Malcolm Kenton posts on Facebook that today is the anniversary of the date in 1976 when the first segment of the DC Metro subway opened. I replied:
It was a hit from day one, even though there were only half a dozen stations, and Gallery Place wasn't open yet because its elevators weren't ready. I used it to go from Union Station to Metro Center, as part of my commute on MARC from Baltimore to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. It was a highlight of 1976, even though it couldn't carry many of the tourists who flocked to DC for the Bicentennial and the King Tut exhibit at the National Gallery.
I know that many of the DC-area residents who post here tend to grouse about the system's problems today, and there were certainly problems at the beginning, too, but boy, it changed transportation in the region significantly.
DC Metrorail celebrates its anniversary
Started by
CHamilton
, Mar 27 2012 11:33 AM
3 replies to this topic
#1
CHamilton
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Posted 27 March 2012 - 11:33 AM
Where you'll find my posts: // All Aboard Washington (website, Facebook) // Amtrak Unlimited Forum Group (Facebook) // Grow Trains (website, Facebook, Twitter) // Restore the Pioneer Train (website, Facebook, Twitter) // Save the Seattle Waterfront Streetcar (Again) (website, Facebook, Twitter) // Transit Riders of Puget Sound (Facebook) // Trains on FB (Facebook) //
Petitions: Save the Seattle Waterfront Streetcar // Save King County Metro bus service
#2
jimhudson
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Posted 27 March 2012 - 12:24 PM
Great Post Charlie! I too was in WAS in those days, and my Daily Commute on the Old Red Line was Definitely a Big Improvement over the Busses or Trying to Drive into to a City where Parking (Lack of!) made New York City seem like Wyoming! 
And it was CLEAN! SAFE! NEW! and UNCROWDED Compared to the Zoo that was NYCs Subways! 
(My Biggest Complaint was the Loooooooong/Steep Escelators @ Farraguat that turned into Wind Tunnels in the Winter and made it even Colder than it already was!!!
)
And it was CLEAN! SAFE! NEW! and UNCROWDED Compared to the Zoo that was NYCs Subways! (My Biggest Complaint was the Loooooooong/Steep Escelators @ Farraguat that turned into Wind Tunnels in the Winter and made it even Colder than it already was!!!
)
Edited by jimhudson, 27 March 2012 - 12:28 PM.
Hope to See See ya' in the Windy City for the Gathering in Oct!!!
"What a Long,Strange Trip it's Been!"-Grateful Dead
"..My heart is warm with the friends I make,and better friends I'll not be knowing,
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,No matter where its going!.." -Edna St. Vincent Millay
#3
The Davy Crockett
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Posted 27 March 2012 - 02:01 PM
The scary part is that in ways it doesn't seem all that long ago when shortly after Metro opened, my Mom and I rode from the Farragut Square Station to the Rhode Island Ave. Station and back, just to experience riding the system. (Boy am I turning into an old person) Then I start remembering that folks use to NEVER eat or drink on the trains, and how new and clean everything was, and yeah, that seems like ages ago!
Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting!
I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train.
#4
afigg
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Posted 27 March 2012 - 04:43 PM
For those not familiar with it, several years ago David Alpert of the Greater Greater Washington website put together a neat slide show of the start and expansion of the DC Metro system from 1976 to 2010 (Snowpocalypse):
DC Metro evolution slide show.
DC Metro evolution slide show.
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