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I realize that the 4000-series cars are 16 years old now, but still…

May 23, 2007, 7:30 PM

Let me say that my ride on Breda 4045 this evening on the way home from work was not pleasant. And it’s because the car was experiencing a mechanical issue, but not enough to pull the train from service. If you can imagine this, the car was vibrating pretty hard near the wheel truck on the “blind” (non-cab) end. And it was making a sound resembling that of a lawn mower. This from a car that’s normally supposed to make that nice buzzing sound that Bredas are known for.

And I had to deal with this from Dupont Circle all the way to Glenmont. All that vibration started to make me feel a little ill, too. After all, I was sitting on the right side of the car, facing the blind end, in the first row after the doors. In other words, I was right on top of it. Not fun.

And for those of you who are wondering, even though I now ride the Metro every day, I still take my little notepad with me and write down train numbers.

Web site: This is how a Breda 4000-series is supposed to sound from the inside...

Song: My brain is still rattling from that lawn mower-like sound. Reminds me of a while in 2003 when the Previa had an exhaust problem, and a friend remarked to me, "You sound like a lawn mower!"

Quote: That reminds me - on Monday, I caught a Red Line train that only went as far as Silver Spring, so I decided what the heck, and I'd take my bus from there. As we were getting ready to cross under the beltway, what did I see, but a Metro car on the back of a flatbed truck. It wasn't a Rohr by the exterior's appearance, and based on where it was and the direction it was going in (it was on the outer loop of the beltway), I'd say it was likely a recently-rehabbed Breda car heading back to Alexandria from Hornell, New York. It couldn't have been an Alstom, since delivery of those is being done through Greenbelt Yard, and this one was heading away from Greenbelt. Still, it was quite odd to see a Metro train on a truck on the Beltway...

Categories: Commuting, WMATA