WMATA Money Train passes through Foggy Bottom-GWU station without stopping

[khroe]

If you have a scanner: 160.260 red line. 160.380 orange/blue (Largo to Arl cemetery) 160.620 green/yellow/blue (pentagon to Franconia) Red line: 100 & 200 ID's Yellow line: 300 ID Blue line: 400 ID Green line: 500 ID Orange line: 900 ID Money trains are always 598 & 599 Non revenue are usually 700 ID 800 ID is used for training and special 8 car 600 ID is used for special trains

[schuminweb]

@khroe Great information! Thank you for posting!

[khroe]

If you have a scanner:

160.260 red line

160.380 orange/blue (Largo to Arl Cemetery)

[TodayHi1953]

What are the lights on the platform even for anyway?

[schuminweb]

@TodayHi1953 The lights on the platform exist to notify riders that a train is approaching. They are now redundant, however, as PIDS (the display screens) does the same thing more thoroughly. But for the first 20-some years of Metro, they were the only indication that a train was approaching the station.

[ineedabuspass]

Just saw this today at New York Ave Station around 9:30 pm. It was so funny to see the guys stepping out with huge rifles/shotguns.  But what I loved most of all was those cars use the original door chime I haven't heard since the early '90's. At least I can still hear that chime on some of the older cars on the New York subway.

[BurgerChefGuy]

Nice Clip. BTW, check my vintage WMATA bus clips. You may enjoy some oldies. :-)

[Monisrocks1995]

the light r not blinking

[schuminweb]

@Monisrocks1995 The lights actually were blinking, but they don't show too well in the video. The problem with the red LEDs is that the difference between the two levels when they're flashing is very small. They need to go all the way to black and back on when they flash, rather than just dimmer.

[Monisrocks1995]

@schuminweb oh ok. but i can see it when im actually at the station though

[eXAKR]

Hmmm... reminds me of how money trains on Singapore's North-South and East-West lines were formed. There, trains are made up of two permanently-coupled three-car trainsets to make a six-car train. There used to be two trailer cars with driving cabs fitted out as money trains, and whenever they needed to be run, one of the trailers will be coupled to a regular three-car trainset to make a four-car money train. Phased out several years ago when we switched to a smart card-based ticketing system.

[mtattrain]

It's like NY, where R21/22's do the work.

[schuminweb]

This was around 10:30 PM, I'd say, on December 19, 2008.

[cornrowcity]

Why are some of the lights turn on inside the money train? They normally keep the lights turned off so that no one could see the money cases as they peak inside.

[schuminweb]

Note that it's the third and fourth cars with the lights on. The "money train" set was the first two cars, and those cars were almost completely dark. The last two cars were standard Breda rehabs, and are there because the money train never runs by itself but with another pair of cars.

[NewFlyerGuy]

Nice catch and what time was this video taken?

[eXAKR]

@schuminweb But can't Washington Metro trains run in two-car consists too? Or is this done for security reasons?

[schuminweb]

I believe that they can run the two-car sets by themselves (and early WMATA photos seem to confirm this), but I honestly have no idea why they run the money train as a four-car set.

[ariwcharles]

@schuminweb Because in some places, a two car train would be "gapped," or stuck between two sections of third rail, as the third rail doesn't run continuously, it is instead broken up into sections. In some places, that gap is so large that not one collector shoe on a two car train would be touching part of a third rail, and the train would stop. Special equipment is needed to get it moving again. (Not every collector shoe on a train needs to be touching a third rail.)

[ariwcharles]

@schuminweb Two car trains can get gapped at some places in the system, or so I've heard. That's when no part of the train is touching the third rail, so it stops. Those photos I have no idea what to make of.