MARC VRE Iceberg Explained
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Starting with the Long Island Railroad Iceberg, I’ve intensively looked into the varying histories of the many commuter rail agencies of the northeast, and ultimately arranged them into separate icebergs after deciding that a single iceberg on all of these agencies would be too lengthy. This allowed me to allocate more time to each specific commuter railroad and add in several new topics that weren’t in the original iceberg, with some commuter agencies having much more info than others. As the previous iceberg covered SEPTA, we’ll be moving to the next major city going south and on to commuter rail around the nation’s capital, as we’ll be looking into MARC and VRE’s expansive history in commuter railroading. I also decided to include Virginia Railway Express since it’s in the same greater Washington DC region and close enough to the NEC, and so this way the iceberg can have more entries.
Credit for all photos used go to their original photographers.
Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the copyright act 1976: allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
Music Used in Order:
The Battle of 1066 - Patrick Patrikos
Slow Times Over Here - Midnight North
Breeze - Telecasted
Dulce Reggaeton - An Jone
Underwater Exploration - Godmode
Aurora Currents - Asher Fulero
A Revelation - Jeremy Blake
Ode to Joy - Beethoven
Blue Mood - Robert Munzinger
Some updates:
- The proposed Crystal City stop for Amtrak was considered for a proposed Amazon development in the same town.
-The other ex-Conrail GP40 that VRE leased is #3268, found at 3:46 of this video: ua-cam.com/video/AqIzw8HLlIg/v-deo.htmlsi=z3m2ACa-9ix1Wvy5:
Riding Marc back in the days must’ve been wild, never knowing what equipment you’ll be riding on next week 😂
Or trip to trip. I've ridden on MARC I's through MARC IV's over the decades, but you never though of it because you ether needed to get down to work/college or get back home.
Long Bridge over the Potomac just had its groundbreaking this week!
Finally years of MARC being overlooked by this youtube channel has ended.
CANNON THAT ONE IS CANNONED
One thing Marc needs to do is extend beyond Perryville to Wilmington DE. It would make going up the NEC by train so much cheaper and such.
MARC engine 68 is "based" out of DC but is stationed at the MOW yard in Odenton, MD. It is used to rescue broken down trains (including freight) and occasional weekend runs on the NEC.
Yesss!! This is what I’ve been waiting for!!!!
51:30 The fact that it's just a 2nd Gen Blazer on steelies makes it even funnier
Great video
This is a great video! I have a few small corrections and comments on some things:
12:55 L'Enfant is pronounced like "la-en-font", or more commonly just said as "lawn-font".
13:52 This extension was canned because of low projected ridership, as well as the fact that the yard is at Broad Run, meaning trains would have to run back to Broad Run after completing the trek up to Haymarket. The NS line that the service would run on is also not double tracked, with only a few passing sidings.
38:24 The coaches in this render aren't exactly correct in this render either, as it features doors between cars on the upper level like a superliner, rather than a door on the lower level, like gallery cars have.
39:20 VRE is partially funded by the PRTC, which is the agency that runs OmniRide. Additionally, the photo was taken somewhere within the jurisdiction of ART (Arlington Transit), so the picture was taken in Crystal City, as Woodbridge and Manassas are not served by ART.
Additionally, here are some interesting VRE facts:
At one point, VRE was able to obtain older Metra gallery cars for just a dollar each, as that was what Metra sold them for.
When the Nippon Sharyo factory closed in the 2010s, Metra and VRE were both permitted to take the remaining inventory of gallery car parts that were left in the factory.
All VRE MP36's are in the process of being retrofitted with new HEP generators, as the older units were oversized for VRE's HEP needs and rarely worked at over 50% load.
VRE had all sorts of paint schemes in the late 00s, including RTA, Metra, two separate, bespoke VRE schemes (one was grey and one was blue), and the stainless corrugated scheme that is now standard. All of these schemes could theoretically be seen on the same train.
Additionally, VRE leased the Kawasaki Bi-Levels that MARC had on order for a year or two. MARC eventually got all of them back when VRE's initial Nippon Sharyo order was fulfilled.
MARC actually still has a few Ex-Metra gallery cars in a yard on the Brunswick Line, still in Metra paint.
Finally he's talking about Marc the best commuter rail on earth
Fantastic video. Learned some new things, for some others a fun callback. Definitely got a kick of "MARC most truly and definitely meeting the legal definition of High Speed Rail" 😆
Some additional local notes for you if you plan on covering this region with more videos:
- Bowie is pronounced "Boo-we"
- New Carrollton is pronounced "New Carol-ton"
- La Plata is pronounced "Luh Play-duh"
With regards to Maryland geography, there is no recognized region of Southwest Maryland. The region you refer to in the La Plata, Hughesville, and Lexington Park branches is referred to as "Southern Maryland". Only Calvert, St. Marys, and Charles County in whole belong to this category. Despite being further south in places, Dorchester, Wicomico, Worcester, and Somerset counties on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay are referred to as "Lower Eastern Shore", not Southern Maryland.
Looking forward to more videos soon!
I'll add a few things -
The use of MP54's by MDdot ended in 1979. After that MDdot used leased Jersey Arrows. I started working at Landover tower in June 1977 and remember the MP54's making the station stop right in front of the tower. A year later in June 1978 I was working 2nd trick at Landover when MARC 400 running with Jersey Arrows rear-ended Amtrak No.60 at Seabrook. There's a nice long NTSB report on this incident.
Abandoned stations - add Cheverly to the list. This station was located right next to where the DC Metro Orange line Cheverly station is located. I believe it closed when the Metro Orange line to New Carrollton opened.
High speed commuter rail. The fastest MARC train is No.408 which leaves DC at 705am chasing the 700am ACELA non stop all the way to Baltimore. This of course is just a positioning move back to Baltimore for a southbound MARC local.
MARC has pledged to go all electric on the Penn line when the new Baltimore tunnel opens. The plan from what I've heard is for MARC to buy used ACS64's from Amtrak once Amtrak's Siemens Airo trainsets go into service. They could also possibly buy new locomotives (ALP45's) or even EMU's. Once Amtrak and VRE are separated from CSX between DC and Alexandria (new Long Bridge) this section could be electrified.
Run-through service. MARC trains from all three lines (diesel powered) could run through to Alexandria but VRE train could only run through to the Brunswick line. This is because VRE uses low level boarding Chicago style gallery cars. MARC stations on both the Penn line and the Camden line have high level platforms. The Camden line stations with high level platforms are Greenbelt and Camden station in Baltimore.
I'm surprised you didn't mention MARC's Bike Cars. These are single level cars that have had most of their seats removed and replaced with bike racks. These cars run on the weekends.
MARC still has the four AME7's. They are stored at MARC's Riverside shops in Baltimore. There's talk of one of them going to the B&O museum which is more or less the unofficial Maryland state railroad museum. I hope they take better care of it then they have with the 4876.
The worst MARC accident occurred on February 16th 1996 just west of Silver Spring when a DC bound MARC train blew past a RED signal and collided with Amtrak's Capital Limited. The MARC train had passed a signal at Approach (Yellow) and then made a station stop. The engineer forgot about the Approach signal and accelerated at full speed. That day however CSX was single tracking between "QN" just outside of DC and Silver Spring. Normally the two trains would pass each other at that control point. This resulted in the FRA "Delayed in Block" (DIB) rule. There's a Wikipedia entry as well as an NTSB report on this.
Remembering my NEC tower operator/train dispatcher days ....
8:12 they just got the founding this week & about to start construction
I actually have had the privilege of experiencing glorious 125mph service on the Penn line within the last few years, although I've only ever clocked it over 100mph with either an HHP-8 or an Amtrak Sprinter (I've actually been on 2 or 3 MARC trains pulled by Amtrak sprinters!)
Context for the "MARC Train Commuter Bus": It's not what you think it is. MTA runs MARC and commuter buses under one department: "MARC Train/Commuter Bus". The actual operation of the commuter buses is by contract, so it's fitting to have MARC actually manage it. The SUV you see is an employee car.
Growing up with MARC living in both Kensington and near Martinsburg i can say that its a love hate relationship with this commuter rail. I cant with the horrible scheduleing on the Brunswick line. 9 trains are inbound to D.C in the morning and 9 trains back out to Frederick,Brunswick, and Martinsburg. There definitely needs to be trains going back down to D.C in the afternoon and back up in the morning. But yet its all we have and i cant not be greatful. *also Chargers are limited to 90 on the penn line
You know, I actually attended the national train day in Manassas It was insane and I loved it so much
sweet!!
40:00. I've never seen phase 3 that thick on an E60 before.
34:18 is it me or is the car behind 20 one of the roger willams's cars
I can’t wait for the MBTA iceberg
Hey Pensyfan, great vid, haven’t finished it yet, but I wanted to say, I think you need to include more pictures. I got to the Manassas Train fest or whatever and when you said 611 I was kinda hoping to see a picture of it there
I understand your recommendation, but I usually include fewer photos in order to make editing easier, and to follow the styles of other iceberg videos that don't have too many photos. Although, every other video on my channel has a different every no more than 9 seconds.
14:56 its pronounced (hey-gers-town)
That's one deep iceberg
I dunno how this ended up in my recommended, but I am not complaining in the slightest.
FUCK YEAH, TRAIN LORE.
Assuming you're new to the channel, then welcome! Feel free to check out some of the other videos on this channel, as te recommended playlist at the end of the video (Northeast Commuter Railroad Icebergs) has several more train lore icebergs. If you're interested in something more watchable (under 10 minutes), then I also recommend checking out my Remarkable Engines series that covers histories of several obscure trains.
19:15 26:26 27:39 30:33 31:25 31:55 32:15 38:23 39:23 43:54 49:16
Just curious if you have any information on Marc's RDC units?
Closest thing I can offer is the rrpicturearchives.net roster of MARC RDCs.
www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=MARC&mid=297
And also, I am not sure if they are still doing it Virginia Railway express is doing a special promotion where I think on Fridays and weekends passengers can ride for free between Union Station, and Manassas
22:38 i notice pantograph is locate way to forward lol
also 29:21 *Amcoach*
You never mentioned about the Marc Capital Limited collision
I tend not to cover derailments of any sort of in any of my videos, as I try to focus more on the positives.
The pronunciation of L'Enfant is closer to "Lon-Font" (named for Piere L'Enfant).
if they ever did extend mar north of camden yards it should gain a new metro connection staion at clifton no justnorth of johns hopkins hospital station.
Anyone know specifically where the stored locomotives are in Columbia? Coordinates or nearby business?
Although all of them have since been rebuilt or scrapped, I believe they were located in Columbia next to Sahd Metal Recycling.
Will non NEC commuter rail agencies get their own videos?
Some of them might at some distant time in the future, although many of those commuter agencies don't have much to discuss that would make a whole iceberg.
@@Pensyfan19if you can’t do a whole iceberg on those maybe just a shorter vid on those railroads histories would be cool
@@Pensyfan19 Maybe do the ones without much together as Mics commuter rail?
why dose matrc not have any trains going west from baltimore.
Likely due to not having high ridership between Baltimore and Brunswick.
The line would go through Mt. Airy and Ellicott City before ending in Fredricksberg or Brunwick, but the line is mainly single tracked and max 30 MPH, going through a lot of valleys. Upgrading it would cost too much for passenger traffic to go through it.
Chat it’s real