Here are the answers to whichWMATA week 50

On Tuesday, we posted our fiftieth photo challenge to see how well you know Metro. I took five photos in the Metro system. Here are the answers. How well did you do?

This week, we only got 16 guesses. Two people, Peter K and Mr. Johnson, got all five correct. Excellent work!

This week proved much harder than I’d intended. Images 2 through 5 gave you all a lot of trouble, which I didn’t expect. Sorry to make it so hard!

The first image shows the eastbound track at West Falls Church. The primary clue here is the diagonal glass roof over the track. Two stations have this sort of design. But the other one, Vienna, has a much shorter glass area. And at Vienna, the glass is at one end of the platform, as opposed to in the center like at West Falls Church. If this were Vienna, there would be much more platform (and an overpass) in the distance.

The other clue is the angle of the sun. That means this must be on a stretch of track that runs roughly east-west. We saw this architectural feature (on the other side of the station) in week 23. Ten of you got this one right.

I really thought this one would be a slam-dunk, but it gave lots of people trouble. This image shows the south end of the Glenmont platform at Dupont Circle. The main clue is the angle of the stem connecting the escalators to the mezzanine. Because the Red Line is under Connecticut Avenue but the escalators are aligned with 19th Street, the entrance is at an angle. That’s unique in the system.

You could also tell that it was a side platform station with a waffle vault, which means it could only be one of eight stations. Five of you figured this one out.

The third image shows an art installation in the corridor leading from the street entrances to the fare array at Georgia Avenue. It’s similar to the artwork at U Street (west), but the color scheme is completely different. To get this one, you probably needed to be familiar with the art. Five got it right.

The fourth image shows Rockville station, from the bridge over Rockville Pike. The bridge ends at a junction leading to stairs or elevators and the junction is covered with this sloped-glass roof. It’s unique, so that’s the primary clue.

Also, you can tell that this is a station with a general peak roof with an access point that comes in at or above track level. That should have helped you narrow it down. The bridge (and a glimpse of this area) was featured in week 9. Seven of you figured this one out.

The final image shows the corridor leading to the elevator at Navy Yard’s Half Street entrance. Peter K wasn’t sure about this one, but he used the process of elimination to make an educated guess. In most Metro stations, the elevator and escalator depart from the mezzanine near each other, which means they emerge far apart at street level.

Only where Metro made an attempt to have the elevator emerge close to the escalator at street level did they put in a long corridor to access the elevator at mezzanine level. As far as I’m aware, Navy Yard (west) is the only station that fits that description.

Metro reconstructed the entrance when the Nationals moved to the area. As a result, Navy Yard actually has elevators at both entrances, which is extremely rare in the Metro system. The original elevator at the New Jersey (east) exit is fairly standard for Metro. But the new elevator at Half Street (west) was built into the base of the DDOT building above the station (which the columns support). We saw a different view of this entrance in week 6. Four of you guessed Navy Yard.

Thanks to everyone for playing! Great work. Stay tuned. We’ll have five more images for you next week.