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the inside sign panels were removed with the inside rehab of the rohrs several years ago.

jerryinva wrote on Thu, 24 January 2008 14:56

How come we don't see those panels now? Or do I just miss noticing them?

Those panels only exist in the 1k cars. My guess is your not noticing them.

The only rehabilitation work that has been done on the 1k cars sense they had their major rehabilitation and propulsion upgrades done back in the early 1990s was the replacement of the refrigeration units.

That photograph was taken on 8 28 1998.

How come we don't see those panels now? Or do I just miss noticing them?

jerryinva wrote on Wed, 23 January 2008 16:38

I wish now I had seen those cars using those signs, that would have been cool. So is that picture of the inside of that Rohr car post rehab?

Yes.

I wish now I had seen those cars using those signs, that would have been cool. So is that picture of the inside of that Rohr car post rehab?

jerryinva wrote on Tue, 22 January 2008 16:15

So, did the opposite side of the destination sign from the outside, show that strip map on the inside? Just trying to get a vision here.

Yes. The two rolls were mounted in the bottom of the box. The black area with indexing stripes went over a spool at the top of the box. A florescent tube was mounted between. The plastic panel above the left window shown in this picture is where the strip map use to be. The trim panels above the windows were modified when the 1k cars were rehabilitated back in the 1990s. The original trim panels had a taller vertical face to accommodate the strip map window.

Only the primary terminal destinations had strip maps. As you can see in the other pictures there were some short turn destinations that did not have strip maps.

So, does the money train still have those?

No those are fixed panels or the display has "No Passengers" silk screened on the back side of the sign box window. The feeler car 1028 still has the sign rolls in it.

So, did the opposite side of the destination sign from the outside, show that strip map on the inside? Just trying to get a vision here.

So, does the money train still have those?

jerryinva wrote on Wed, 16 January 2008 10:33
I am very fascinated with the difference between how the original planners envisioned Metro, with what has been built.

Thank the Highway lobby for that. If we had more of an European outlook and a smarter Federal Govt. here in the US, by now we'd have Metrorail to Lincolnia, Belvoir, Dulles, BWI, Manassas, and light rail to Leesburg, Frederick, Annapolis, LaPlata and Fredericksburg !

What I find unacceptable is that the Columbia Pike corridor Metrorail line was traded in for a surface tram sharing the pavement with cars.

Breda wrote on Wed, 16 January 2008 10:04

Very interesting. I suppose the Columbia Pike line will be the tramway now.

In my opinion the Columbia Pike light rail will be to little to late. Over a hundred years ago New York City chose the increase it's congested surface transportation capacity by going under ground. Arlington County wants to go the opposite direction along Columbia Pike.

This 1970 map shows the big picture of what was planned.

The Green Map is the same map, the only difference is it was overlaid on a street map.

jerryinva wrote on Wed, 16 January 2008 10:33

Very very cool! Thank you for posting these images! I am very fascinated with the difference between how the original planners envisioned Metro, with what has been built.

Their were well over a dozen different variation of a heavy rail rapid transit plans suggested. The system that was eventually built evolved from a plan that was in a report made by the predecessor agency to WMATA, NCTA (National Capitol Transportation Agency ) in 1962. The plan during the mid 1960's was pretty close to what is shown in the map posted above by Breda. The D route from Stadium-Armory to New Carrollton and the mid city E route between downtown and Fort Totten were the last major additions to the plan.

I suggest reading The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro by Zachary M. Schrag

I must admit, as much as I like the 6000 trains, there is something nostalgic about the Rohr cars... I only wish I could have seen them in their original state...

Performance wise they similar to what they are today. The interior of the 1k cars has pretty much remanded the same. The only major difference was the conversion of the destination signs from sign rolls to electronic displays. all 4 sign boxes had a destination signs in them with a corresponding strip map displayed in the interior of the car.

More pictures of the sign roll

Very very cool! Thank you for posting these images! I am very fascinated with the difference between how the original planners envisioned Metro, with what has been built. I must admit, as much as I like the 6000 trains, there is something nostalgic about the Rohr cars... I only wish I could have seen them in their original state...

Very interesting. I suppose the Columbia Pike line will be the tramway now.

This 1970 map shows the big picture of what was planned.

http://chnm.gmu.edu/metro/images/phase70h.jpg

jerryinva wrote on Tue, 15 January 2008 22:10

I'll bet that 1970 map is very cool...

The map was unofficially called the Green Map. It was given that name because legend/cover when folded was green. The base map is 1:48,000 scale printed on a 44.3/5" x 34" sheet. The map was produced for WMATA by ADC (Alexandria Drafting Company)

This is a scan of the downtown core from the map.

Note the shaded broken line along Columbia Pike on the lower left. The alignment of the mid city Green line is on Kansas Avenue not on Park Road and New Hampshire Avenue. The southern Green Line east of Navy Yard follows a different route.

The image is from Scott M. Kozel, Roads to the Future page that discuses history of the interstate highways in Washington DC

Never seen a train display the Dulles destination sign... that would get some attention!

I The took the above photograph on 04 16 2006 in the Branch Avenue station after kindly asking the operator to manually set the destination code to 34. The car is an unrehabilitated Breda car. The operator was unaware that destination sign was configured to display Dulles. On 03 27 2006 I attempted and failed to get a picture of the sign displayed on a CAF car at the Greenbelt station. The shutter speed setting on the camera was to fast to display all of the LEDs on the sign. I was still learning how to use my new Nikon D70s digital SLR.

I'll bet that 1970 map is very cool...

Never seen a train display the Dulles destination sign... that would get some attention!

ffxrider wrote on Fri, 11 January 2008 20:02

In the early days of metrorail, some of the destination signs (remember the old rolling ones) had Dulles shown as a destination. Does anybody remember what route was initially planned? I also remember seeing Dulles shown as a destination on an early system map on display at metro headquarters many years ago.

Officially the routes were defined as 'future' not planed. My 06 11 1970 ARS map shows Rockville to Gaithersburg and Germantown (built to Shady Grove), Greenbelt to Laurel, New Carrollton to Bowie, Addison Road to Largo (built), Branch Avenue to Brandywine, Huntington to Fairfield, Springfield to Burke (the Springfield station on that map is where the VRE Backlick Road station is today), Vienna to Centerville. The Dulles route was shown as running in the median of the connector and access roads. Another route branched off the C route at the south end of the Pentagon station and went out Columbia Pike to Skyline eventually terminating at Lincolnia. The junction and bell mouths for those tunnels can be clearly seen beyond the south end of the Pentagon station platform.

By the way Dulles can be displayed on the destination signs on all of the trains today. The code is 34.