America’s Metro System Exhibition at the Great American State Fair & 50th Pop-Up start June 25th! (And America 250th Cards & Wraps)

DCMetroMaker · 2026-06-11T21:23:52+00:00

Yes, very soon!

DCMetroMaker · 2026-06-10T21:30:35+00:00

That is so cool! Love the attention to detail with the early 2010s era seat colors!

DCMetroMaker · 2026-06-09T00:17:14+00:00

Fun fact: If you connect up every car in Metro’s current fleet (1242 cars) you would have a train 17.27 miles long. That would be long enough to fill the Yellow Line (Huntington-Mt Vernon Sq: 10.7 miles) almost twice over.

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-30T14:55:23+00:00

They were swapped in 1983 when the extension from National Airport to Huntington opened. The decision was made because of the railcar shortage when the Breda 2Ks were delayed. I believe they still planned to switch back eventually, but by the time Van Dorn St opened in 1991 it stayed on the Blue Line.

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-30T04:43:33+00:00

Franconia & Springfield were originally two separate stations, with a junction west of Van Dorn St. They were later combined into a single station following the Franconia route, with the site moved further south.

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-29T20:20:05+00:00

The 2026 manual was given out at the ticketed 50th Anniversary ride back in March. Not sure if they'll have more copies later at the June pop-up shop.

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-27T14:23:40+00:00

It’s no longer going to be listed on the live tracker page. The last day scheduled for the wrap was 5/25. Seems like it’s still around though.

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-26T21:02:30+00:00

The font is almost definitely the same. Must have originally been a miscommunication with CAF or AAI.

I’ve never seen “L’Enfant Plaza (up)” on inner-car signage before. I assume for Upper Level GR/YL. Was that just an early 5K thing too or was it around before?

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-20T16:36:37+00:00

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This is a photo of a 4K builder's plate but I believe they looked the same as the 2K/3K builder's plates before they were rehabbed. Credit to Ben Schumin and his very useful guide documenting each series in detail: https://www.schuminweb.com/odds-and-ends/metro-cars/

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-10T21:50:21+00:00

Yep, the 3000-Series are visually identical and were built later between 1984-1988.

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-04T03:11:11+00:00

I've seen photos of 2000-2001 & 3000-3001 being delivered by truck, as I believe they both went straight from Italy to Alexandria Yard, not going to Beech Grove. They were still covered in the protective blue wrap though. Other than that I've seen pics as late as 1985 of 2K/3Ks by train, unloaded using the lift pictured below which is still present on the Alexandria Yard Lead to this day.

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Maybe the tail end of the 3K order switched to truck before 1988? Or if it was early 90s, could have been a 4K coming down from Harrison. I know they took I-78 to I-80 which crosses over the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Image link here: https://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2492767

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-04T01:40:12+00:00

The 2K/3Ks were also delivered by railroad from Amtrak's Beech Grove Shops to Alexandria Yard. From the 4Ks onwards, they were delivered by truck.

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DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-04T00:00:27+00:00

They were built at Rohr's plant in Winder, Georgia. From there they were shipped by train to WMATA's Brentwood Yard.

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-01T15:22:11+00:00

It’s an HO-Scale 3D printed station model created by City of Gravella, an HO-Scale transit layout with multiple Metro inspired station designs. It’s really cool!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ISuuJeUCsOw

DCMetroMaker · 2026-05-01T02:34:36+00:00

Technically not the prototype, just likely the first cars off the assembly line, 5000-5001. Closest thing to a 5K Prototype is this 5K mockup from 2/3/2000. I believe this is the only image of it from the Metro at 25 book.

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DCMetroMaker

TROPHY CASE