Author Archives: Oren

Rail Photo of the Month: March 2026

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Rohr 1000

Location: Friendship Heights Station, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: September 11, 2002

In just a few weeks, Metrorail will be marking its 50th anniversary.  The first segment of Washington, DC’s subway opened on March 27, 1976 between Rhode Island Avenue and Farragut North.  Lots has changed since then.  Fifty years ago, the Rhode Island Avenue station functioned as a park and ride; none of the current development around the station existed.  The New York Avenue infill station (or Noma-Gallaudet if you prefer the official name) also didn’t exist and wasn’t included in the original system plans, but it was the 7th busiest station in terms of average daily entries in calendar year 2025.  Gallery Place didn’t even open as planned on March 27 due to a lawsuit about the lack of an elevator at the station, and the Capital One Arena (formerly Verizon Center and MCI Center) wouldn’t become a catalyst for development in that neighborhood until two decades after the station opened.  Metro Center as a naming concept for the area around the station was brand new, as the name for the station was established when then General Manager Jackson Graham gave a planner 20 seconds to propose a better name than “12th & G”.  These are just a handful of examples of how Metrorail changed various parts of DC in the past five decades, and additional examples can be found at many of the other 86 stations that have opened in the subsequent five decades.  

The original 1000 Series cars that operated on the Red Line on its inaugural day have all been retired and all but two have been scrapped.  One of the preserved cars is this one, numbered 1000, the “A Car” in the first pair to be delivered to Metro property from Rohr Industries in 1974 (its mate, car 1001, was actually delivered first however).  This photo of car 1000 was taken about 18 months after Metro’s 25th anniversary, when all of the Rohr cars received a plaque on the front of the car indicating they were the original 300 cars to serve the Metrorail system.  

As of this writing, it is not known what Metro plans to do to mark the 50th anniversary of Metrorail’s opening, but I hope they do more than they did for the 50th anniversary of Metrobus in 2023, when the largest celebration seemed to be special headsigns on the buses.  

For more photos of the WMATA 1000 Series railcars, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: March 2026

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New Flyer C40LF 1810

Location: Broadway at 1st Avenue, San Diego, CA
Operator of Vehicle: San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS)
Date of Photo: July 16, 2014

It has been a very cold and snowy winter in many parts of the United States (though oddly warm in places such as Denver according to my social media feeds).  So why not feature a photo from somewhere sunny and warm, and hope that spring weather is upon us soon?  This photo was from my first trip to San Diego back in July of 2014.  Needless to say, the weather there was hot (albeit still quite pleasant for mid-July).  This New Flyer C40LF was acquired prior to the integration of San Diego Transit and Chula Vista Transit into the single entity known today as MTS.  All the former San Diego Transit buses retained their blue and red liveries throughout their service lives, and only new buses were painted in the red and white livery that MTS still uses to this day.

For more photos of MTS buses, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: February 2026

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Orion V 5711

Location: Wisconsin Avenue at Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Montgomery County Division of Transit Services (Ride On)
Date of Photo: August 1, 2016

In keeping with the “2026 is the new 2016” theme, I am also featuring another photo from 2016 for the Bus Photo of the Month.

Unlike yesterday’s post, today’s post features a vehicle that was at the end of its service life in 2016.  Ride On ordered two sets of 40 foot long Orion V buses.  The first set were diesel buses that arrived in 1999, marking the first time Ride On acquired 40 foot buses directly (the Flxible Metro-Ds and Orion VI/CNGs were secondhand acquisitions).  A set of CNG powered 40 foot Orion Vs arrived the following year.  The CNG variant was retired in 2014, as were most of the diesels.  However, Ride On kept some of the diesel Orion Vs in its “ready-reserve fleet.”  During WMATA’s yearlong “SafeTrack” program that started in mid-2016, segments of the Metrorail system were either single tracked at all times or shut down entirely in order to conduct accelerated track work and system rehabilitation.  During the SafeTrack surges that impacted the Red Line in Montgomery County, Ride On provided free shuttles as an alternative to the reduced train service, and used buses in the ready-reserve fleet to do so.  In this case, one of the 40 foot Orion Vs in the reserve fleet was operating a Red Line shuttle between Grosvenor and Friendship Heights, and I photographed it as it passed through Bethesda.

The Orion V might not be the “prettiest” bus to ever ply the streets of North America, but it was a mainstay in the DC area in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as it was operated not only by Ride On but also WMATA, DASH, Fairfax Connector, and PRTC.  I personally liked them and recall many high speed rides on these buses throughout Montgomery County.  I don’t know if all transit fans liked them as much as I did, but I was certainly sorry to see them go.

For more photos of Ride On’s 40 foot Orion Vs, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: February 2026

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Alstom Series M5 159

Location: Jan van Galenstraat Station, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Operator of Vehicle: GVB
Date of Photo: May 31, 2016

Everyone is sharing how 2026 is the new 2016, so why not feature photos from ten years ago for the photos of the month?

We start in Amsterdam, which I visited for the second time in May of 2016.  At that time, the Series M5 trains, built by Alstom, were relatively new, having entered service about three years prior to my visit (June 24, 2013).  When I rode these trains, it was the first time I saw color coded lights by each doorway to indicate whether passengers should board or not (green for boarding, red for when the doors were about to close) as well as which side of the train the doors would open on.  Fitting in with the “2026 is the new 2016 theme”, this feature is now making its way to other trains around the world.  For example, New York’s newest trains, the R211s, have this feature but these cars only entered service in 2023, 10 years after Amsterdam’s M5 trains.  (The MPM-10 or Azur trains in Montreal entered service in February 2016 and also have this feature.)  The Series M5 trains also feature open gangways, and while this is becoming more common around the world, it wasn’t exactly a new concept, even 10 years ago.

I was impressed by the Series M5 when I rode it, and it is good to see some of its best features being incorporated into trains elsewhere around the world.

For more photos of the Amsterdam Metro, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: January 2026

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R160A 8641

Location: 5th Avenue/53rd Street Station, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: June 28, 2010

On December 8, 2025, a significant change was made to the F and M lines in Manhattan and Queens, dubbed the “F/M Swap.”  As the name implies, the F and M swapped routes between Midtown Manhattan and Queens.  Since December 2001, the F train had operated via the 63rd Street Tunnel, while the new V train operated via the 53rd Street Tunnel along with the E.  This was a significant change in and of itself, as not all express trains on Queens Boulevard would serve 53rd Street and its transfer to the 6 train at Lexington Avenue.  In the lead up to the service change in 2001, there were many requests for the F to remain as it was and for the V train to serve 63rd Street, but to no avail.  

In 2010 as part of a service cut, the V train was discontinued and replaced with the M train.  This marked the first time that the Chrystie Street Connector, a formerly out of service track between the 6th Avenue Line and Williamsburg Bridge, was put into revenue service in over four decades.  The M train made all V train stops except 2nd Avenue, and the F train remained unchanged and continued to operate on 63rd Street.  

In early 2025, there were rumblings that the MTA would swap the F and M trains in the name of “de-interlining”, or minimizing the number of splits and merges each line makes.  These merges can cause delays that can ripple across the system if one train is slightly behind schedule.  With the F train operating via 63rd Street, it has to merge with E trains at 36th Street in Queens and M trains at 47th-50 Streets in Manhattan, while the M has to merge with E trains at 5th Avenue/53rd Street in Manhattan and Queens Plaza in Queens, and outbound trains have to merge with the R at Queens Plaza as well.  With the swap in place, Queens Plaza is no longer a merge point for any of the trains stopping there.  The MTA confirmed that this swap would take place in December of 2025.  Only weekday service is impacted.  When the M is not operating its full route overnights and on weekends, the F continues to serve 63rd Street.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this change.  I am skeptical that de-interlining is as beneficial as its proponents claim, but furthermore, I am not a fan of having the F taking an entirely different route between Manhattan and Queens at different times of day.  The MTA has simplified many services over the years so that destinations and routings are predictable.  For example, at one time, the 4 train would terminate at either Atlantic Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, or Utica Avenue depending on the time of day and day of the week, in a service pattern I still do not understand to this day.  Furthermore, there was a period where the 63rd Street Line (which then terminated at 21st Street-Queensbridge) would be served by either the Q, B, or F depending upon the time of day and day of the week.  The changes in 2001 simplified the service pattern, and the 2025 change reintroduces complexity.  

Pictured above is the first southbound M train from 71st Avenue to Metropolitan Avenue via the 53rd Street Tunnel and Chrystie Street connector back in June of 2010.  Except for unplanned reroutes, the M train will no longer be seen at this station anymore.

For more photos of the R160s, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: January 2026

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Orion VII 2010-06

Location: Paseo Gilberto Concepción De Gracia at the Covadonga Terminal, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Operator of Vehicle: Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses de Puerto Rico (AMA)
Date of Photo: March 21, 2016

Baby, it’s cold outside!

OK, perhaps not everywhere, as this website gets visits from around the world, but for our visitors from the Northern Hemisphere, for the most part right now, temperatures can be downright frigid.  They’ve certainly been below average for the past few weeks at OTP Headquarters.  So why not feature a photo from a warm weather destination?  This Orion VII was operated by the Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses de Puerto Rico in San Juan, where the high temperature today is 85°F (29°C).  According to the online sources I can find, this Orion VII is still in service as it nears 16 years of age, and there are no buses on order for AMA at the present time.  However, it is safe to assume as the oldest buses in the fleet, these are the next ones to go once newer vehicles arrive.  

For more photos of the AMA buses, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: December 2025

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Orion V 2197

Location: 20th Street, NW at Q Street, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: December 5, 2017

A video circulating on YouTube in recent days commented on the homogeneity of WMATA’s bus fleet.  As is frequently the case with such videos, there isn’t much historical context to the claims made in the video, especially if the content creator only recently came to the area in question.  As someone who has spent most of his life in the DC area, I can recall several instances where it seemed the Metrobus fleet was about to be dominated by a single vehicle type, and then something else was ordered to maintain the variety of the fleet.  Even if the purpose of the “different” order wasn’t explicitly to maintain fleet variety, that was the effective outcome.  Admittedly, consolidation among bus manufacturing industry makes it more likely that a single manufacturer would come to dominate a city’s fleet, even for an agency as large as WMATA.  

In short, I can recall when it felt as if the WMATA fleet was on its way to becoming an all Orion fleet, with models such as the Orion V pictured here being a common sight.  Before that, I recall when Flxible was the most common bus on the streets of the nation’s capital.  The point is manufacturers come and go, bus models change and evolve, and the needs of transit agencies change over time.  Just because WMATA’s fleet is nearly exclusively New Flyers at this point doesn’t mean that it will remain that way forever, or that New Flyer is the only manufacturer WMATA is able to order from.  Transit fans with preconceived notions about how things work are usually surprised later.

For more photos of the WMATA Orion Vs, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: December 2025

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Breda LRV 1501

Location: Embarcadero Station, San Francisco, CA
Operator of Vehicle: San Francisco Municipal Railway
Date of Photo: January 10, 2006

Last month, MUNI in San Francisco operated a final trip for its Breda LRV trains.  Delivered in multiple batches during the 1990s, MUNI ultimately operated a total of 151 Breda LRVs.  These cars were 75 feet long, had air conditioning, and were ordered to replace the not so reliable Boeing Vertol “US Standard Light Rail Vehicle” fleet that had been operating previously.  However, the Bredas had their own flaws over the course of their service lives.  Each car cost $2,000,000 at the time of purchase (over $4 million dollars in 2024), making them the most expensive light rail cars built to date in the United States.  Those living along the lines they served complained of increased vibrations due to the cars’ weight and noisy motors and braking sounds.  By 2011, the Breda LRVs only traveled about 617 miles between breakdowns on average, making them very unreliable.  MUNI placed an order with Siemens in 2014 to replace the entire Breda fleet as well as to expand the overall fleet size.  The first Siemens LRV entered service in 2017.  The Bredas were retired at the end of 2023, but the final farewell event for the fleet did not occur until November 12, 2025.  

For more photos of the MUNI Breda LRVs, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: November 2025

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Surfliner Cab Car 6907

Location: Chatsworth Station, Chatsworth, CA
Operator of Vehicle: Amtrak
Date of Photo: March 10, 2022

After profiling the American League representative in this year’s World Series yesterday, it seemed appropriate to profile the National League in today’s post.  The Los Angeles metropolitan area is often thought of as being extremely car-centric and living there requires a certain amount of auto-dependency.  However, transit use in the second largest city in the United States is actually quite high.  This extends to intercity rail, where the Pacific Surfliner is Amtrak’s busiest service outside of the Northeast Corridor.  The Pacific Surfliner serves 25 stations along a 350 miles (560 kilometer) route running between San Diego and San Luis Obispo via Los Angeles.  As of this writing, there are 12 roundtrips trains each day between San Diego and Los Angeles, with three of those round trips extending north to Goleta and two extending to San Luis Obispo.  The Pacific Surfliner runs within 100 feet of the ocean at various points along its route, making for a very scenic trip.  While Los Angeles Union Station isn’t as close to Dodger Stadium as some might like, the Pacific Surfliner’s Anaheim stop was adjacent to the Angel Stadium parking lot until December 6, 2014.  On that date, service shifted to the newly constructed Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), about 1,500 feet to the east and still very much within walking distance of the ballpark.  

For more photos of the Pacific Surfliner, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: November 2025

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GMC T6H 5703N (Fishbowl) 2358

Location: Scarborough Town Center Station, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Operator of Vehicle: Toronto Transit Commission
Date of Photo: March 12, 2007

It has been a long time since the Toronto Blue Jays have played in the World Series.  Prior to the ongoing series, their last appearance was in 1993, 32 years ago.  At that time, the streets of Toronto were dominated by GMC “New Look” buses, nicknamed “Fishbowls” due to the appearance of their front windshields.  These buses were first ordered in 1959 and would be ordered many times through 1982, to the point the earliest New Looks were replaced by other New Looks.  (Technically, the last New Looks purchased by the TTC was a group of 20 second hand buses from Montreal that arrived in 1999).  When the TTC was cash strapped in the mid 1990s, the agency opted to rebuild were rebuilt some of the New Looks that were built between 1977 and 1983.  Some of these buses were rebuilt a second time in 2004.  However, the TTC also wished to introduce as many wheelchair lift equipped buses as possible (primarily the Orion V in the mid-1990s) and then low-floor buses (the Orion VII in the early 2000s) to make the fleet fully accessible.  This would result in the retirements of the New Looks, but it took a long time for the fleet to be fully replaced with newer buses.  The New Looks remained in service until the end of 2011.  With the last New Looks operating for 28 years, those buses had a service life that was almost as long as the Blue Jays’ gap between World Series appearances.  

For more photos of Toronto TTC buses, please click here.