Back on January 13th I took a day off from work to attend an open house hosted by the Denton County Transportation Authority to dedicate their new maintenance facility in Lewisville. I had been asked by Trains magazine to cover the event for their daily News Wire, and I left the house early enough to arrive in Lewisville just before sunrise. The first thing I spotted was a southbound green signal with a northbound set of TRE RDC’s waiting in the siding just south of the new maintenance facility. I got set up just in time for this shot of the southbound RDC’s taking the green board a few minutes later. I think this is my favorite picture of the day.
The northbound RDC’s had apparently finished their morning runs and pulled into the maintance facility after the southbound train had passed by.
I parked at the Lewisville Old Town station and caught the next set of southbound RDC’s.
Here are three views between Lewisville and Hebron looking through the windshield from the passenger compartment.
At the southern end of the DCTA line in Carrollton at the Trinity Mills station I caught a pair of RDC’s making a cross-platform transfer of passengers with a DART light rail train under cloudy skies.
Back in Lewisville I had full sun for this run by of a set of southbound RDC’s that had just left the Old Lewisville station.
Here is a view of the new Lewisville maintenance facility from Railroad Avenue on the east side of the main line. I believe that six of the eleven Stadler DMU’s have arrived, but none are in service yet as they are waiting for their FRA approval to operate and intermingle with the larger RDC’s.
Now it was time to actually go in for the open house. The 47,000 square-foot, 17 million dollar building is equipped with two run-through tracks with maintenance pits, two overhead cranes, 25-ton floor jacks and an exhaust collection system. Here is a view of one of the maintenance pits.
Just beyond the maintenance pit on this track is a small turntable for wheel sets.
Stadlet GTW 2-6 DMU #101 was on display inside the shop on the other track. Notice the flexible overhead exhaust abatement system.
There were several DCTA and local government officials who spoke in sequence to the assembled crowd.
The DCTA Board of Directors gathered at the end and soon it was time to cut the ribbon and then allow the guests to tour the interior of car #101.
Outside the shop building DMU #102 was on display and I worked it in with a set of the older RDC’s in the background.
These Old Budd RDC cars have seen a lot of service in the past fifty years in Canada and in Texas. It is my understanding once the eleven Stadler cars are in service the eleven RDC’s leased to the DCTA will be returned to the TRE and put into storage for future startups and special events.
These new Swiss honorary “RDC”’s will take some getting used to, but I do like the paint scheme Denton came up with.
In a few days I will determine what to share here next!
3 Comments
20 years ago I lived across the I-35 from what’s now the Highland Village station. I remember seeing those tracks everyday, but never would have dreamed that there would one day be regular passenger service through there.
Awesome pictures of the RDC’s and Stadler Vehicles. Your quote” These new Swiss honorary “RDC”’s will take some getting used to, but I do like the paint scheme Denton came up with.” We hope the enthusiasm from the fans of the old RDC’s will carry over to the new vehicles. I’m personally excited about flat boarding - bike rides via Stadler vehicles will be easier to maneuver. Glad you could attend the DCTA Ceremony!
Very impressive work Ken! Enjoyed the excellent photographs and look forward to seeing the News Wire submission. That little turntable is amusing to me, I’ve never seen one like it before.