Rail Photo of the Month: March 2023

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MP89CC Stock 89 S 093

Location: Pont de Neuilly, Paris, France
Operator of Vehicle: Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP)
Date of Photo: March 18, 2008

It’s hard to believe, but this month marks 15 years since I visited Paris for the first time.  I’d also argue that trip has been my only trip to Paris, as I transited the city twice to change trains (Bercy to Gare du Nord and Gare d’Austerlitz to Gare du Nord).  My sense from the occasional reading I’ve done online is that the Paris Metro is quite a bit different since my 2008 visit.  Line 1 is now a fully automated operation and the MP89CC stock seen here has been transferred to Line 4.  Now Line 4 is in the process of being fully automated, so these cars will be transferred to Line 6 as Line 4 becomes fully automated.  

Like New York or London, Paris is one of those cities that one will never have enough time to truly explore, and certainly can’t be seen in just a week (or a day), so I certainly hope to have the opportunity to go back some day.  

For more photos of MP89CC stock trains, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: February 2023

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R62A 1946

Location: Grand Central, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: June 20, 2009

On this date in 1913, Grand Central Terminal opened following ten years of construction.  Today’s Grand Central is not the first train station to be built on that site.  The first Grand Central Depot opened in October of 1871 with 12 tracks.  At that time, it was the largest open space in the United States and the largest railroad station in the world.  However, the station reached capacity by the mid-1890s.  An annex was added but capacity was reached again in 1897.  The terminal was reconstructed and in 1900, became known as Grand Central Station. 

At that time, the trains serving the station were steam hauled, which meant that the busy tunnel under Park Avenue leading to the station from the north (the only way for trains to access the station) was filled with smoke and soot.  Following a January 1902 crash that killed 15 passengers, the New York Central Railroad (which owned Grand Central) and the New York State legislature agreed to only operate electric trains into the terminal.  Less than 12 months after that fatal collision, New York Central Vice President William J. Wilgus proposed an extension of the Park Avenue Tunnel by covering the existing open cut used by the railroad from 46th Street to 59th Street.  This was now feasible because once Grand Central was only served by electric trains, there would be no need to vent smoke and soot from steam trains (since there wouldn’t be any).  The air rights over the terminal could then be sold to raise money for the railroad.  This proposal had to be approved and enacted upon quickly because plans were already underway for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (better known as the IRT and now a part of the New York City Subway) to build subway lines around Grand Central, at which time the New York Central would lose its rights to construct underground in that area.  The new station was built in phases around the existing station so as to maintain train service throughout the duration of the project.  The rebuilt terminal, now known as Grand Central, saw its first train arrive just minutes after midnight on February 2, 1913.

In the ensuing 110 years, Grand Central has served as a catalyst for development in what is now Midtown Manhattan.  At the time Cornelius Vanderbilt commissioned the original Grand Central, there was not much in the way of development in the area.  However, he was convinced New York City would grow to the north and eventually, his railroad terminal would be in the heart of the city.  His vision proved to be very accurate, to the point that the Long Island Railroad began a long term project (that was first proposed in the 1960s) to connect its tracks to Grand Central Terminal in the 1990s when surveys indicated most LIRR riders worked near Grand Central, not Penn Station where LIRR trains terminate.  That project, known as East Side Access and more recently as “Grand Central Madison” culminated in the opening of eight new tracks served by four new platforms 140 feet below street level on January 25, 2023.  

Prior to the opening of Grand Central Madison, the most recent significant change to Grand Central was on the New York City Subway’s shuttle platforms.  As part of the 2015-2019 MTA Capital Program, the 42nd Street Shuttle that connects Grand Central to Times Square became ADA accessible and as part of that project, Track 3, the center shuttle track and the one the train in this photo is using, was removed.  The single island platform that now exists between Track 1 and Track 4 measures 22,000 square feet (2,000 square meters) and is the largest platform in the New York City by area.  The rebuilt Shuttle reopened on September 7, 2021.  You can see where Track 3 was by looking at the floor tiles on the new platform, the pattern of the tiles and columns between the floor and ceiling indicate where the track right-of-way used to be.

For more photos of R62A trains, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: February 2023

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Flxible Metro-B 9343

Location: Friendship Heights Station, Chevy Chase, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: May 29, 2007

When WMATA was established in 1967, it was envisioned as solely being an operator of the rail system that was in the planning and construction phases at that time.  However, it soon became apparent that the best way to feed bus passengers into the rail system would be if WMATA operated said buses as well.  In February 1973, WMATA acquired the four private bus companies that formed the basis of what is now known as Metrobus.  These were the Alexandria Barcoft & Washington Transit Company (AB&W), DC Transit, Washington Marlboro & Annapolis Motor Lines (WM&A), and the Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company (WV&M).  Although it has been 50 years since Metrobus was created, in some ways, not much has changed.  For example, the seemingly complicated way in which Metrobus routes are designated (i.e. 54, J2, 1B) is largely dependent on which private company operated it in 1973 and if it was a streetcar in 1936.  WMATA has created new routes since then but has largely kept this scheme in place when creating new designations.  In 2022, WMATA announced the launch of “Better Bus” which is the first comprehensive full Metrobus network redesign since the 1973 takeover of the private operators, so perhaps some or much of this will change in the coming years.

In 1998 when Metrobus celebrated its 25th anniversary, WMATA painted one of its buses, Flxible Metro-B 9343, silver to commemorate the occasion.  Throughout the year, if one was lucky enough to catch the silver bus, the ride was only 25 cents instead of the standard fare.  The bus remained silver after the anniversary year was over, though it was ultimately repainted in the “Fourth Scheme”, as seen in this picture.  

WMATA has dropped hints that the 50th anniversary of Metrobus will be commemorated in some way, but we are still waiting to learn what that might look like, so stay tuned!

For more photos of WMATA’s Flxible Metro-B buses, please click here.  

Some Things Are Worth Waiting For…

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New Flyer XE60 19506
Very observant visitors to this site might have noticed two things recently.  First, it has been a very long time (nearly two years in fact) since any announcements of new photos being posted to Oren’s Transit Page have been made.  Second, the January 2023 Bus Photo of the Month came from a city that was not included on Oren’s Transit Page before.  The reasons for this are several fold.  In 2021, travel was slowly resuming and the Oren’s Transit Page Baby (as he was known then) required a level of care that was age-appropriate but one that does not facilitate frequent website updates.  In 2022, travel really took off again, as my travels took me not only up and down the Northeast Corridor but to the Florida panhandle, San Diego, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Israel, and Greece.  As you can imagine, travels that extensive generate lots of photos, which in turn, take time to organize, touch up, caption, and post.  The good news is I’ve made some headway on that front, and I believe any photos I took prior to May 2022 are now online.

The “highlights” from this update in my opinion in “chronological” order are:

The rest of 2022’s photos are still to come, and I’ve already taken one trip within the US in 2023 and I’m sure more are to come, so stay tuned.  The photos from all those travels will be posted.  Eventually.

Here is the full listing of where new photos were added to the site, with new sections highlighted in bold and italics.  

Rail Photo of the Month: January 2023

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CAF Type 9 LRV 3919

Location: Commonwealth Avenue at Washington Street, Boston, MA
Operator of Vehicle: Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA)
Date of Photo: July 6, 2021

Last month, the second phase of the Green Line Extension in Boston opened to Medford.  This followed the first phase which inaugurated service to the Union Square station in Somerville.  This was the first extension of the Green Line since the Riverside Branch was inaugurated in 1959, though the Green Line route has been modified at other occasions (such as when the line was rerouted from the now demolished Causeway Street elevated to a new underground station at North Station).  The extension required the procurement of additional rolling stock, which resulted in the CAF Type 9 order being placed.  These twenty-four cars were solely for fleet expansion and none of the existing Type 7 or Type 8 cars were retired upon delivery of the Type 9s.  The Type 9 bodies were assembled in Spain and final assembly was conducted in Elmira, New York.  The first Type 9 entered revenue service in December of 2018.  The Type 9 interiors feature additional screens for passenger information and announcements and a shorter high floor section. 

For more photos of MBTA Type 9 LRVs, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: January 2023

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NABI 40-LFW Gen III/CNG 41117

Location: Commerce Street at Akard Street, Dallas, TX
Operator of Vehicle: Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)
Date of Photo: November 12, 2021

This month marks the one year anniversary of the launch of “DARTZoom”, the Dallas bus network’s redesign.  That redesign, like others in recent years in cities such as Baltimore and Houston, is meant to increase the frequency of service while reducing travel times across the network.  I visited Dallas for the first time in November of 2021, at which time the original bus network was still in place.  One of the first things that becomes apparent very quickly in planning a trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is that things are very spread out and many things simply aren’t close enough to transit service to be truly transit accessible.  As a result, Dallas has one of the largest light rail networks in the country by virtue of the area it is trying to serve, even though it isn’t an area that one thinks of as having robust public transit.

Have you been on Dallas’s buses since the network redesign was implemented?

For more photos of DART buses, please click here.  

Bus Photo of the Month: December 2022

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GMC TDH-5106 Old Look 9098

Location: Circle Line Pier, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: December 12, 2012

In addition to the holiday vintage train featured in this month’s rail photo of the month post, in some years, the MTA has also operated buses from its vintage fleet in revenue service at this time of year.  A quick Google search suggests this hasn’t happened since 2018 and it isn’t happening this year, but it is a nice complement to the vintage subway trains that get run on Sundays in December.  Typically, the buses have operated on a route in Midtown Manhattan during weekday rush hours, but there have been years in which they were spread out to the other boroughs as well.  Unfortunately, catching them was always a bit harder than the vintage trains.  Not only do traffic conditions impact the schedules (and gridlock is a sure thing in Midtown Manhattan at this time of year), they also would not operate even if there was light precipitation in the forecast.  

I was in New York in December 2012 and had a chance to ride some of the buses in the vintage fleet.  Have you had this opportunity?

For more photos of New York City Transit’s GMC “Old Look” buses, please click here.  

Rail Photo of the Month: December 2022

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R33 9017

Location: 125th Street/Broadway, New York, NY
Operator of Vehicle: MTA New York City Transit
Date of Photo: November 27, 2022

For the past 15 years or so, the New York Transit Museum has operated a vintage holiday train once a week (usually on Sundays) between Thanksgiving and New Years.  The holiday train would be made up of “Arnine” cars, start from 2nd Avenue on the Lower East Side, and operate up the 6th Avenue Line, typically terminating at Queens Plaza.  However, there was one year the train terminated at 145th Street in Harlem and another year it terminated at 96th Street on the Second Avenue Subway due to trackwork along the “traditional” route.  In 2020, there was no holiday train and the R32 farewell event effectively replaced the holiday train last year.  This year, the holiday train is making a comeback, but with a twist.  For the first time ever, the holiday train is operating on the A Division (former IRT) and is using the “Train of Many Colors”, a set of “Redbirds” that have been repainted in various paint schemes that these trains wore during their service lives.  I was able to catch the train a few times this past Sunday. 

If you want to ride it this year, it operates between Chambers Street and 137th Street on the 1 line for three more Sundays (December 4, 11, and 18).  Northbound trips depart at 10 AM, 12 PM, 2 PM, and 4 PM, while southbound trips depart at 11 AM, 1 PM, 3 PM, and 5 PM.  While the original plan was to have it make all local stops along the route, for the final three weeks, the holiday train will run express on the local track and only stop at Chambers Street, 14th Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street, 72nd Street, 96th Street, 125th Street, and 137th Street.  Also, there is no free crossover between the uptown and downtown platforms at 137th Street, so be sure to get off at 125th Street to change directions for free.

For more photos of R33 cars, please click here.

NOTE:  This post was updated to reflect the decision to operate express on the local on all trips starting on December 4, 2022.  For the most up to date information, it is best to check the MTA’s website.  The information here is provided as a courtesy but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.  

WMATA Silver Line Phase Two Grand Opening

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Yesterday marked what is likely the last significant extension of the Washington Metrorail system.  At about 2 PM, the second phase of the Silver Line opened to the public, extending the line by about 11 miles from Whiele-Reston East to Ashburn.  A total of six new stations opened, including one at Dulles Airport, bringing the total number of stations in the system to 97 and the total system mileage to 129 miles.  (A 98th station, Potomac Yard, is an infill station that is scheduled to open in early 2023 so while one more station will be constructed, no track miles will be added.)

Unfortunately, I was unable to get out to the new stations in daylight and the weather was less than cooperative, which meant I was unable to really appreciate the new trackage.  I think part of the excitement surrounding a new transit line is seeing something new from the train, especially when it runs above ground as the Silver Line extension does, and I missed out on that yesterday.  I do intend to ride again in daylight very soon, but there is also something special about doing it on day one.  The weather and lighting conditions also made for challenging photography conditions, but I think some of these images are decent (even by my usual standards) and I am sharing them now.

Interior display on a 7000 series train showing all the stations on both phases of the Silver Line, November 15, 2022

View of the main terminal at Dulles Airport as seen from the Metrorail station platform, November 15, 2022

Train arriving at Dulles Airport with the terminal building in the background, November 15, 2022

Alstom 6132 at Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Train arriving at Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Kawasaki 7510 leaving Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station Mezzanine, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station Mezzanine, November 15, 2022

Dulles Airport Station Mezzanine, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station, November 15, 2022

Ashburn Station entrance pylon, November 15, 2022

6000 Series train showing the “planning name” of the Ashburn station on its destination sign rather than the actual name, November 15, 2022

Breda Rehab 3030 at Herndon Station, November 15, 2022

Your webmaster showing off a ceremonial station opening pennant in front of the newly updated Metro map

 

Rail Photo of the Month: November 2022

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ACS-64 649

Location: Halethorpe Station, Halethorpe, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Amtrak
Date of Photo: November 25, 2018

In the United States, Thanksgiving is approaching.  This is considered to be the busiest travel period in the country each year, and Amtrak (among other intercity transit operators) has set ridership records on the days immediately preceding and following the holiday as people travel to spend the holiday with loved ones.  Pre-pandemic, Amtrak often supplemented its regular services on the Northeast Corridor with “Holiday Extra” trains.  Many of these were operated with standard Amfleet equipment, but some were operated by equipment leased from commuter railroads such as MARC, SEPTA, and New Jersey Transit.  As you can imagine, railfans often ventured out to see and photograph the extra trains, and I did this on the Sunday after Thanksgiving at the Halethorpe Station south of Baltimore.

For more photos of Amtrak’s ACS-64 locomotives, please click here.