Ryan
Court Jester
After lots of schedule uncertainty, the morning of the Silver Line opening arrived. My Trusty Assistant, Alexander, and I settled on a plan - drive to the eastern terminus of the Silver Line, and attempt to time things correctly to be the first westbound train to head out onto the Silver Line. We pulled out of the house a little late, and stopped for breakfast at the local WaWa for some tasty breakfast sandwiches. When checking out, the clerk asked if we wanted a bag, and I assured her that my Trusty Assistant could handle getting the three breakfast sandwiches out to the car. Of course, being 11, Alexander took the opportunity to make fun of me and say that he was going to drop my breakfast on the ground. He thought this hilarious until we got to the door and he had trouble handling it, at which point he dropped my breakfast on the ground and the joke ceased to be funny.
Undaunted, we headed on and arrived at the station just a little bit later than I wanted. Around 11:30, we boarded what was labeled as an Orange Line train to East Falls Church, confident that when the appointed hour of noon rolled around, we would be magically transformed into a Silver Line train to Wiehe-Reston East (a.k.a. "Reston" for the rest of this report, because that's too long to type). The ride through the city was a normal, sleepy Saturday morning. Boring, since the majority of the route is underground. The only thing that led one to believe that we were on the right track (no pun intended) was the family that joined us at Capitol South, obviously on the same mission. They actually shook me up when they got on, as the Dad was an absolutely dead ringer for Patrick (Whooz), the only thing missing was the Fez.
As the appointed hour passed, and we remained an Orange Line train, I began to be a bit concerned that we hadn't timed things properly. Finally, around 12:15, just as we slowed to approach East Falls Church, BLAM(!). The LED sign flipped to "Silver". Alexander and I high-fived it, and the other family expressed excitement that this was the Real Deal. We were utterly unprepared for what was about to happen next.
As we rolled into EFC, the platform was PACKED, rush hour style, except everyone was taking pictures of the "Silver" emblazoned train arriving for the first time. We went from zero to a full fledged, 9 alarm, code red FOAMER ALERT(!) as soon as the train stopped and the doors opened. As we sat there for a moment, the first revenue train from Reston arrived in the station from the other direction, and half the crowd turned their attention to The Train, the mythical train arriving from Reston for the Very First Time. As that train arrived in the station and the doors opened, an intrepid few travelers (our very own Tracktwentynine among them) flew across the platform to head back out onto the new track.
As the doors closed and the train set out on its way, it was a full on party atmosphere, the likes of which are rarely seen on WMATA property. As we slowed and reached the junction, the crowd filled with "Here we go!", and "This is it!". As the lead car made the turn onto the new tracks, the crowd actually broke into applause (of course, we joined in).
By perusing Twitter and the Facebook, I determined that both T29 and Jishnu were on the same train as I was. Matt' tweeted that he was bailing at McLean to check the joint out, so Alexander and I called an audible and bailed as well to go say hi. Jishnu reported seeing me off the train and waving at someone (Matt'), but unfortunately our paths didn't cross later on in the day. We had plenty of time to figure this out, as we stopped on the approach to the station and held for a few minutes. Fortunately, we were in a perfect spot for a photo op:
After a thorough inspection we continued on to Tysons and repeated the drill. We were set to walk over to the mall to get some nourishment, but I was foiled by a "Smart" Trip card that failed to work and we got separated from the group. By the time I bought a replacement (and then a second card when I realized that the vending machine was passing out commemorative Silver Line SmartTrip cards, Alexander and I decided that lunch could wait, there was fresh rail to be explored!
We proceeded outbound, getting off at Greensboro for an (extended) visit. The train operator of the train we boarded was in on the jovial mood and acting as Tour Guide as we rolled along above VA-7. We decided to forgo visiting Spring Hill and opt instead for continuing with our entertaining train operator.
After arriving at Reston, we had time for a few more photos, and then set off back to Largo, deciding to head straight through and time the trip to see how long it would take. One hour and 9 minutes later, we arrived back at Largo, tired but proud. At least for today, WMATA was a hero.
Full spread of pictures here:
http://photos.stavely.org/Trains/Silver-Line-Opening/
Undaunted, we headed on and arrived at the station just a little bit later than I wanted. Around 11:30, we boarded what was labeled as an Orange Line train to East Falls Church, confident that when the appointed hour of noon rolled around, we would be magically transformed into a Silver Line train to Wiehe-Reston East (a.k.a. "Reston" for the rest of this report, because that's too long to type). The ride through the city was a normal, sleepy Saturday morning. Boring, since the majority of the route is underground. The only thing that led one to believe that we were on the right track (no pun intended) was the family that joined us at Capitol South, obviously on the same mission. They actually shook me up when they got on, as the Dad was an absolutely dead ringer for Patrick (Whooz), the only thing missing was the Fez.
As the appointed hour passed, and we remained an Orange Line train, I began to be a bit concerned that we hadn't timed things properly. Finally, around 12:15, just as we slowed to approach East Falls Church, BLAM(!). The LED sign flipped to "Silver". Alexander and I high-fived it, and the other family expressed excitement that this was the Real Deal. We were utterly unprepared for what was about to happen next.
As we rolled into EFC, the platform was PACKED, rush hour style, except everyone was taking pictures of the "Silver" emblazoned train arriving for the first time. We went from zero to a full fledged, 9 alarm, code red FOAMER ALERT(!) as soon as the train stopped and the doors opened. As we sat there for a moment, the first revenue train from Reston arrived in the station from the other direction, and half the crowd turned their attention to The Train, the mythical train arriving from Reston for the Very First Time. As that train arrived in the station and the doors opened, an intrepid few travelers (our very own Tracktwentynine among them) flew across the platform to head back out onto the new track.
As the doors closed and the train set out on its way, it was a full on party atmosphere, the likes of which are rarely seen on WMATA property. As we slowed and reached the junction, the crowd filled with "Here we go!", and "This is it!". As the lead car made the turn onto the new tracks, the crowd actually broke into applause (of course, we joined in).
By perusing Twitter and the Facebook, I determined that both T29 and Jishnu were on the same train as I was. Matt' tweeted that he was bailing at McLean to check the joint out, so Alexander and I called an audible and bailed as well to go say hi. Jishnu reported seeing me off the train and waving at someone (Matt'), but unfortunately our paths didn't cross later on in the day. We had plenty of time to figure this out, as we stopped on the approach to the station and held for a few minutes. Fortunately, we were in a perfect spot for a photo op:
After a thorough inspection we continued on to Tysons and repeated the drill. We were set to walk over to the mall to get some nourishment, but I was foiled by a "Smart" Trip card that failed to work and we got separated from the group. By the time I bought a replacement (and then a second card when I realized that the vending machine was passing out commemorative Silver Line SmartTrip cards, Alexander and I decided that lunch could wait, there was fresh rail to be explored!
We proceeded outbound, getting off at Greensboro for an (extended) visit. The train operator of the train we boarded was in on the jovial mood and acting as Tour Guide as we rolled along above VA-7. We decided to forgo visiting Spring Hill and opt instead for continuing with our entertaining train operator.
After arriving at Reston, we had time for a few more photos, and then set off back to Largo, deciding to head straight through and time the trip to see how long it would take. One hour and 9 minutes later, we arrived back at Largo, tired but proud. At least for today, WMATA was a hero.
Full spread of pictures here:
http://photos.stavely.org/Trains/Silver-Line-Opening/
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