"The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) operates the second busiest transit system in the US, serving the District of Columbia and surrounding counties in Maryland and Virginia. The system is referred to as Metrorail or Metro. The system opened in March of 1976 and continues to expand. There are six lines (Red, Blue, Orange, Green, Yellow, & Silver). There are over 100 miles of standard gauge track, with more than 1000 vehicles operating on 750 Vdc third rail. Vehicles are designated by series number, according to when they were procured. The 1000 series cars were the first ones procured. The 7000 series cars are the most recently procured." - WMATA statement (Jan 24, 2017).

It has recently come to my attention via an inside source that WMATA coaches 1000 and 1001 have been removed from service and are now in long-term storage for historical purposes. WMATA coaches 1000-01 are significant for multiple reasons. First, they are the oldest rail cars on the Metrorail system, being the very first cars delivered back in 1974. Second, they have the distinction of being the only cars on the Metrorail system that were built by hand. The cars are 75' long and can only be operated in pairs (therefore it wouldn't make any sense to only save one unit). Thirdly, the 1000s were the only Metro coaches actually delivered by rail. The Rohr built coaches were delivered by the B&O via their Brentwood Yard in Washington D.C. Today, fewer than 100 of the original 300 unit order remain in operation and the Metro General Manager has promised to remove all 1000 and 4000 series cars from service by the end of the year. All other retired coaches have been trucked to a scrap yard in Baltimore.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/143969423 ... otostream/

This should serve as some good news for a passenger system that has been heavily bogged down with bad news. An official Metro press release should be coming out within the next couple of days. I'll be curious to see if these cars are retained by Metro or if they are given to a museum (IIRC, the National Capitol Trolley Museum has expressed an interest in a 1000 series car). Top photo credit: WMATA Archives. Bottom photo credit: P. Darmody.

-Andrew
Casual Metro Observor

National Capital Trolley Museum has no interest in acquiring any WMATA equipment. Our mission is to preserve street railway and interurban equipment.

Wesley

Having ridden the Washington Metro system a fair number of times over the years, I'm glad to see this, and hope the cars, and maybe at least one other set is indeed preserved. Like the nearly contemporary Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in San Francisco (which is also a pretty close technological sister), this rail system represents the early days of a transit revival in this country. Like Amtrak's AEM-7s, they are now a part of railroad history, a history that did not end when the fires were dropped on the N&W, or when the last trolleys ran to the barn in Washington.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31288

This is only "good news" if one or both of these cars find a willing and safe preservation home. Until then.........

Another way to preservation, kind of.

http://dc.curbed.com/2017/2/23/14714786 ... a-homeless

And if anyone wanted to preserve a BART train, they should probably be getting involved in saving some trucks and apparatus from the WMATA 1000 series, as those are "in the same family" and WMATA trucks are the best candidate for a standard-gage BART truck.

BART is 5' 6" broad gauge.

That won't fit on standard railroad track. Standard railroad track is 4' 8-1/2".

Hi,

I seem to recall that I saw one BART car being delivered c1972. It was on a TTX flat. The body was on blocks centered with one 5'6" gauge truck on either end of the body. I was 16 at the time and no photos were taken so my "clear" vision of the load may be from seeing the load in a photo in a magazine.

I was out to San Francisco in 1970, 1972, 1974 on the family summer vacation.

Dad's company here in Atlanta was to design a portion of Metro Atlanta Rapid Through Atlanta. I was lucky enough to help design a part of a junction for them c1975 on my summer job during college. Hi sought out the BART installation to understand heavy Transit so his part of the family vacation as we drove from Atlanta to the west coast and back was paid by the company.

Thanks for triggering the memory for me.

Doug vV

Okay, what you MEANT to write was:
"WMATA trucks would be the best candidate for a standard-gauge truck replacement for a BART car." That clarifies your intentions better.

As I recall, the BART cars were assembled at Rohr's Chula Vista CA plant, while the WMATA cars were built at the Winder Georgia plant

BART's 5' 6" is the Iberian gauge. Maybe some of their cars could go to Spain or Portugal. I think that some South American railways use that gauge, too.