Tag Archives: WMATA

A Final Ride on a WMATA Orion V

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Orion V 2160
On this date one year ago, I took what turned out to be my final ride on board a WMATA Orion V.  The Orion V model was a part of WMATA’s fleet for 27 years.  The first Orion Vs were ordered and delivered in 1992.  Subsequent orders would be made in 1997, 1999, and 2000.  A total of 454 Orion Vs served WMATA during this time frame, accounting for a significant portion of the fleet in the late 1990s and much of the 2000s.  When considering the Orion Vs operated by Montgomery County Ride On and Fairfax Connector, the Orion V was easy to find throughout the DC area.

The 1992 Orion Vs never made a huge impression on me from what I can remember, but I was drawn to the 1997 Orion Vs due to the fact they were the first buses to be delivered in the “fourth scheme” livery and the first buses to have CleverDevices that made automated announcements in advance of each stop.  The 1997 Orion Vs also had Vultron flip dot LED destination signs that really made these buses stand out for the brief period the signs worked well (WMATA ultimately replaced the Vultron signs with orange LED destination signs on these buses).  Once on board, the 1997 Orion Vs (and subsequent orders) also featured seats far more comfortable than any of the seats on the Flxible Metro buses in the WMATA fleet at that time.  

Reflecting their “workhorse” status, the Orion Vs outlasted several other newer buses in the fleet.  In the mid-to-late 2010s, the Orion Vs became harder to find, yet they had a tendency to resurface when there were equipment shortages or other circumstances that stretched the fleet thin.  For example, the Orion Vs came out in full force when the 2014 NABI 42-BRT Hybrid Buses were pulled from service due to various safety concerns.  

On July 15, 2019, I had an appointment near the Tenleytown Metro at 8:20 AM and then another appointment on K Street near Washington Circle at 10:30 AM.  I had originally planned to take the Red Line to get between these appointments, but while I was on my way to the first one, I saw an Orion V heading inbound on Wisconsin Avenue.  WMATA’s real time arrival tracker (BusETA) shows the vehicle number of each bus it tracks, so I was able to see that this was Orion V 2160 and it was operating on the 37, a peak directional route with inbound service in the morning rush hour and outbound service in the evening rush hour.  This means that after a bus arrives at Archives and completes an inbound 37 trip in the morning, it deadheads (operates not in service) back to Friendship Heights and then does another inbound 37 trip.  

When my 8:20 appointment finished, I went outside and saw that 2160 was going to operate the final inbound 37 trip for that morning’s rush hour.  A quick check of the timetable showed that waiting the 20 or so minutes for 2160 to reach me and taking the bus as opposed to Metrorail would still get me to my next appointment on time, so I decided to do that, knowing full well this could very well be my last ride on a WMATA Orion V.

This was not my first time on an Orion V on the “even 30s” routes (as I and others who remember when Wisconsin Avenue was served by the 30, 32, 34, and 36) by any means.  The seats were worn and sagged a bit when people sat down on them.  The CleverDevice worked intermittently.  I recall the bus engine showing its age and straining at times.  But the feel of being on a high floor Orion bus with the wood interior panels and all the other trappings I associated with these buses for so many years was nonetheless familiar.  

I disembarked on Pennsylvania Avenue at 21st Street, where I had the sun mostly to my back and was able to get a few quick shots of the bus on my iPhone before it pulled off.  I’ve seen WMATA Orion Vs on various occasions since that morning.  Some were in revenue service, others were operating on employee shuttles between Montgomery Division and various driver relief points, mostly at the Silver Spring Metro.  As time went on, WMATA Orion V sightings began to fall solely in the latter group.  I’m not aware of an “official” retirement date for the WMATA Orion V fleet, but the consensus of the transit fan community is that they are not going to run in revenue service again.  With a year having gone by since my last ride on one, a host of theories as to why they are not to be operated in revenue service anymore, and the ongoing service reductions due to WMATA’s Covid-19 response, I have no expectations of ever doing so again, and am glad my schedule and the timing of things worked out so I could have one final ride last summer.

Revisiting 2019 With New Photos on Oren’s Transit Page

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Birney Replica Streetcar 436
The age of Coronavirus may not be good for traveling, but it is good for emptying out the “photo queue” of pictures I would like to post and share here on my site.  With this update, I believe that nearly all the transit photos I took during 2019 and intended to post to Oren’s Transit Page are in fact posted!

Last March, I was able to attend Orioles spring training in Sarasota, and also spent time in Tampa on that trip as well.  I had never been to the west coast of Florida before so it was interesting to see what the transit operations on the Florida Suncoast are like.  With this site update, you can too, as there are over 30 photos from this area now on the site!  You can find the new galleries for HART (including the TECO Streetcar Line), PSTA, MCAT, and SCAT in the Tampa & Florida Suncoast section.  (How’s that for some agency alphabet soup?)

Brooklyn Car 4573
In June, a planned trip to Boston became a road trip due to a flight cancelled following thunderstorms.  Since our return trip was on my birthday, Mrs. Oren’s Transit Page indulged me and permitted a stop at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, CT.  (We had lunch at a favorite restaurant of hers in New Haven as well).  

Throughout the summer, many transit fans’ attention was turned to Alexandria, VA, where DASH acquired Neoplan articulated buses from Bee Line in Westchester County, NY in order to supplement service during WMATA’s Platform Improvement Project on the Blue and Yellow Lines.  WMATA, DASH, and contracted tour bus operators operated the various bus bridges that replaced Metrorail service.  I ventured out one day to photograph the shuttle buses and ride one of the former Bee Line Neoplans, and those photos are also now online.  While this may be the “highlight” of the newest additions to the site from the DC area, there are a total of 15 new DASH photos, 6 new ART photos, and over 50 new WMATA photos.

Neoplan AN460 612
Finally, in November, I was in Pittsburgh for the second time (my first trip was in 2015).  I didn’t take as many transit rides while I was there as I had planned, but I did take about 50 photos of PAT buses and light rail vehicles that are now on the website, including some of their buses decorated for the Christmas holiday season and the Monongahela Incline, which I rode for the first time.

You may have noticed that I wrote that nearly all the photos from 2019 are now online, so you may also be wondering what is still to come.  In August, I visited both Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, so photos of the transit operations in those places (did you know the National Park Service operates a fleet of New Flyer C40LF and C40LFR buses on the South Rim of the canyon?), as well as many photos from a city taken over the course of many years that you would have expected to be on my site already in light of its proximity to Oren’s Transit Page Headquarters will be in the next site update.  Stay tuned!

Here is the complete list of pages with new photos in this update:

 

 

Bus Photo of the Month: September 2019

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NABI 60-BRT/CNG 5414

NABI 60-BRT/CNG 5414

Location: H Street, NW at 16th Street
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: March 13, 2015

If the transit fan rumor mill is to be believed (a risky proposition at times), your chances to catch a photo such as this one are dwindling.  The NABI 60-BRT/CNG articulated buses that WMATA took delivery of in 2008 are approaching retirement.  A handful have been rehabbed, but others have not, potentially shortening the useful service lives of those units.  These buses have also been seen on the streets of DC less frequently, with some supposing that if it weren’t for the need for extra buses due to the Blue and Yellow Line shutdown in Virginia, they would already be retired.

I’ve been on these buses only once or twice back when they were brand new.  They certainly brought a unique look to the WMATA fleet, being the first NABI BRT buses the agency ordered.  I find the front to be a bit peculiar looking, so these aren’t my favorite buses from an aesthetic standpoint.  However, taking shots of articulated buses as they are coming around curves is one of my favorite photos to go for while transitfanning, no matter the model of articulated bus, and WMATA will be getting more 60 footers to replace the NABIs when it is time to dispatch these buses to the “big bus garage in the sky.”

For more photos of WMATA’s Metrobus 2008 NABI 60BRT/CNG Articulated Buses, please click here.

 

Rail Photo of the Month: August 2019

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CAF 5139

CAF 5139

Location: Tysons Corner Station, Tysons Corner, VA
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Date of Photo: January 20, 2015

A post by a friend on Facebook this week reminded me that the WMATA Silver Line is now five years old.  After years and years of waiting to see if the funding would even come through to extend Metro to Tysons and/or beyond, the line finally opened on July 26, 2014.  I did not get a chance to check out the new segment of railroad for nearly six months, but once I did, I took plenty of photos, just as you would expect.  This is one of my favorites from that outing, a photo of a 5000 Series train leaving Tysons Corner just after sunset.  In addition to the train itself, I was able to capture the station architecture (a style first used at the Silver Line Phase I stations) and part of the Tysons skyline in this one shot.  

Which do you find harder to believe?  That there is Metrorail service to Tysons Corner or that it has been operating for five years?

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

 

Bus Photo of the Month: April 2019

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New Flyer C40LF 2302

New Flyer C40LF 2302

Location: 16th Street, NW at Q Street, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Date of Photo: July 19, 2007

It may be April Fool’s Day, but this is no April Fool’s Joke!  If you’re familiar with DC area bus assignments, you’ll know that C40LF buses were never assigned to Northern Division, the longtime home of the S2 route.  I also don’t photoshop my photos in that way.  So what’s the deal here?  Sometimes in a pinch, a bus from a “foreign” division gets put in to service on a route in order to maintain service in the event of a service interruption.  For transit fans and those who enjoy taking photos of unusual circumstances, coming across an instance such as this is quite fun, as it allows for taking photos that are really hard to come by.  To my knowledge, this is the only time a C40LF was documented as operating on this route during their service lives.  So even though it is April 1st and perhaps not everything on the internet is believable today, don’t forget to take a second look.  Sometimes, the unexpected is still legitimate.

For more photos of WMATA’s New Flyer C40LF buses, please click here.

Rail Photo of the Month: March 2019

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CAF 5013

CAF 5013

Location: Prince George’s Plaza Station, Hyattsville, MD
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 2, 2007

The DC Metrorail will be celebrating its 43rd anniversary later this month, but one of its newer classes of rolling stock is no longer around to commemorate the occasion.  WMATA exercised an option order on its new 7000 Series cars from Kawasaki in order to retire the CAF built 5000 Series trains as opposed to rehabbing them.  Typically, a Metrorail car can have a service life of nearly 40 years if it is rehabilitated or overhauled after about 20 years of service.  However, the CAFs have been lemons in a variety of ways since they arrived on Metro property.  First, their delivery was delayed due to a variety of software and other manufacturing issues.  Once they arrived, the CAF cars derailed more often than the other car classes (fortunately, within train yards except on one occasion), they also broke down more often than the other car classes.  However, the CAFs left positive impressions on WMATA’s history.  They were the first cars to feature the updated interior colors of Potomac Blue, Colonial Burgundy, and Chesapeake Sand, the first cars to have LED exterior destination signage, the first cars to have interior LED next stop displays, the first cars to be delivered with AC traction motors, and the first cars to have a module on the operator’s console to help troubleshoot problems on board the train.

The 5000 Series cars are also notable for being the first heavy rail contract CAF received from a North American agency.  The company has won additional contracts in the US since then, including for the construction of MBTA’s Type 9 cars and Amtrak’s Viewliner IIs.  CAF has also been contracted to build the light rail cars that will be used on the Purple Line in the Maryland suburbs.  I’ve heard other transit fans complain about the quality of CAF products, and they also cite delivery delays on these and other contracts.  However, I’ve been on CAF built trains in Spain and Italy in addition to DC.  In my experience, the CAF trains I have been on in Europe seem to be well constructed and reliable.

WMATA’s 5000 Series cars were removed from revenue service in October 2018, although some are being used as part of work trains as of this writing.  And while they may not be a part of Metro’s story going forward and didn’t even remain in service for 20 years, the CAF cars will always be a part of Metro’s history in the early 21st century.

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

Rail Photo of the Month: November 2018

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Breda Rehab 3279

Breda Rehab 3279

Location: Friendship Heights Station, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: August 30, 2004

This website rarely delves in to current events that aren’t transit related.  However, in thinking what photo to feature this month, my current need for a “comfort image” (think comfort food but in this case it is transit photography) as a result of current events in the wider world won out, and I am opting to feature a photo from my “home station” for much of my childhood.  The Friendship Heights station is somewhat unique in that it has entrances in both the District of Columbia and in Maryland.  When I was in high school, I would enter the station each morning in Maryland, cross in to DC to board my train, and then find myself back in Maryland moments after the train left the station.  Perhaps if you visit this site frequently, you find something comforting about being back at a specific train station or on board a specific bus route, especially if it has been awhile since you had the opportunity to use it.  For me, there is something that just seems “right” as I enter the Friendship Heights station and await a train of “legacy” cars to whisk me away to my destination.  Then once I board that train it is straight to the front to look out the front “railfan window” as I have done since I was a child.

Is there a transit experience similar to this one for me that evokes the same feelings for yourself?  Let me know by sharing it in the comments below!

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

New Photos from the Land of Enchantment (& More)

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Albuquerque, NM
In August, I visited New Mexico for the first time (unless you count passing through on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief back in 2014).  Although I was only there for four full days, I did have some opportunities to photograph the transit available in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and in between.  Both cities have sizable bus networks, though the latter is larger than that of the former.  In addition, the Rail Runner Express operates commuter rail service between those same cities.  Unfortunately, for such a short stay and due to other logistical constraints, I didn’t actually ride any of these systems, though photographing them while trying to capture the local architectural styles in some of my photographs while doing so was fun!

This update also includes photos from around the DC area, including photos of MARC’s newest diesel locomotives, the DC Circulator’s new Proterra electric buses, and more!

Here is the complete list of pages with new photos in this update:

 

 

Rail Photo of the Month: August 2018

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Kawasaki 7028

Kawasaki 7028

Location: Columbia Heights Station, Washington, DC
Operator of Vehicle: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Date of Photo: August 30, 2015

If you happen to have been on the Washington Metro in recent weeks, you’ve probably heard a train declare “This is a 7000 Series train” as its doors open at each station.  This is being done as a safety initiative for passengers with vision impairments, the merits of which will not be discussed here at this time.  However, transit fans and frequent Metrorail riders probably do not need to be told when they are boarding a 7000 Series train, as these cars are quite different than any others that have operated on “America’s subway.”  The cars are made of stainless steel. They feature the new “disco ball logo” rather than the traditional brown stripe along the sides. The trains have a new interior color scheme, automated announcements, multiple interior LED and LCD displays, an updated cab layout, and numerous other features.  Personally, I’m a much bigger fan of the “legacy fleet” than the 7000 Series as the former is what I grew up riding and am most familiar with.  However, the 7000 Series cars are certainly recognizable by many riders, not just transit fans, and anecdotally, the riding public has enjoyed riding these cars since they entered service in 2015.  

For more photos of WMATA’s Kawasaki 7000 Series cars, please click here.

New Photos from Israel & Washington, DC Added

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VDL Bus SB230 76273
The summer travel season is well underway, and photos from my adventures in May and June are now available for your viewing pleasure here on Oren’s Transit Page.

Most of the new content can be found in the Israel section, where you will find new photos of the Jerusalem Light Rail, Egged buses in Jerusalem (including the Solaris Urbino 18 unit currently on trial), Egged Ta’avura buses in Jerusalem, Afikim buses in Jerusalem, Kavim buses in Jerusalem, and Superbus buses in both Jerusalem and Tiberias.  If you haven’t been to Israel lately, with the entry of the Golden Dragon and Yutong bus models from China and Solaris buses from Poland in to the Israeli market, there is quite a bit of diversity in Israeli operators’ fleets beyond the typical MAN and Mercedes-Benz buses that have dominated the scene for years.  You can also find photos of the exterior of the new Jerusalem High Speed Railway station (the interior of the much delayed station will be open to the public this fall if you believe the latest rumors).

In addition, new photos of various WMATA equipment types have been added as well.

Here is the complete list of pages with new photos in this update: