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I have conquered the 4000-Series…

Yes, I have conquered the 4000-Series. And by that, I mean these:


(By the way, the truly dedicated Metro enthusiast ought to be able to tell me what day I took this photo)

Friday morning, I got Breda 4061 to work, which completes my spreadsheet for the 4000-Series cars. I have now logged a ride on every Breda 4000-Series rail car in the WMATA rail fleet.

Of course, when I went to check on my Droid to make sure I had the right car, however, it turned out that I had physically ridden all of the 4000-Series cars some time prior to that. Turns out that I rode 4061 on May 11, 2005 with Ray, a fellow DC-area railfan, when we were chasing McMetro. And I made good use of my time on that car, too. I took photos of the cab and got a nice floor shot (with the original orange carpet, no less). But that ride was before I started logging my rides. So therefore it didn’t count.

Meanwhile, according to my WMATA spreadsheet, Metro currently has 1,118 rail cars in revenue service. That accounts for four Money Train cars, ten Rohrs out due to accidents, four Breda 3000-Series cars out due to accidents, and four CAFs out due to accidents. So taking those cars out, I have ridden 82% of Metro’s 1,118-car revenue fleet. That breaks down like this:

Now the only thing I can’t tell you based on the spreadsheet is how much of the 3000-Series I’ve had as rehabs vs. in their original state. I do make a notation of rehab in my log, though. I would write “Breda 3208” for a non-rehabbed Breda, and then would write “Breda 3208 (AC)” for a rehabbed Breda (“AC” referring to the AC traction motors). So I could figure that out if I wanted to, but it’s not something I’m really dying to work out. I had my last original-style 3000-Series Breda on April 18, 2008 (fittingly, it was Breda 3289, highest-numbered car as originally delivered), so to figure that out would require diving through about three years’ worth of logs. Then for the 2000s, it’s easy – all of the 2000-Series cars on my log are rehabs, since it doesn’t take very long to rehab 76 cars vs. nearly 300 cars, and the last un-rehabbed ones left the property in early 2004.

Now I just have to grab those 21 Rohrs. Those are of the highest importance at this point, since those cars will be gone sooner than anything else. I can say with some confidence that I have about four years, maybe five, to get those cars. And with my current commuting patterns, I normally get my Rohr in the morning, due to their being banished to the center of consists following the accident last June. For those wondering, I usually ride in the sixth car of an eight-car train in the morning (fourth car for a six-pack train), and I ride the lead car in the evening. So no Rohrs in the evening, guaranteed, as long as Metro’s well-intentioned but ineffective policy on Rohrs is in effect.

So now I guess we’ll see what I get in the morning…

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