Proto-Future and the Beginner's Guide to Model Railroading
Oct 9, 2026 · 30 min · 8 segments
Audio from the YouTube video series describing my journey to visit, ride, and bicycle every DMU system in the US. Video found at: https://www.youtube.com/@\G\IV…
And it being such a major political center in a state that has other megalopoli with rail transit, they of course had been wanting one of their own for a very long time.
I know that the operations of a few other DMU systems in the US are contracted out like this, but I'm not entirely sure which others.
Technically, CapMetrorail is the Red Line or Transit Route 500, but the branding is very unclear, in part because it is really the one and only system of its ilk in the city, and so it's pretty clear which one is being referred to at any given point in time.
I've even heard it referred to by people in the industry as CapMetro's Railroad, but for the purposes of this presentation, I'll just call it CapMetrorail.
Anyway, it operates over 51 kilometers and 10 stations, so it's actually a pretty sizable system.
It has 621,000 riders a year, or approximately 1,700 per day, which works out to 33 daily riders per kilometer, which is pretty low, or 170 a station, which is more moderate.
There are actually some recent developments in CapMetrorail.
They're putting two lines, the orange and blue ones you can see here on the map, and then also as a part of this, CapMetrorail is getting a second line, the green line, which is going out, I believe, four or five new stations to the northeast, whereas the red line heads to the northwest.
Additionally, they also do come back and occasionally improve this system, as McCalla Station, and I think maybe even one other, actually did open fairly recently as infill stations, McCalla itself being opened as a result of a new large football-slash-soccer stadium.
Overall, all of these developments, both the infill stations and Project Connect, should hopefully continue to bolster Metrorail's importance and, of course, increase ridership in the years to come.
And it being such a major political center in a state that has other megalopoli with rail transit, they of course had been wanting one of their own for a very long time.
I know that the operations of a few other DMU systems in the US are contracted out like this, but I'm not entirely sure which others.
Technically, CapMetrorail is the Red Line or Transit Route 500, but the branding is very unclear, in part because it is really the one and only system of its ilk in the city, and so it's pretty clear which one is being referred to at any given point in time.
I've even heard it referred to by people in the industry as CapMetro's Railroad, but for the purposes of this presentation, I'll just call it CapMetrorail.
Anyway, it operates over 51 kilometers and 10 stations, so it's actually a pretty sizable system.
It has 621,000 riders a year, or approximately 1,700 per day, which works out to 33 daily riders per kilometer, which is pretty low, or 170 a station, which is more moderate.
There are actually some recent developments in CapMetrorail.
They're putting two lines, the orange and blue ones you can see here on the map, and then also as a part of this, CapMetrorail is getting a second line, the green line, which is going out, I believe, four or five new stations to the northeast, whereas the red line heads to the northwest.
Additionally, they also do come back and occasionally improve this system, as McCalla Station, and I think maybe even one other, actually did open fairly recently as infill stations, McCalla itself being opened as a result of a new large football-slash-soccer stadium.
Overall, all of these developments, both the infill stations and Project Connect, should hopefully continue to bolster Metrorail's importance and, of course, increase ridership in the years to come.
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