Here are the answers to whichWMATA week 74

On Tuesday, we posted our seventy-fourth photo challenge to see how well you knew Metro. I took photos of five Metro stations. Here are the answers. How well did you do?

This week, we got 48 guesses. Thirteen got all five correct. Great work, Harry W, Andy L, Peter K, JessMan, Steven Yates, AlexC, Solomon, Roger Bowles, JamesDCane, AK, AroundtheHorn, FN, and Mr Johnson!

This week, each of the pictures was of something reflected in the polished surface of a Metro pylon.

The first image shows artwork (and the station manager’s booth) at the 7th and H entrance to Gallery Place. The artwork, known as “Glory of the Chinese Descendants,” has been featured several times in the series, including in week 4. Recognizing that was the key to solving the first image, as 46 of you did.

The second image shows the reflection of the vault wall at Van Ness. You can see some of the lettering on the pylon, specifically the double “s” in Van Ness. Most of you surmised that it could only be one of three stations: Congress Heights, Rosslyn, or Van Ness.

Rosslyn is easily discounted because the vault there is “waffle” rather than “arch.” But the crucial clue was figuring out that this was an “Arch I” station (like Van Ness) rather than “Arch II” (like Congress Heights). Arch I stations have just two coffers on either side of the midpoint of the vault, so they’re very tall. Additionally, Arch I stations have a higher gap between the base of the vault and the first coffer.

Had this been Congress Heights, you likely would be able to see the seam between the first and second coffers, and the base of the first coffer would be closer to the base lighting. There’s also electrical conduit running along the base of the vault at Congress Heights which isn’t present here.

Thirty-eight guessed Van Ness.

The third image shows the reflected tunnel portals at the north end of Prince George’s Plaza station. The station is fairly distinctive, being in a broad open cut, with the train going into tunnels on either end. The side platforms should have helped you narrow this considerably, since most stations have center platforms. But the real clue is the proximity of the tunnel portals, directly adjacent to the platform end.

Twenty-nine got it right.

The fourth image shows College Park station. You can just make out the bottom of a “k” on the pylon, which is probably why some of you guessed Braddock Road. But a closer inspection reveals that the k is preceded by a letter with a straight stem (an “r” in this case).

The parking garage is the main clue here. At College Park, it’s located right next to the northbound track, with the elevator tower to the south. It may look odd in this image because everything is mirrored. This picture was taken from the south end of the platform facing away from the garage.

Thirty-one guessed correctly.

The final image shows a view of the east end of Dunn Loring. As Peter K noted in the comments, there were a couple of ways to figure this one out. First, you can see some text on the pylon. The hyphen is very obvious. The character at the top is a lower case “g.” That alone should have led you to Dunn Loring. But if it did not, there were other clues.

The clearest is the freeway gantry sign in the reflection. Specifically, it’s this three panel gantry. As Peter noted, you can see that the left-most sign (the one over the right lanes, remember this is a reflection) has a yellow exit-only strip. And the panel closest to the hyphen has a left side exit tab, which significantly narrows down the options. In this case, it’s a left exit for the I-495 express lanes.

Finally, if you look very closely, you can just make out a freeway ramp crossing over the end of the station. That’s the ramp from I-495 Express northbound to I-66 westbound. Dunn Loring is the only station with a freeway ramp crossing over it.

Thirty came to the correct conclusion.

Next week, we’ll have five more photos for you to identify. Thanks for playing!

Information about contest rules, submission guidelines, and a leaderboard is available at http://ggwash.org/whichwmata.