I have conquered the 4000-Series…
3 minute read
April 12, 2010, 12:19 AM
Yes, I have conquered the 4000-Series. And by that, I mean these:
(By the way, the truly dedicated Metro enthusiast ought to be able to tell me what day I took this photo)
Friday morning, I got Breda 4061 to work, which completes my spreadsheet for the 4000-Series cars. I have now logged a ride on every Breda 4000-Series rail car in the WMATA rail fleet.
Of course, when I went to check on my Droid to make sure I had the right car, however, it turned out that I had physically ridden all of the 4000-Series cars some time prior to that. Turns out that I rode 4061 on May 11, 2005 with Ray, a fellow DC-area railfan, when we were chasing McMetro. And I made good use of my time on that car, too. I took photos of the cab and got a nice floor shot (with the original orange carpet, no less). But that ride was before I started logging my rides. So therefore it didn’t count.
Meanwhile, according to my WMATA spreadsheet, Metro currently has 1,118 rail cars in revenue service. That accounts for four Money Train cars, ten Rohrs out due to accidents, four Breda 3000-Series cars out due to accidents, and four CAFs out due to accidents. So taking those cars out, I have ridden 82% of Metro’s 1,118-car revenue fleet. That breaks down like this:
- 265 Rohrs (92.6% of 286 total 1000-Series)
- 66 Breda 2000-Series (86.8% of 76 total 2000-Series)
- 235 Breda 3000-Series (82.7% of 284 total 3000-Series)
- 100 Breda 4000-Series (100% of 100 total 4000-Series, aka PWN’d!)
- 146 CAFs (77.6% of 188 total 5000-Series)
- 105 Alstoms (57% of 184 total 6000-Series)
Now the only thing I can’t tell you based on the spreadsheet is how much of the 3000-Series I’ve had as rehabs vs. in their original state. I do make a notation of rehab in my log, though. I would write “Breda 3208” for a non-rehabbed Breda, and then would write “Breda 3208 (AC)” for a rehabbed Breda (“AC” referring to the AC traction motors). So I could figure that out if I wanted to, but it’s not something I’m really dying to work out. I had my last original-style 3000-Series Breda on April 18, 2008 (fittingly, it was Breda 3289, highest-numbered car as originally delivered), so to figure that out would require diving through about three years’ worth of logs. Then for the 2000s, it’s easy – all of the 2000-Series cars on my log are rehabs, since it doesn’t take very long to rehab 76 cars vs. nearly 300 cars, and the last un-rehabbed ones left the property in early 2004.
Now I just have to grab those 21 Rohrs. Those are of the highest importance at this point, since those cars will be gone sooner than anything else. I can say with some confidence that I have about four years, maybe five, to get those cars. And with my current commuting patterns, I normally get my Rohr in the morning, due to their being banished to the center of consists following the accident last June. For those wondering, I usually ride in the sixth car of an eight-car train in the morning (fourth car for a six-pack train), and I ride the lead car in the evening. So no Rohrs in the evening, guaranteed, as long as Metro’s well-intentioned but ineffective policy on Rohrs is in effect.
So now I guess we’ll see what I get in the morning…
Web site: Pictures of Breda cars
Song: Breda 4000-Series train leaving Fort Totten upper level
Quote: Meanwhile, did you know that a "WHITE" card exists for placement on Metro trains? It's true. Metro doesn't use the card (though it's rumored to have been intended for the line to Dulles), and so all the instances where I have pictures of the "WHITE" card are ones where I have physically flipped the "GREEN" card around and then gotten off and photographed it. Then there's the one where I have a photo of the "WHITE" card at Silver Spring. In that case, the "GREEN" card was poking halfway out of the broken-down cab door when I boarded at Glenmont, and then when the train got to Silver Spring, I jammed the "WHITE" card into the sign holder (in front of the "RED" card), got off the train, and took the picture. Shazam! It's crazy antics like that which make me sad that Metro's phasing those cards out. But the newer LED signage is a lot easier to see. And for those interested, there are three cards, with two colors on a card. Blue and Orange share a card, Red and Yellow share a card, and Green and White share a card. One would think that White would be paired with Red, since Green and Yellow share a considerable amount of track, but that's not how it is.
Categories: WMATA