<![CDATA[BARTCHIVES - The Two Bagger]]>

<![CDATA[BARTCHIVES - The Two Bagger]]>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 11:28:32 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[BART's Bicentennial Cars]]>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 13:53:38 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/barts-bicentennial-carsHappy Fourth of July. Fifty years ago, in line with numerous railroads across the country, a few BART A cars also “celebrated” the Bicentennial. Around 11 A cars temporarily gained the official Bicentennial Logo in lieu of the cab logo alongside smaller versions of the same logo below the cab exterior numbers. The cars that received the logo were recorded as follows:

The following A cars received the Spirit of 76 treatment:

115
127
139
140
153
169
176?
177
202
219
236
264

Note, Rapido Trains announced car 169 in white paint and bicentennial logo as part of the second run of HO scale BART cars.

]]><![CDATA[Arthur Mac’s A2 Car 1203 Arrives in Hayward]]>Fri, 08 May 2026 03:55:57 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/arthur-macs-a2-car-1203-arrives-in-hayward

Today Arthur Mac’s, a local pizza, beer, and wings place, received BART A2 car 1203, part of their upcoming downtown Hayward location.

As per my records, A2 car 1203 was originally built by Rohr as A car 203 (line number approximately 156) and delivered to BART on March 19, 1973 (alongside A car 204). For most of the first half of 1973, Rohr delivered only A cars and 203 was one of over 80 A cars delivered during that timeframe. There’s not too much to say about the car during the first 30 years of service. It was “just another” A car roaming around the Bay Area, running on every line and stopping at every station.

Once again, the 1203 was another A2 car of the fleet, roaming around the system and racking up millions of miles and millions of riders. By 2023, the car reached 50 years of revenue service and one year later, it was among the final legacy cars in service, being part of the first of three trains to depart MacArthur station on the final run of the legacy fleet on 4/20/2024.

Joining a small fleet of cars with similar fates, the 1203 was assigned a new role instead of scrap – this one in particular was slated to become part of the new Hayward location of the Arthur Mac’s pizza joint. Slightly over two years later, today, May 7, 2026, the car left Hayward Yard to begin its next chapter.

The car left Hayward shop shortly before 9 am and arrived in downtown Hayward shortly afterwards – among the quickest trips for a retired legacy car.

A small contingent of the WRM team/bartchives was on scene to watch the departure and placement into the site, followed by checking out the car with the owners and contractors. The first step was to return BART-loaned equipment and as seen with the three WRM cars, we guided the contractor in removing the J hooks and blocks used to secure the car’s trucks – which were then returned back to the shop. Further inspection and knowledge-sharing included info on the side doors, best practices for HVAC decommissioning, facets of carborne ATC, and car electrical system info. Sierra Train House was also on scene for the delivery and at this rate, there is a small community of people with old BART cars – only the Bay Area would be cool enough to do something like that.

The concrete “tub” that the car now rests in was a bit on the theoretical side. As true BART car design nerds know, the A car cab is basically a “pod” secured to one end of essentially a B car, making the design asymmetrical for truck placement, but allowing for easy conversion into B cars (as was originally intended and later actually done). With the assumption of a standard, centered, 75-foot car, the rail pieces were placed in this position, but later had to be moved ever so slightly. Similarly, the male portion of the coupler on the X-end, nicknamed the “bull-pick” [add an r between p and i] stands out a few inches past the normal car dimensions and had to be cut off to fit the box. Thus, the car had to be parked off to the side for a good few minutes until finally fitting inside the tub where it rests today.

Overall, the car is in good condition (mind the damaged diffusers) and shows much promise for reuse. Ideas abound on modifications to the car to make it ready for arcade games and showcasing the history of BART its technology. Stay tuned for more exclusive updates on the 1203 in its new role alongside the other surviving legacy cars.

-ATP 5/7/26

]]><![CDATA[BART at WRM Updates: Spring 2026]]>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 15:44:22 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/bart-at-wrm-updates-spring-2026

Hello friends of the legacy fleet,

Progress on the preserved BART cars at the Western Railway Museum continues at PL1, 80 mph. With the completion of the lighting project, activities have focused on displays inside the cars. Here are a few exclusive pictures of progress thus far.

The A car (1164) will have displays on BART test and repair equipment.

The B car (1834) will have displays of various BART things, including tickets, car parts and tools, maintenance equipment, and more. It will also have an HO scale model railroad of BART. I heard you like BART so we put a BART train in a BART train so you can BART while you BART.

The C car (329) will have a video theater and posters of BART’s history, including plenty from the 1990s expansions.

The cars are partially open to visitors when the museum is open, upon request. The BART team is usually at the museum once every other week. All we ask is to be mindful that the displays are still in progress and to not remove anything from the cars. We are planning a grand opening event in September 2026. Stay tuned for more details.

Additional side projects include assisting others that got (or will get) BART cars, including the Sierra Train House and Scraper Bike team.

Progress on the Legacy Fleet book continues, with the final data gathering efforts wrapping up in the coming months followed by a writing phase throughout the summer.

]]><![CDATA[BART A car Cab Pod at WRM]]>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 03:11:19 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/bart-a-car-cab-pod-at-wrmThe Western Railway Museum recently received another giant gift from BART – a spare A2 car cab pod.

My understanding is that Bombardier made a few extra pods “just in case” and they were stored at the Hayward Test Track for several years. One such pod became the “1972” cab pod on display at the 50th anniversary event and Final Run.

With the retirement of the Legacy Fleet, the pods were deemed spare and available for reuse. WRM paid to transport one of them from Hayward to the Museum and it arrived in late February.

The plan is to have this cab pod on display in the Laflin Park at a future date. Currently it is stored “out back.”

WRM also has the cab pod of car 107. This was removed from the actual car 107 in the early 2000s as part of the midlife rehab. The A2 pod is slightly different, with relocated HVAC vents, improved communication equipment mounts/holes, etc.

]]><![CDATA[Super Bowl LX Clipper Cards and Where to Find Them]]>Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:19:46 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/super-bowl-lx-clipper-cards-and-where-to-find-themUpdate 2/11/26: Ticket Vending Machines are running out of these cards. If you happen to be at one of the stations, it's best to ask the Station Agent which machine, if any, has them.

These limited edition Clipper cards are available at certain BART stations.

]]><![CDATA[Back when BART ran (almost) 80 mph]]>Sat, 24 Jan 2026 02:41:32 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/back-when-bart-ran-up-to-80-mphFor a few times in 2023, BART allowed trains to run under Performance Level 1, maximum performance allowing revenue trains to reach almost 80 mph. One such time was right after the end of scheduled legacy fleet service in September 2023.

Here, this southbound train is passing over Washington Ave in San Leandro, between San Leandro station and Bay Fair Station. The late-running train received a PL1 in an attempt to catch up to the schedule, reaching 78 mph as seen in this picture taken from outside the cab.

PL1 usage ended shortly thereafter due to weather conditions and power concerns.

]]><![CDATA[Fleet of the Future Pilot Cars in 2025: D cars 3001-3004]]>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 08:00:00 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/fleet-of-the-future-pilot-cars-in-2025-d-cars-3001-3004The first four Fleet of the Future D cars were pilot cars made to test the Fleet of the Future design before production. They have been extensively modified and rolled in revenue service. At least three of them remain in revenue service, and here is an update on all four of these cars for 2025.

Car 3001 has the distinction of being the first complete Fleet of the Future car. Nicknamed “Sandy” the car is quite a common sight on Green line trains. Here is Sandy on a Green line train to Berryessa on September 25, 2025, at Coliseum station.

Here is Sandy again at West Oakland, the trail car of a peak-commute 8 car Green line train on October 30, 2025.

Car 3002 is seen here on a Red line train to Millbrae on October 3, 2025, at MacArthur station.

Also at MacArthur, here is 3003 on a Yellow line train on June 5, 2025.

It appears 3004 has not been in service this year. Here is a picture of it back in March 2024, midtrain on a Yellow line train.

]]><![CDATA[BART D car 3042 - Sideways Seating Car]]>Wed, 01 Oct 2025 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/bart-d-car-3042-sideways-seating-carD car 3042 was the 103rd Fleet of the Future car built and entered service in November 2019. For those first few months of service, it was a mostly unremarkable run-of-the-mill D car.

During 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, BART reduced service and emphasized social distancing at stations and on trains. The District laid out 15 steps to encourage ridership recovery and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Step 4 was “The newer BART cars may have some seats rearranged to make it easier for riders to spread out and harder to transmit the virus.”

To test out this idea, D car 3042 became the pilot car with all sideways (all longitudinal) seats.

BART picture of 3042 in the shop before entering service. To note, the seating configuration changed a few times.

D car 3042 reentered service in summer 2020 with the new seating mod. It was in service on the opening day of Milpitas and Berryessa stations in June 2020.

It appears there were about 39 seats in the 2020/2021 configuration, which were later reduced to about 36 seats due to the replacement of the bike rack and installation of a second one in 2022.

The car was in regular revenue service through part of 2024 and as of 2025 appears to be relegated to non-revenue activities, assisting in the testing of new train control equipment.

]]><![CDATA[First BART Car (1965)]]>Tue, 26 Aug 2025 01:16:04 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/first-bart-car-1965

BART’s first electrically powered railcars were fluted metal boxes, and hardly the awaited streamlined revenue cars. These 3 cars, named A, B, and C, were rolling labs to evaluate different types of technology to be used on the BART system. The first one was lab car C, sometimes called “Clara” or “Claire” and was the most conventional car, using equipment most similar to other rapid transit cars of the day. It was delivered March 24, 1965 and started rolling on April 7th, followed by further tests including automatic operation on May 12, 1965.

The car was rebuilt to test the Westinghouse ATC system ahead of the delivery of Rohr revenue cars. Once deliveries picked up in 1972, the car was stored and finally decommissioned in December 1982.

Here is a picture of Old Clara taken 60 years ago.

]]><![CDATA[50 years ago - Final Rohr Car Delivery]]>Thu, 31 Jul 2025 18:37:40 GMThttps://www.bartchives.com/the-two-bagger/50-years-ago-final-rohr-car-deliveryBART records record the date receipt of the final Rohr A/B car a half century ago, on July 31, 1975. The car with the honors was 276, built as part of the final order for 26 A (#251-276) cars and 74 B (#701-774) cars bringing the fleet size to about 450 cars as outlined in the 1962 composite report.

The fourth, final order of Rohr cars were built during a time of significant unreliably with the fleet, and as such the A cars were delivered without ATO equipment. The Board of Directors even rejected a Westinghouse contract to supply the 26 cars with ATO equipment and the cars were stored after delivery. With A to B conversions (800 series), the cars eventually entered service in the latter half of the 1970s with the last A car being 253 in August 1979.

Here is a BART photo of 276 in the yard in the latter half of the 1990s/very early 2000s.

The 276 lasted until 2001, in which it was rebuilt by ADtranz into A2 car 1276. After about 22 more years of service, it was retired in November 2023 and scrapped, making it the 558th Legacy Car to meet the end of the line.

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