ambivalent images

Railroad Plow

A railroad snowplow, also parked and deteriorating in the field behind my sister's house. At right is a wider view of all three train cars I've been talking about in the last few days' pictures...

Do Not Drink

The sink inside the caboose. I don't think there's much danger of anyone wanting to drink anything out of this, do you?

Big Wheel

The hub of one of the wheels on the train engine pictured yesterday...

Mountain Diesel

The weatherbeaten side of an old train engine parked in the field behind my sister's house in Laramie, Wyoming.

Crossing the Tracks

Looking West down the BNSF railroad tracks that cut through downtown Billings. I cross these tracks on my bike every day on my way to work. The sky is invariably gorgeous at this time of day.

It looks like if you're a train junkie, you can listen in on the train radio traffic online.

Carsharing

One of the new carshare signs springing up around the city. (At right is a blurry shot of the other side of the same sign.) These new signs mark places where you can pick up (or drop off) a Flexcar or Zipcar. The city has recently made many more prime parking spaces carshare-only spaces to encourage people to use these services and thereby reduce road and parking congestion. Seems like a good idea to me.

I also think these signs are just cool!

YAMS

YAMS: Yet Another Metro Shot. This one is the Woodley Park station again as seen from the turnstyle balcony above the platform.

Subway Reflection II

The view both inside and outside a metro car on the Blue Line headed downtown from Capital Heights. The metro can sometimes offer some pretty good reflection shots.

Wheelchair Lock

A wheelchair lock on the metro. I see wheelchairs on the metro all the time but I don't think I've ever seen these locks actually in use.

Escalator Guts

The inner workings of an escalator at the King Street metro station in Alexandria are on display as the escalator gets refurbished.

Tired Tires

A display of tires inside the lobby of a Midas store where I waited for three hours for a new muffler to arrive. I think they had to fly it in from China, which makes sense when you consider it was going on an “American-made” car. Sheesh.

On the Metro*

A Metro rider holds head in hand as the conductor announces all trains are stopped on the yellow line for some unexplicable reason. That's National Airport outside the window. This train sat on a sort of unlikely angle (the track is curved at this point so the track is banked) for about five minutes before we started moving again.

*The title of this post comes from a Capital Steps song sung to the tune of Evlis's “In the Ghetto.” I can't find it on any of their albums and I don't think the song is online, but I heard at at their April Fools special this year (after they'd completed the part that was going to air on radio). Trust me, for those who ride the D.C. Metro, the song was priceless!

My New (Dream) Scooter

The cockpit of the Vespa Granturismo 200. I don't have a scooter, but if I did, I think this is what I'd want. Heck, it's only $5k. Yikes! But still, it's stylish and would have the power to travel almost any city road. I wonder if you could get on the highway with it for short distances, e.g. commuting from D.C. to VA or something. Hmm. Maybe I just need my dream motorcycle.

Office Space Metro

Large posters of Ron Livingston (and Ziggy Marley) decorate the Farragut North Metro Station. So what? Why am I taking pictures of ads? Well, for one thing, can you tell what Livingston is selling here? I'm unclear on the concept, but I think Johnston and Murphy is a brand of shoes. Also, it's just funny to be getting on or off the metro and be greeted by Mr. Office Space. I know Livingston has done lots of other things (most notably for me were his roles in “Sex & the City” and “Band of Brothers”) but still, he's the modern Bartleby and it's odd to be seeing that when you're on your way to/from work. I mean, it's kind of cool, but kind of well, what are they trying to say?

Looking Up

A view from the escalators heading up to the platform at the Braddock metro station. I took another one where you couldn't see any of the windows at the top there and instead it was just a blur of light. Was that the better picture? I don't know. I do know the DC Metro system provides some really incredible views like this if you're looking. There's a beauty to the symmetry of everything—the geometric forms, the distinctive tiles on the floors, the curved surfaces of the stations. I met someone recently who has lived here for years and never ever takes the metro; hates it. She drives. Everywhere. Her excuse is that she grew up in a place w/out public transportation so she's just not used to it. Hmph. I grew up in places w/out public transportation and that only makes me love it more. True, the bus system intimidates me, but the metro? Love. It. Oh, and I also love these perspective shots of the the signposts telling you where each line goes (see thumbnail above). I don't know why; I just like these pics. Maybe I'll collect a whole set. I still need to make it over to the new New York Ave. station...

Gallery Place Station

A light sculpture graces one end of the Gallery Place/Chinatown metro station. I really like this sculpture—it brightens up the cavernous station very nicely. I know the DC Metro needs a lot more than better art (like more lines and trains and more money for maintenance), but just about every station could also benefit from a sculpture along these lines, as well. For a look at how awesome Metro could but never will be, see Metro Dreaming from DCist.

Farragut North Friday

Ranks of tired commuters wait for the red line at the Farragut North station last Friday at around 5:45 p.m. If you look at the left edge of this image you'll see people boarding a train. If I could have snapped this 30 seconds sooner you would have seen the left side of the platform almost as packed as the right—it was a veritable sea of people. Unfortunately, I didn't get the camera out in time to capture that. The red line is so overloaded at rush hour it's not even funny. Last Friday I had to wait three trains before I could squeeze on, and even then I was packed in like a sardine. Ah, city life. Still, it beats the heck out of driving. Oh, note the digital clocks above the people on the platform. Those are the metro's status displays and are supposed to tell you when the next train is coming. Obviously, these displays are telling metro riders very little at this point. Although Metro is supposedly implementing a new display that looks like this and actually works, for some reason the displays have reverted to their old, much less useful status. What's up with that?

Bug Eyes

Three new VW Beetles recently parked on our street. The Beetle has lots of great lines that make for potentially nice pictures—both inside and out. The picture at right is a view of the “cockpit” of my mom's Beetle, which she kindly let me drive while I was visiting her over the holidays. Her Beetle (a TDI) was a pleasure to drive—very peppy and responsive. Yeah, owning one would be pretty darned cool. (Note: This is three pictures integrated into one. Now that I see it like this, I realize I should have tried three stacked horizontals, instead of three parallel verticals. Next time.)

Transportation Safety?

Transportation Safety Administration workers do their thing at a small Michigan airport. This airport is not large enough to have baggage x-ray machines, so all bags are simply checked by hand. They also test for chemical or explosive residue using these little cloth pieces on the ends of wands that they rub around the zipper handles and other openings of your bags. The cloth piece is then run through some sort of scanner that tests for unknown things. Sometimes the workers also run the cloth around the inside of your bags, but they didn't do it this time. Maybe that's one of those extra precautions for when we're on “orange” alert or something. The thumbnail picture at right is just a view of the clouds above Montana that I thought created a neat texture.

Burned Bulb

Ceiling of one of the exits at the Friendship Heights metro station. The picture at the right shows the ceiling in context. L. and I went shopping last weekend at Friendship Heights; specifically we headed to the Borders book store there, armed with coupons printed off the web for 15% off any item. Even with the discount, it was hard to find anything that was cheaper than ordering from online, and that's even adding in the cost of shipping for the online stuff. Sad. Amazon really has become the Wal-Mart of bookstores.

Smart Trip

The magic swipe spot that allows you to charge up your SmarTrip card for the D.C. metro. Now it appears you can get a combined credit card and fare card combined into one piece of plastic that I assume you would never need to recharge. Interesting. Bad if the Metro people are selling rider info to the credit card company, and bad if the credit card company can track a user's comings and goings, but still, interesting.

Metro Ball

A red ball sculpture and part of its red rays at the Gallery Place metro station. Some stations have murals, some have little sculptures at entrances and exits, most seem to have nothing much, but maybe I haven't been paying attention.

Metro Center Station

Metro Center Station from the Red Line level, which is the level you enter on; the orange and blue lines run below. I would never claim that D.C.'s metro is the nicest or most architecturally interesting subway system I've ever seen, but it still is very cool. I've complained before that it's dark and drab and echoey and whatever, but there is still a certain grandeur in all that concrete. What's the best subway in the world? The variables could be aesthetics, engineering prowess, or reliability or utility. My hazy memories of the St. Petersburg subway are that it was technically awesome just because of its size and complexity and the incredible depth of many of its tunnels. And I know I've been on a subway somewhere where all the stations were lined with colorful tile and very bright. What about the London tube? Is that a subway system to wax poetic about? Readers of the BBC News weighed in with their thoughts on some of the world's subway systems in 1991 (scroll down), and here are some system maps at scale, along with links to the actual systems. The NYC subway has a cool page with links and pics of lots of other subway systems, and Urban Rail offers even more; you can find lots of system maps and images here.Oh, and here's a list of the largest subway systems in the world by ridership.

Bike Tools

Bike tools poured out on a shelf for a brief bicycle adjustment. I have a little nylon bag purchased from REI in Berkely, CA in the summer of 1996 that carries all the tools I need to make most adjustments to a bike. Headset adjustments, no. Pedal changes, chain repair and replacement, brake adjustment, deraileur adjustment, spoke tightening and rough wheel truing—all possible with just a tiny bag of tools. Oh, and flat-fixing, of course. With these tools I adjusted and repaired hundreds of bikes all over the country when I worked for Backroads. I don't do so much of this any more, but it's nice to be able to when the need arises.

Train Approaching

A metro train approaches from the north in the Dupont Circle metro station. More and more I notice that the stations are rather neat architectually, but maybe not quite as functional as they could be. For example, don't they seem dark? And is there really no better way to route the masses of people who pass through them everyday? For example, wouldn't it be great if signs and directional markings hung from the walls or ceilings rather than sticking up from the ground so you have to go around them when you're in a hurry and in a crowd? Places like this should be as open and free of obstacles as possible to provide the maximum amount of room to move for all those people who pass through. But what do I know? I'm just an occasional user...

Gallery Place Options

The list of possible destinations you can reach from the Gallery Place Metro on the green and yellow lines. Few other stations on the D.C. Metro offer so many choices.

On Guard!

My new OnGuard bike lock to replace the compromised Kryptonite. The OnGuard lock is supposed to be better because it uses a rectangular or square key instead of a cylindrical key like they Kryptonite locks. You can still pick it, but not with a Bic pen! This picture also shows the cable I use to lock up the front wheel of my bike, so it's all double-locked. That won't prevent it from being stolen, but it should be a deterrent, and that's really the best a person can do.