Secrets of the DC Metro Red Line

The longest escalator in the western hemisphere? A tree that changed the course of transit? Penguins riding trains?

Join Andy On Track for a tour of the DC Metro Red Line, uncovering the secrets, stories, and facts behind many of DC’s most famous stations!

Did we miss any Red Line secrets? Let us know in the comments below!

Beyond our on-the-ground reporting, various sources contributed to the content in this video. These include:
Greater Greater Washington (GGWash)
WAMU 88.5 (DCist)
The Washington Post
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
"The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro" by Zachary M. Schrag

Video Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:28 - Shady Grove
00:55 - Rockville
01:34 - Twinbrook & North Bethesda
02:07 - Grosvenor-Strathmore
03:05 - The Linden Oak
03:33 - Medical Center
04:03 - Bethesda
04:28 - Friendship Heights
05:37 - Yuma Street
06:28 - Woodley Park
06:56 - The Taft Bridge
07:34 - Dupont Circle
08:39 - Farragut North
09:26 - Metro Center
10:33 - Gallery Place-Chinatown
11:13 - Union Station
12:00 - NoMa-Gallaudet U
13:06 - Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood
13:33 - Fort Totten
14:07 - Takoma
14:20 - Silver Spring
14:44 - Forest Glen
15:23 - Wheaton
16:13 - Glenmont
16:27 - Outro
16:47 - Credits

[maxjanasz]

love that someone is finally taking the famed "secrets of the underground" format and making a video about a North America system.

[defnotnate]

Fun fact for Rockville: to build the Metro station, they actually lifted, relocated and rotated the entire original B&O railroad station building and freight house built in 1873 to make way for the new Red Line track. if you look into old satellite images, you can see how they shifted the B&O station 50 meters east and rotated it by about 150°. pretty cool that they decided to lift up and move the historical buildings rather than demolish them or take them apart and then rebuild. they’re used as office spaces now!

[TomHoffman-uwpf]

I rode the Metro train the first day of operation March 1976. Both on free-ride day on Saturday and the first day of regular service on Monday.

I was the first passenger to ever board at the Van Ness-UDC station on 12/5/1981.

[wetamup]

That park that Metro and the neighborhood went to court over houses a vent shaft that has stairs that take you down to the track some 100+ feet down. At the bottom of those stairs is a tie breaker station—a room that has track feeder breakers that tie one section of track fed by a traction power substation to another section of track fed by another substation. As a guy that has to maintain those track feeder breakers, often as big as a grown man, I HATE having to switch down that dirty, dusty deep hole, but it’s kinda cool. The worst one is at the tie breaker at Forest Glen—we often request a train take us down there bc that shaft is stupid long and if we have to carry equipment with us it’s a problem bc that shaft is nearly 200’ deep.

-your local metro power tech

[quinnkasal]

Even as an urban planner, transit nerd who has read the Metro book and all kinds of random Metro info, and former daily Red Line rider, I did not know a majority of the facts mentioned in this video. I also almost never comment on YouTube videos but had to share how great this was and that I greatly look forward to watching the videos for other lines!

[MycontentisgoldJerryGold]

I ride the Red Line often, so this is a great video for me. Here are some things you didn't mention.
1) The on-platform fare gates at Shady Grove were only just installed. It was in '21-'22 while both SG and Rockville were shut down for canopy replacement. They are exit-only.
2) Rockville is also an Amtrak station. It's the first station heading northwest out of DC.
3)Your video leaving Silver Spring shows a glimpse of the elevated Purple Line that is under construction.
4) The Silver Spring and Bethesda stations are less than four miles apart physically, yet they are more than a dozen stations between them! That's due to the Red Line's U-shaped route.

[brycebundens]

Probably the best video on the Metro out there. Absolutely incredible job guys, I love the editing and wide variety of sources. I am a contractor for Metro who absolutely loves learning about this stuff, so please make more! Metro needs more rail enthusiast YouTubers (like Geoff) so people can appreciate what a great system it has. I am subscribed.

[JJRol.]

This is honestly the best video I've seen on the metro, this system gets hardly any videos despite being one of the best in America, thanks for making this video, I learnt so much more about the red line!

[DCxHRV]

Tenleytown and Van Ness shouldn’t have been skipped over! Tenleytown’s street level elevator on the east side goes directly down to the train platform, which is pretty unusual for elevators in the system. There’s a single fair gate at the bottom of the elevator. At Van Ness, there’s pretty interesting sculptures outside the west entrance of the station, huge concrete balls covered in rhinestones, and rocks. The bus bay at that station is also abandoned for metro bus use (Metrobus H2 stopped serving it, and bus N8 was discontinued) but I'm not sure if the adjacent UDC campus uses the bay or not. Nothing really worth mentioning at Cleveland park. Metro Center also has the now defunct metro sales office located in the station. There have been plans to build a pedestrian tunnel between Metro center and Gallery Place – Chinatown due to the close proximity between the two stations but this has yet to take place. Otherwise, great vid!

[Kevindevin]

That Friendship Heights elevator transition 🔥🔥

[ghosthost]

Nice job Andy.
I am a native of Montgomery County and relied on the Metro train, since I was a little kid to a college student. Silver Spring Station is near and dear to my heart.
Keep up the good work, cannot wait until you cover the Purple line.

[theoabramovich]

I like your tribute to the artwork in the WMATA system... As a worker for the system, I dislike how they take the cheapest method of making additions to the system by just tacking cables and wires to the wall, cluttering up its beautiful Brutalist architecture.

[qhs]

The "Grovsner" Pronunciation took me out lmao (great video!)

[StevePetrica]

As an undergraduate in 1976 I had an internship on Capitol Hill and a room near Dupont Circle. The Metro was in its very early days, but the exact stretch I needed -- Dupont Circle to Union Station -- was I think the first to open. Which made me among the first wave of Metro commuters.

[RonShoemaker]

Joined WMATA 7/2/1973 and was supervisor of Accounts Payable for many years. Had the honor of riding the first test train on the short line from Brentwood yard to Rhode Island Avenue Station when the 1st 1002 & 1003 trains were received from Winder Georgia Rohr manufacturing plant.

[ericfromreallife]

We need Geoff Marshall to see this!! Amazing!

[Gharrison]

surprised you didn't call out Farragut Crossing! Pretty neat! Great video btw!!
"Customers can exit either Farragut North or West, walk a short distance above ground around Farragut Square and reenter the system at the other Farragut station without paying extra. Previously, Metro's fare system would have interpreted the transfer as two separate trips."

another cool feature: ""Simply tap your SmarTrip card each time you enter or exit the Metrorail system and you have 30 minutes to complete the outdoor transfer, allowing plenty of time to grab a sandwich along the way.

[josephglass]

I used to live between the Cleveland Park and Van Ness stops on the Red Line. One thing I loved about these two stations in particular is that you can cross Connecticut Avenue underground. Very handy when you don't want to wait at a crosswalk!

[captainkeyboard]

This show and your narration about the Red Line is so comprehensive that I am seeing more about the Red Line than when I visited Metrorail's subway stations. Also, I saw more areas that I had not even noticed at the surface and elevated stations. The Metrorail stations have very interesting mezzanine and entrance designs. I am sorry to mention that Judiciary Square Station has been overlooked. However, I know the site well, because I used to visit the former Metro Headquarters. Also, Cleveland Park, Van Ness-UDC, and Brookland stations are not in this show. I hope to see more of your coverage on the blue, orange, and silver lines, even the green and yellow lines, too. The Metrorail stations are my main attraction. Your coverage of the Red Line is the best report.

[bobshoe]

this was great. as someone who rides the red line frequently i found it so cool that someone made a video on something i use frequently. made trains feel almost romantic when i know damn well what goes on those trains