Author Archives: Oren

Rail Photo of the Month: May 2025

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Comet I 5113

Location: Southern California Railway Museum, Perris, CA
Operator of Vehicle: New Jersey Transit
Date of Photo: January 19, 2020

Railcars can sometimes wind up far from where you expect them to, especially in their retirements.  The “Comet” railcar is a locomotive hauled commuter rail car, originally developed by Pullman-Standard.  They entered service for New Jersey Transit in 1970.  However, they were only able to serve low level platforms and only some of the fleet received modifications to serve high platforms in 1987.  Therefore, New Jersey Transit opted to lease or sell them to railroads in the western United States that exclusively have low level platforms on their commuter rail systems.  This particular cab car, along with some other Comet Is, were sent to Metrolink in the Los Angeles area.  Following their final retirement by Metrolink, some of them were acquired by the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, California, where they are now part of the museum collection.  

For more photos of the New Jersey Transit Comet Is, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: May 2025

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Gillig Phantom 5409

Location: Montgomery Mall, Bethesda, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Ride On Montgomery County Transit
Date of Photo: July 1, 2003

Eagle eyed observers will notice this is the second Ride On Bus Photo of the Month in as many months, but Ride On is marking a significant milestone right now and therefore it seems worthy of a “repeat” feature.  This month, Ride On is hosting an event to celebrate its 50th anniversary.  The service began in March of 1975 with just two routes serving Silver Spring and Takoma Park.  Ridership almost immediately exceeded projections.  Since then, Ride On has grown to a system of over 80 routes and approximately 350 buses.  

In 2000 to mark its 25th anniversary, Ride On painted two buses silver and anyone who happened to catch one of those buses only had to pay 25 cents to ride instead of the standard fare.  Even after the 25th anniversary promotion ended, the buses would keep their celebratory paint schemes until their retirement.  Ride On would also decorate buses for its 40th anniversary, but there was no special fare promotion associated with them.  

For more photos of the Ride On Gillig Phantoms, please click here.  

Oren’s Reading List: An Inside Look at the Subway’s Archaic Signal System

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Last week, the New York Times ran an interactive article called “An Inside Look at the Subway’s Archaic Signal System”, which provided one of the most “behind the scenes looks” at the signal towers (and CBTC systems) that keep the New York Subway system running.  Check it out, though you may need to find a friend with the ability to gift access to see the entire article.  

Oren’s Reading List is an occasional feature on The Travelogue in which I share articles that I’ve read that might also be of interest to the readers of this website.

Bus Photo of the Month: April 2025

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Photos of the Month are back following parental leave here at Oren’s Transit Page headquarters!  

Orion VII/CNG 5957

Location: Shady Grove Station, Derwood, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Ride On Montgomery County Transit
Date of Photo: March 20, 2009

To go along with yesterday’s post, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a bus photo from Shady Grove Station.  Shady Grove is definitely a place for bus fans to camp out during rush hours, as the bus bays on the east side of the station are quite busy.  Back in the days when the Ride On fleet was more diverse than it currently is (at present, the fleet is entirely made up of Gillig low floors with the exception of the NOVABus LFSA fleet for the FLASH service on US 29), this was where one would go with the hope of catching one of the “oddballs” in Ride On’s fleet, such as the Flxible Metro-Ds or Orion VI/CNGs.  The only question was which route the bus you were seeking would show up on.  Outside of peak periods, this terminal can be a bit quiet, as many of the routes that serve it only operate during rush hours, but when it is hopping it is a great place for spotting.

My favorite route out of this terminal is the 90, which goes from Shady Grove to the community of Damascus.  This is a great ride, especially with a leadfooted driver.  For much of the trip, it is hard to believe you are still in Montgomery County!  During the midday hours, the bus continues to Milestone, providing connections to other routes to complete your round trip.  During peak periods, the bus terminates in Damascus so one has to come back the way you came.

For more photos of the Ride On Orion VII/CNGs, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: April 2025

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Photos of the Month are back following parental leave here at Oren’s Transit Page headquarters!  

Breda Rehab 3137

Location: Shady Grove Station, Derwood, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: January 15, 2024

The Shady Grove terminal of the Red Line held a number of “superlatives” prior to the opening of the Silver Line in 2014 and its extension to Ashburn in 2022.  Shady Grove was the station furthest from the Washington Monument (as the crow flies), as it lies over 18 miles away.  The station is still the northernmost on the entire Metrorail system, and it isn’t a particularly close competition.  With most of the stations being at least 2 miles apart from each other from Friendship Heights out to Shady Grove, there are many opportunities to see trains reach their maximum speed of 75 MPH along this section of the Red Line.  Although the Breda rail cars, such as the one photographed here, are over 40 years old and were rehabbed about 20 years ago, they still reach this top speed while maintaining a smooth ride.  

For more photos of the WMATA Breda Rehab cars, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: January 2025

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NABI 42-BRT CNG F2222

Location: 1st Street at Hill Street, Los Angeles, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Foothill Transit
Date of Photo: March 10, 2022

There are many different transportation providers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.  While the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, better known as “Metro”, probably comes to mind first for many, there are about 20 other bus systems operating within Los Angeles County.  (Los Angeles County is not coterminous with the City of Los Angeles, there are 87 other incorporated cities within the county).  One of these other transit providers in this portion of southern California is Foothill Transit. 

Foothill Transit operates in 22 of the incorporated cities in Los Angeles County, mostly in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys in eastern Los Angeles County.  The system’s two bus yards are located in Pomona and Arcadia, while the administrative headquarters are located in West Covina.  The agency has over 350 buses serving 37 routes, though actual operations are carried out by Keolis at the Pomona Yard and by Transdev at the Arcadia Yard. 

The most notable aspect of Foothill Transit’s fleet is how the agency began moving to alternative fuels earlier than most other transit agencies.  Foothill Transit began operating compress natural gas buses, such as the one pictured here, in 2002 and retired its last diesel buses in 2013.  In 2010, Foothill became the first agency to operate an electric bus manufactured by Proterra.  Foothill Transit acquired two electric double decker buses from UK manufacturer Alexander Dennis in 2021.  That same year, Foothill Transit ordered 33 XHE40 hydrogen fuel cell buses from New Flyer; these buses entered service in 2022.

For more photos of Foothill Transit, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: January 2025

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Breda A650 524

Location: Hollywood/Vine Station, Los Angeles, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Date of Photo: July 14, 2014

On December 20, 2024, the Los Angeles Metro placed its new HR4000 train into service on the D Line (formerly the Purple Line).  The HR4000 Series will provide the additional rolling stock needed to serve the D Line Extension to Westwood, and will also allow the LACMTA to retire the Breda A650 fleet pictured above.  The Breda A650s were built in two batches, the first of which was started in 1988, so these cars are nearing the end of their useful service lives.  It will take some time for all the A650 cars to be replaced, so those who like the A650 motor sounds due to how they resemble the sounds that WMATA’s now retired 1000 Series cars made post-overhaul can head on out to the West Coast for a trip down memory lane so to speak, at least for a little while longer.

For more photos of the Los Angeles Metro , please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: December 2024

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New Flyer XD40 2124

Location: Duke Ellington Bridge, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: District Department of Transportation (DDOT)
Date of Photo: May 4, 2020

At the end of this month, the DC Circulator will cease operations after nearly 20 years of operation.  The service was started in July 2006 on two routes, with the goal of creating an “simple” and “easily navigable” bus system to supplement the existing Metrobus network.  In order to meet these goals, bus routes operated every 10 minutes around the clock on routes that connected major destinations around Downtown DC.  The system grew, often as select Metrobus routes were converted to Circulator operation to take advantage of lower subsidies and operating costs.  A National Mall route was also established following the discontinuation of the Tourmobile service that held the exclusive rights to offer guided tours within that area under a contract with the National Park Service.  

The discontinuation of the service can be attributed to several reasons.  Ridership has not rebounded since the Covid-19 pandemic, but arguably, many Circulator routes do not warrant 10 minute headways from early morning until late night (or 3 AM in the case of select routes on Friday and Saturday nights).  However, changing the headways was considered to be a non-starter on account of wanting the service to remain “simple.”  Furthermore, DDOT wished to have all eight wards of the city served by at least one route, a goal that was never achieved, but some wards simply do not have any activity generators that would warrant the level of service the Circulator committed to providing on all of its routes.

Service is currently running on 20 minute headways on five routes through December 31, 2024.  After that date, RATP DEV, which is the contracted operator for the service, will commence its final wind down procedures, such that the contract can be fully cancelled by March 2025.  

Have you ever taken the DC Circulator?

For more photos of the DC Circulator , please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: December 2024

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Ganz CSMG 1313

Location: Clark Ádám tér, Budapest, Hungary
Operator of Vehicle: BKV Zrt.
Date of Photo: May 4, 2011

About a week ago, I saw this story about a Budapest tram made entirely of Lego bricks.  The tram is made up of 1.8 million blocks, weighs 6 tons, measures nearly 12 meters (40 feet) long, and took 90 people nearly 7,000 hours to build over a two month span.  Before you ask, no, you can’t ride it.  However, you can add a brick to it if you happen to be in Budapest in the next few weeks, and it was shunted from a depot to the location where it is on exhibit currently.

The rest of Budapest’s trams, such as this one, are made out of more conventional materials than Lego bricks.  This particular tram has been in service since 1967, and is one of three of its type currently remaining in service.  The Budapest tram network is the busiest in the world in terms of ridership and is also one of the longest in terms of route miles in the world, with 108 miles (174 kilometers) of track.

For more photos of Budapest trams , please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: November 2024

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New Flyer XDE40 13013

Location: Charles Street at Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD
Operator of Vehicle: MDOT MTA
Date of Photo: November 25, 2018

This Tuesday is Election Day in the United States, and many transit systems will be offering free rides in order to facilitate getting to polling places so constituents can cast their votes.  I’ve seen notices of various agencies providing fare free travel on Election Day in recent years, including Minneapolis in 2014.  Other systems that I am aware of providing fare free travel on Election Day include Ride On, the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, LA Metro, CapMetro, Knoxville Area Transit, Denver RTD, and the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.  

Are you aware of other US transit systems that are offering free transit on Election Day?  Does this practice exist in other countries?  Leave a comment if you know the answer to either question.

For more photos of MDOT MTA Core Bus Services, please click here.