On Tuesday, we featured the 125th challenge to see how well you know the Metro system. Here are the answers.

This week, we got 16 guesses. Four got all five right. Great work, AlexC, Peter K, Ginger, and Solomon!

Image 1: Anacostia

The first image shows the north escalator bank leading to the platform at Anacostia station. The Anacostia station is one of Metro's few unique stations, and the only one which is entirely underground. Because the station is fairly shallow, it doesn't have the typical vault, and has a more rectangular cross-section. The two entrances are at the far ends of the station, and each consists of 3 side-by-side escalators with an elevator on the left side, if you're looking from the platform.

There aren't very many stations that have three side-by-side platform escalators, because at a typical station, that takes up the entire width of the platform. That means these arrangements are always at the end of the station. At Anacostia the platform is a little bit wider, which allows the station to have three escalators plus an elevator. The escalators have a lot of natural light during daylight hours because they have skylights direcly above.

Ten of you knew this one.

Image 2: Grosvenor

The next picture shows the west entrance tunnel to Grosvenor station. This tunnel under MD Route 355 connects the Grosvenor Park residential community to the station. The narrow tunnel with wing walls like this is fairly uncommon. There is an entrance at Deanwood that has a similar appearance and we featured it in Week 57. But the tunnel there is different, since it connects directly into the station. The tunnel at Grosvenor requires customers to ascent an escalator up to the mezzanine at the far end, and you can see the dual escalators in the image here.

Nine of you got this one right.

Image 3: Bethesda

The third image shows the pylon at the bottom of the escalators at Bethesda. While Friendship Heights is known for having globe lights on the platform typical of those that are on outdoor platforms, Bethesda has these two, combined with two sodium vapor lights. We described this setup in the answers to Week 121. Bethesda is the only station with this arrangement.

Nine of you figured this one out.

Image 4: Tysons Corner

The fourth picture proved trickier than I expected. But there were a few clues that should have helped out figure it out. First, from the design elements, this should have been obviously one of the five new Silver Line stations. And because of the ceiling, you should have surmised that this station was one with the mezzanine over the platform, which eliminates Spring Hill and McLean.

You should also have been able to eliminate Wiehle Avenue because the street visible on the left is clearly not the Dulles Toll Road. That leaves Greensboro and Tysons Corner. But how to narrow it down? There are two key clues.

If you look closely at the tunnel portals, there are white rectangular signs with vertical text saying “Track 1” and “Track 2”. Each of the Metro lines has a track numbered 1 headed north or east and a track 2 headed south or west. On the Silver, Orange, and Blue lines, track 1 is the Maryland-bound track and track 2 is the Virginia-bound track. On the Green and Yellow, track 1 heads to Greenbelt. On the Red Line, track 1 heads toward Glenmont. In this image, track 1 is to the left. Since the mezzanine at Tysons Corner is on the west end of the station, that means this has to be the station. At Greensboro, the mezzanine is on the east end, which means track 1 would be to the right.

The other clue is more subtle, but very telling. Note how the central part of the ceiling suddenly starts to slope downward just before it gets to the end wall. This feature is not present at Greensboro or Wiehle Avenue because they don't have a lower level entrance, like Tysons Corner does. The reaon the ceiling slopes downward here is to accommodate the underside of the escalators leading down to the entrance under the platform. They continue their downward trek between the tracks west of the platform to a landing and then the next set of escalators point toward the plaza under the station.

Seven of you guessed correctly.

Image 5: Metro Center

The final image shows the 11th & G entrance to Metro Center station. There weren't a lot of clues here, other than the very wide corridor, and the arrangement of the entrances. The best way to solve this one was to recognize it. The entrance to the left leads to the Grand Hyatt.

Ten of you came to the correct conclusion.

Great work, everyone. Thanks for playing! We'll be back soon with challenge #126.

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

Matt Johnson has lived in the Washington area since 2007. He has a Master’s in Planning from the University of Maryland and a BS in Public Policy from Georgia Tech. He lives in Dupont Circle. He’s a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, and is an employee of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. His views are his own and do not represent those of his employer.