CAF 5085

Location: Rockville Station, Rockville, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: December 12, 2017

On some subway systems, each line has a dedicated (or nearly dedicated) fleet of cars.  For example, you won’t find anything but 1995 Stock on the Northern Line in London.  Or in New York, seeing something other than an R62A on the 1 train is a notable event.  However, in Washington, DC, this generally has not been the case.  Except for a period when all the 2000 Series Breda cars were assigned to the Red Line shortly after their delivery, WMATA has put just about every car on every line, especially when it was “bellying” the 1000 Series cars and later the 4000 Series cars between 2009 and 2017.  Now that those car types have been retired as of last summer, WMATA has decided to assign certain cars to certain lines with generally few exceptions.  In the case of the Red Line, this means seeing anything other than 3000 Series Breda Rehabs or 7000 Series Kawasakis is now a notable event.  One of those moments is captured here, when CAF 5085 made it on to the Red Line in December 2017. 

Do you like “predictability” in your transit car assignments when transitfanning, or is it more fun when any type of train or bus might show up?

For more photos of WMATA CAF 5000 Series cars, please click here.