One more look north on the west-side platform before boarding the train.
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There were already a few riders, I guess they'd gotten on at one of the other stations, as only one other person got on at DFW besides me. It wasn't packed--yet. I didn't get a good look around the train car before it eventually got full later on. Above most of the seats are not-very-deep shelf racks for luggage/packages, and every so often, there are little hooks underneath the shelf racks to hang coats/purses/etc.
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At the back of each seat is a fold-down tray, almost like an airplane seat. At most (maybe every? I didn't get to fully look) seats, on the wall, is a spot with 2 USB ports. DART needs this very much with their buses and trains.
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I would have liked to have gotten more in-train pictures and some at the stations along the way, but with the trains only running every hour, it would have taken too long. Things weren't too tight leaving DFW or going to/through the DFW North station. But at the Grapevine station, the folks just packed on. No wiggle room at all. I wasn't able to get good pictures out the window of anything during the trip.
At the T&P station in Fort Worth, I switched seats to one facing the other way. With the crowd that came over, I knew I'd better be quick or I wouldn't get a seat going back. In the indented wall behind those last seats on the right, is one of the bathrooms. I didn't try it to see what it looked like, and I didn't want to lose my seat. I heard at least 4 people talking about how tough it was to get the door unlocked and opened, so I guess it was just as well I didn't have to use the bathroom then. Also on the trains, every so often down the aisle, are dual monitors. The one on the left displays the current station and the next 2 ahead, with a dotted line below all that then the last station on the line (DFW); while the one on the right is promotional info videos about TexRail and Trinity Metro's service.
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Sure enough, at the ITC station, a bunch of folks got on, but it wasn't quite as packed as the bunch that got on in Grapevine. A father and his young son came along, and the father asked if the young son could sit next to me, I said sure. I was amused when the father told the son that they'd be going by the Bell Helicopter plant on the way. Little did he know he was confusing the route of TexRail with the route of the TRE. Which may be somewhat understandable if you start out from Fort Worth, as the TexRail and TRE trains share the same tracks from the T&P station, past the ITC station, and through the building and around the curve to go under Spur 280. After you go under Spur 280, the 2 routes split up, and the TexRail starts going more northerly for a while. By the time the train reached Grapevine, the bulk of the people got off, but more stayed on to DFW than the amount that had left DFW when I started. I got off to go over to the DART station, and fortunately I got over there just as the next Orange line train was about to leave.
Hopefully there will be more guide signage, which really was the only drawback I saw when it came to having a new transportation option that will attract not only locals, but travelers from outside the area, as well.
So, it was a nice day for an outing, albeit a somewhat chilly one. But I had fun. Now we have another choice to get over to Fort Worth from Dallas, and another way to DFW from outside the airport.
(Sorry this was so long, and for the multiple parts, but I couldn't post all the pics on one post, and I like to be helpful when I can (I guess that comes from years in the hotel biz, and from being raised that way).)
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