need to be equipped with same for them to work.

I assume this means the internal LED signs.
Don't the first two cars work even if the subsequent cars are mismatches?

farecard wrote:

Sand Box John wrote:"tommyboy6181"
6.) I still have never been on a railcar with a working destination sign. Still always get the line color.

All of the cars in the train need to be equipped with same for them to work.

I assume this means the internal LED signs.
Don't the first two cars work even if the subsequent cars are mismatches?

Yes, and I'm not sure. It took me a while to even realize the reason why they only worked sometimes (which to me should have been pretty obvious).