Goodbye WMATA 2000 Series 

I am also from 1983 and break down four times as often as my younger peers. Can I retire now, please?

Remember, these trains are twice as old as the acelas. Most trains last insanely long DC metro is really modernizing

I well remember riding the '83 Metro's all over the DMV. My sister lived in Annapolis and worked downtown DC. When I was visiting her, I'd ride in from New Carrollton. I moved to Annapolis in '87 for my first "real job", just out of college. Worked in Greenbelt.

That door chime on the older series is just so nice and a classic

Thom, 41 years is a very long stretch for heavy rail vehicles, wow!!

The 2000/3000/4000 series were built by the same manufacturer - Breda in Italy. 20 years ago the 2000/3000 series were rehabbed to give them 20 more years. The 3000 series are a few years newer then the 2000 series

Watching a WMATA video on Wmata, that’s just vibes right there.

These trains are recognizable from all the trips I've taken to DC and probably have ridden this series on at least two occasions. Sad to see them go, but then these trains are 40 years old and you can't keep them forever. I hope the Washington Metro has a heritage fleet like CTA.

I am old enough to remember when the 1000 series subway cars were brand new and they were built and tested in the yards and the first segment of the Red Line. Me and my late mother had her first vacation in Washington D.C. in 1976.

We salute you WMATA 2000 series trains 🫡 the grandfather of 80s italian metro luxury.

I like longer passenger trains myself. Yeah, they present certain mechanical and energy issues I'm sure, but it's just such a rare thing to have a long passenger train, and moving so many people all at once.

I wish the newer models still had the red white and blue stripes at the ends

Anybody else remember ye olde fare gates, the ones that grabbed your paper ticket and (usually) spit it back out? When exiting, they'd also print the amount remaining on the ticket. Trouble was, they ran so fast, they would sometimes jam. Eventually Metro slowed them down from 0.5 seconds to 0.8 seconds... and eliminated 80 percent of the malfunctions.

Wow. Those look just like the old BART trains which I road for decades in the Bay Area, also originally equipped with carpet!

I am impressed with your story telling: how you fashion a narrative around the history of a topic.

I may have already got to ride the 2000 series when I was visiting DC last month. I think I remember now that I possibly rode one of those trains with carpets when I was there in the summer of 2017. I did get to sit in the cushion seats though which are comfortable of course.

I am guessing the money train for the DC Metro is the same, or similar, to the New York City money train? Also, it is always sad to see a train retiring. I have rode on those Metro a few times while visiting DC. I always enjoyed them.

Happy Retirement, 2000s!!! You were awesome!!! 🎉🎉🎉

I still remember those carpet floors as a kid and thinking how "clean" it was. That changed quickly once I became an adult lol; those 2000's have earned their retirement 🫡

I really love the flashing lights on the platforms when a train is in the station.

Thanks for sharing this. I remember riding the 2000s and 3000s and even 1000 series on family vacations to DC. I wish my local trolley museum in Kingston, N.Y. could get one of these 2000s to complement the MARTA car it obtained last year to help represent the Great Society era metro systems. I remember before the traction motors were rehabbed more recently the 2000s and 3000s used to sound a bit like the sound the Taz Looney Toon character makes when he spins when they were acclerating. The carpets were cool, but I think its better off without them.

In their final years of service, they were almost always paired up with the 3000-series with a few full set of 2000-series trains being mixed in. They were running strong in their final months of service and were one of the key factor to keeping WMATA afloat with their 7000-series problems back a few years ago. Also when I went back to DC in March, they had a bunch still running, happened to catch it on the Green Line twice. However shortly after I left they were basically pulled from service and my operator friend confirmed they were all in cold storage in April.

Goodbye😢 2000 series You will be missed

I didnt know they werre retering ah man im going to go somewhere and cry lol but I seen a new video on your channel you posted about the 8000 series they look so cool fire

At least we still have the similar-looking 3000 series. Enjoy those while ya can.

Thank the LORD this was long overdue

I remember these pre-refurbishment by Alstom: the induction and [braking] sounded completely different (the 2000, 3000, 4000 series all had the same type of motor and braking). They were the trains I thought of as a kid when I thought of Metro. Even now, I miss those sounds. The door chimes too were different. Thanks for a long and welcomed service, 2000-Series trains. You will be missed.

The 2ks were legendary and had such a great ride and they'll always be in our hearts but at the same time they can't run forever. Everything has an eventual expiration date and it helps us grow now and in the future

I like how the 1000 series trains sounded when stopping at the underground stations. They sounded like a combination of a siren and a whistle. Like I said, it could have been the breaking mechanisms.

Love those epic arcflashes at 0:21 and 5:40 !

i remember riding car 2000 and i rode it two times on different occasions

I remember boarding a train at New Carrolton in a massive thunderstorm. The doors were open and the car was being flooded. I recall the carpet. My thoughts were, that’s no good. Mold! But we all survived. :-) 😅

Thank you, Thom, for another perfect video! I rode the DC metro once, years ago. I think I remember carpeted floors and padded transverse seats. Very luxurious! Thank you again for a great job!

I lived in Springfield, Virginia from 1985 to 1988 and I would park at the end of the yellow line and take those trains into downtown Washington.

Great video

This was my childhood train 😞I’ll miss these the same way I’ll miss the Orion v’s and the de62Lfa😞

Rode these in DC several times. 40 years Is a long run for train cars.

Really nice video as always

oh wow, thankfully I went to Washington DC at the end of March 2024 and I at least rode them once

Great video Thom! Impressed on the quick turn around time. GM Randy did hint at a sort of a going away idea for the 2K cars. A "final ride" would be really cool to see them do. Although if the final train ride isn't carpeted I may be a bit upset. lol

I tried to find a 2000 series car yesterday just for one last ride, checked every line of the system, yet nothing in the couple hours I spent looking. The one upside was that I found car #3000. I’m glad 2000 & 2001 are being kept for preservation, though!

I will definitely miss these trainsets for sure!

This is apparently the 5000th video in my Likes folder now

This is sad, i really wanted to ride in the carpet but i lost my chance :(

They were only six years old when I rode them in 1989.

Kinda surprised they chose now to pull the plug on the cars instead of waiting until the 8000 series was further along in development.

I do remember growing up with those 2000 series Bredas, and they really are iconic to the DC Metro as I still call them "Brownies." Sure, they've outlived their purposeful lives, but they really should have been retired about 20 years ago due to their reliability issues (I do recall riding home from work one snowy night from Greenbelt and the heater literally blew out while making the high speed run in the tunnel between College Park and the former Prince Georges Plaza station -- thankfully, no smoke or fire). As you said, the seats and carpets were boujie (LOL), they gave those trains a scent you'd never forget, even if it was funky. How often do you ride a train with a cleaner running the vacuum in between 3 stations? So many memories I have with those 2000 series trains (some 1000 series were similar with the carpeting and seats, but with HORRIBLE speakers inside that would squeal so loud you'd think your teeth would jump out of your mouth in protest), just like with WMATA's venerable Flxible Metro bus fleet. I'm showing my age, aren't I? LOL

and PATCO re-habed their entire original fleet from the 1960s

Goodbye

As someone who lives in Arlington and is a huge metro fan I remember taking these old trains a lot, the trains are more focused for an RER style system and lack the new capacity that the 8ks will bring to the table

It's sad to see so many trains go including this one

Nice opening shot with the rainbow!

The original carpets were orange and brown like the original seat cushions. It was actually a nice look. Very warm colors that worked with the overall color scheme with the brass handrails, brown platform pylons, etc. I think the shift to cooler colors began in the 00s.

I like the Door chime on the 2000 series. The new one is harsh

I enjoyed that video👍👍

what a sudden departure! (get it?) hopefully, the carpeted floors and comfy chairs can make a comeback in the future.

also a 2000 series had all red sets i saw once

With 2000's fate already sealed by Metro, 3000's fate will soon begin in 2017. We can still ride the 3000 and 6000 Series Trains while they last untill 2045.

Hey thom great video. I was wondering if you were going to do a video of the Marc Brunswick line service soon ?

Carpeted urban railway train! That is super interesting because I have never heard of this concept in other urban rail systems, but at the same time, I can see why they scrapped this idea for newer generations of trains. Luxurity does not belong to a metro system, I think. Also, I realized that WMATA 2000 series is from the same decade with the some batches of the train type I take daily these days; BVG type F trains. I hope to see their retirement as well soon.

The carpet in the old trains looked nice... for a month or so, then not so nice, even after cleaning. Supposedly they were cheaper than the rubberized stuff used everywhere else, and they dampened noise (as well as themselves.) I won't miss the carpet. And did I mention that those armrests could deliver some nasty surprises, if the train started moving while you were sitting down? Ouch!

Classic cars being retired. Never would’ve imagined how long they lasted.

Money Train? A terrible 90's thriller about a money train in NYC... Seriously though I am a fan of carpeted rapid transit cars even if they are from a throwback pre-pandemic era... Edmonton also had them for a while in a creamy peanut butter brown but have since been retired for generic rubberized PVC flooring... Calgary also had a cool texturized rubber mat flooring but again that's been replaced by bland PVC...

Brilliant video sir, will you miss the 2000 series?

I prefer the 2000 and 3000 series trains over the 7000. The seats are more comfortable and there is a lot more leg room. The carpet was gross, and that red carpet is actually "newer" than what they originally had. Man that old carpet was inanely gross, it makes the red carpet look amazing. I remember one time I was on a 2000 series when it was storming outside, and water was pouring down from the ceiling above the door. The carpet had standing water on it, I'm sure it was never really cleaned up and just left to dry on its own.

I hope the Money Train has nothing to do with the movie "Money Plane".

these trains are as old as the Caracas metro 10000 and 20000 series trains (also from 82-84), most of which are out of operation due to poor maintenance as a result of our economic crisis; some of them still run tho, and a couple have been refurbished as a fun fact, the WMATA trains actually played a big role in the design of the classical Caracas metro trains, and they share the hexagonal body shape and the bare aluminium finish

What WMATA should have done with the 2000 series was to place all of those cars out of service to do repairs, just like what they should have done to the 1000 series, the 4000 series, and the 5000 series, just in case when the newer 6000 series, 7000 series, and the 8000 series have reliability issues

You need to come up to Washington co Md to the new Siemens production line making the next generation of dc subway cars

Fun fact: they were built in Pistoia, Italy, and assembled by Amtrak at their Beech Grove Shops.

I’m hearing some weird audio throughout the video. I’m not sure what it is but maybe you could check it out.

rainbow. beautiful sight. )

Is this a farewell party

Before June 2009 the Metro was automatic almost all the time. The heyday was back when I was in elementary school

When the 8000 series trains arrive, they start retiring the 3000 series

Wow they changed the color of the money train lol?

Metro is using 2 6000 series cars as the money train

Now that Metro is running more 7000 series as 6 cars trains, they can remove the 2000 series. Ridership is still not completely recovered the pandemic.

We think an agency is gonna buy and repurpose them?

Eww wt fart smell was that goop