Baltimore Transit Tour

Our tour of the Baltimore transit system began at the Wabash Avenue METRO shops. Here we toured the maintenance shops are viewed various equipment under repair. The cars that currently run on the METRO subway are nearly 20 years and were some of the last cars to be produced by the BUDD company in Philadelphia. Many of the cars are in the middle of their 15 year rebuild.

The control system for the METRO subway cars runs on a 1980s 8080 processor. As part of the 15 year rebuild, the METRO cars will receive a new, state of the art computer system. A vintage control system is shown here.

After spending 45 minutes touring the METRO shops, our group headed off for a ride on the subway line. We boarded the subway at Owings Mill, rode to the other end of the line (Johns Hopkins Hospital) and then back to Owens Mills. We then headed off to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum.

Lunch was served at the BSM after which we rode several of the trolley cars from the BSM's collection. These included No. 1164 an ex United Railways and Electric Company car built by Brill in 1902; No. 6119, a Peter Witt car used on the United Railways & Electric Company; No. 554, a 9 bench open car built by the Brownell Car Company in 1896 for the Baltimore Traction Company; No. 7407, a PCC car built by the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company in 1944 for the Baltimore Transit Company.

Car No. 1164 is sitting outside the BSM shops on Falls Road after returning from its excursion.		The BSM is in the midst of a PCC restoration. It is part of the never ending effort to preserve Baltimore traction equipment.

At around 1:30 p.m.m, our group headed off to the MTA Light Rail shops at North Avenue for a behind the scenes look at MTA's new light rail facility. The shop was built in 1992 when the light rail line opened. MTA's LRVs were bought in two groups, the first in 1992 of 37 cars and a second order five years later of 18 cars. At this time the first set of cars are in the midst of their 10 year rebuild while the second set are in the midst of their 5 year rebuild. The shops are specifically designed for the maintenance of light rail vehicles and ae state of the art in every respect. Finally, we had the opportunity to view the command and control center for light rail operations which is located in the North Avenue facility.

LRV No. 5042, one of the newer vehicles, is getting truck work done. Generally vehicles are scheduled for specific work and then sent back out in service to minimize the amount of time they spend in the shop.		LRV No. 5002 is seen in on of the maintenance bays for an inspection.
Patrick, a supervisor at the maintenance facility, gives our group a tour of the facililty. He provided many insights into how MTA operates and maintains its fleet of light rail vehicles.		Refirbished trucks are in the shop ready to be swapped out with trucks needing a rebuild. The mechanical staff tries to swap out parts on the vehicles to minimize the amount of time that a LRV remains out of service for repair. The LRV's are built with modular parts, making this task easy.