Welcome to the City of Wanda's Domain, an imaginary city that I have created
and brought to life using art and writing. Look around and enjoy!

There are more pictures and maps down at the very bottom and in the archives!

What Wenda's listening to...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Windrider Red Line

The Red Line, north to south:

Demarre TC--Mostly residential area; some light retail.  Park and ride with connections to most North Valley buses, and Windrider North Commuter Line station located across the street.  Center island platform.

Route descends a hill slowly on an elevated alignment into the U.C. Wanda's Domain campus.

Impala Highway--University housing and support businesses.  Elevated station with side platforms.

Elevated alignment ends; Red Line continues at surface level through campus along a transit-only street.

U.C. Wanda's Domain--Primary stop for the university, located in the center of the campus quad.  Sidewalk platforms.

Red Line enters an open cut upon leaving the campus.

Gazelle Highway--Mostly university housing.  Sunken station in an open cut with side platforms.

Alignment surfaces again.

Moreno Park TC--Transit-oriented development.  Park and ride with local bus connections.  Center island platform.

Valleyheart TC--Residential area with light retail and offices.  Park and ride with local bus connections.  Side platforms.

The Red Line continues street-running along a transit mall on Caidrain Street.

Stadium--Direct connection to Wanda's Domain Civic Stadium.  Station located directly in front of stadium's main entrance on a transit-only street.  Sidewalk platforms.

Winchester Avenue--Inner-city neighborhood with medium density housing and retail.  Station located on a transit-only street with sidewalk platforms.

Red Line ascends an elevated track.

Lloyd Avenue--Inner-city neighborhood with medium density housing and retail.  Elevated station with center island platform.

The Red Line merges into the median of the California-246 freeway.  Here, the line splits into a one-way loop around downtown Wanda's Domain.

The Red Line Downtown Loop, counter-clockwise:

The southbound Red Line leaves the freeway and dives into a short subway for the next station.

Caidrain Street (southbound only)--Inner-city neighborhood with high-density housing and retail.  Underground station shared with northbound Yellow Line trains; center island platform on left.

Southbound Red Line leaves the subway for another elevated track, crossing the Lancre River.

Civic Center TC (southbound only)--Direct connection to Wanda's Domain City Hall, courthouse, and other municipal government buildings as well as surrounding offices.  Connections to the Wanda's Domain Express Streetcar and many downtown bus lines.  Indoor tri-level shared station built into the City Hall complex; southbound Red Line stops on upper level, northbound Yellow Line on center level, eastbound streetcars on lower (ground) level.

Southbound Red Line merges with the Express Streetcar route along Watermark Street.

Wycombe Street (southbound only)--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Street-running shared station with Express Streetcar, sidewalk platforms.

Central Square (southbound only)--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Street-running shared station with Express Streetcar, sidewalk platforms.

Financial District (southbound only)--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Street-running shared station with Express Streetcar, sidewalk platforms.

Firehouse Center (southbound only)--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Street-running shared station with Express Streetcar, sidewalk platforms.

Southbound Red Line and Express Streetcar dive into the main downtown subway loop, merging with the Green and Blue Lines, northbound Red Line and southbound Yellow Line.

Watermark Street--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.  

Orinoco Street--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.  

Tracks emerge for the Red Line's southernmost stop and layover point.

Marylebone TC--Primarily industrial area, with a large park and ride.  This is one of the busiest, most unique, and, some say, most confusing stations on the Windrider system.  Four light-rail lines, a branch of the streetcar, and more than 20 bus lines all stop here, at surface level, in a large intermingled platform/bus stop zone.  The Green, Blue, and northbound Yellow Lines merge onto a single "traffic circle" track, paved so that buses may drive around the same circle, with a large, circular center island platform for trains, and a concentric, outer circle platform for bus stops.  In the middle of the circular platform is another "station" with side platforms for Red, southbound Yellow Line, and Express Streetcar trains that are laying over at the transit center.  If you must use this station, just grit your teeth, keep your eyes open, listen to announcements, and double-check your bus or train's headsign before boarding to make sure it is going where you want to go.

Red Line trains lay over and reverse direction here, diving back into the subway.

Orinoco Street--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.

Watermark Street--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.  

The southbound Red Line and the Express Streetcar branch off and leave the subway here.  Green, Blue, Northbound Red, and southbound Yellow Lines continue.

Garvey Road (northbound only)--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.  

Millenium Quarter (northbound only)--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with side platforms.  Mezzanine level with side platforms for transfer to Wanda's Domain Boulevard Streetcar.  

Longship Street (northbound only)--Downtown Wanda's Domain, offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.  

Marina TC (northbound only)--Waterfront District; access to the south bank of the Lancre River.  Offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground bi-level station:  Upper level for eastbound Green and Blue lines, and northbound Red Line.  Lower level for westbound Green and Blue Lines, and southbound Yellow Line.  Surface level connections to downtown buses and Begonia Boulevard Streetcar.

Northbound Red and southbound Yellow Lines branch off, curving sharply north.

Bartholomew Street (northbound only)--Waterfront District; access to the south bank of the Lancre River.  Offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.

Noriensa Street (northbound only)--Waterfront District; access to the south bank of the Lancre River.  Offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.

Keck Street (northbound only)--Waterfront District; access to the south bank of the Lancre River.  Offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Underground station with center island platform.

Route surfaces, continuing onto an elevated track.

Waterfront (northbound only)--Waterfront District; access to the south bank of the Lancre River.  Connection to Wanda's Domain Boulevard streetcar.  Offices, retail, and high-density housing.  Elevated station with center island platform.

Red and Yellow Lines merge into the median of the California-246 freeway bridge over the Lancre River.

Toledo Street (northbound only)--Industrial area on the north bank of the Lancre River.  Freeway median station with center island platform.

Here, the Red and Yellow Lines part ways completely, with the Yellow Line returning to the subway loop, while the northbound Red Line leaves the loop and rejoins its southbound track to return to the University District and Demarre.

5 comments:

  1. Wow, Wanda. You've put a lot of incredible thought into this. As a fellow Enya-ite, I love some of those street names, too. :-)

    Keep up the amazing art, learning, and planning.


    Much peace,

    Brennan

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  2. Doh! I meant Wenda (got mixed up with the city name there)

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  3. Wenda, you have great imagination; I need to check out the LA light rail system and see where you get your inspiration from! Keep up the good work!

    Eva

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  4. L.A.'s getting there, but really it was my last trip up to your neck of the woods that inspired most of this. Metro (our transit agency) hasn't really had a master plan up until quite recently, and has been expanding the rail system haphazardly--each line being a grand experiment, and using incompatible technologies. We have four different types of rail cars in service, all incompatible--no mixed consists here. The subway cars can only run on the subway, forcing a transfer between the Blue and Red lines (the two busiest of course) downtown instead of a seamless transition where they merge together a la Portland. Then we have the Green Line--a train from nowhere to nowhere that runs entirely in the middle of an eight-lane freeway (it was supposed to connect to the airport, but ended up missing it by about a mile). Finally, there's the Orange Line--a bus that wants to be a train when it grows up. Really, you guys are lucky up there!

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  5. Oh, and then there's the Purple Line--I call it the "stubway," because it shares alignment with the Red line subway for its entire length, then branches off to go two stops and dead-end in a grungy corner of Koreatown. It was supposed to go all the way to Santa Monica, following Wilshire Boulevard and relieving traffic on one of our worst freeways and our most crowded bus route, but politics got in the way... It's been revived; they might finish it in 20 or 30 years if they don't run out of money.

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