This is the third of four web pages chronicling my excursion on DART today. If, for any reason, you would like to skip this segment, you can go to the next by clicking on the link below:

As I mentioned above, I also rode the Green Line today, end-to-end, and this segment will be the northern one. For the purposes of my ride today, I will consider the section north of my starting station, Inwood Station, to be the northern segment, and everything south of Inwood Station to be the southern segment. So let's pretend that we've gone back to the Inwood Station to begin our trip north.

The Green Line: Inwood Station

I began my day's travels at the Inwood station, about ten blocks south of me on Inwood. I drove down there and parked in the free lot, and then took my ticket up to the platform (going back downstairs to buy a new ticket after I realized mine from yesterday had expired). This is the station from which there is a shuttle bus into Love Field Airport.

Inwood Station Column Style

At left is a picture of the Inwood Station. It, like many of the DART Light Rail stations, is elevated. Just from riding on the train today, it seems to me that about half of the stations I stopped at were indeed elevated, although most of them were on the north end of the Green Line- the stations that I'll be visiting in this section. I assume that when they can, the stations (and track) are on the ground, as building them in the air has got to be more expensive. I think they do that only when there are lots of streets or highways to cross where the traffic can't stop every few minutes for a train.

The column style here at the Inwood Station is very plain; the columns are round and clad with one-inch yellow tiles, although it is probably hard to see that from the picture of one of the columns.

Here are three more pictures that I took at the Inwood Station, and in a couple of them you can see a Green Line train that arrived before my Orange Line train did:

Click on Thumbnails to View

The concept for this station stems from the schools and research centers that call this neighborhood home. Using these institutions as inspiration, artist Roberto Munguia employed the theme "Tree of Knowledge." To carry out the concept, a colorful maze shaped like an abstract brain greets riders at the station entry. Near the maze is a spark, representing the illumination that springs forth from discovery. The maze is intended to be a functional piece, a fun challenge for riders waiting for a train. Another, more meditative maze exists in the park area adjacent to the station.

Consulting the route map at this station, I saw that I could board either an Orange Line train and stay on it all the way to the airport, or I could take a Green Line train two stations north to the Bachman Station, and transfer there to an Orange Line train. I decided to wait for the first Orange Line train. A Green Line train came first, and I made movies of both that train and of the Orange Line train that came about fifteen minutes later.

A Green Line Train Ready to Depart (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

An Orange Line Train Arrives (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

When the Orange Line train stopped and the doors open, I hopped on the front car of the train. Before we got underway, I took a picture of the driver's compartment at the front of the car. A little later on, I thought I might make a movie or two looking out the front window of the car. The train got going, and as soon as I could get steady, I turned and took a picture looking back in the light rail car. I learned during the day that some cars are all on one level, with steps down to the outside, while other cars have stairs inside the car that go down to a lower level, so that when the doors open you are already at platform level. This is, presumably for wheelchairs, and indeed in one of those cars I saw a wheelchair rider.

The Green Line: Burbank Station

The next station up the Green Line is the Burbank Station, which serves the neighborhoods west of Love Field, the headquarters of Southwest Airlines and many of the airport facilities that are located at this end of the airport.

Burbank Station Column Style

In case you can see clearly, the column style here is again round, clad with stainless steel with rows of biplane silhouettes etched on the metal. Appropriate for where it is, near the headquarters of a major airline as well as an airport. Here is an aerial view of the route here from the Inwood Station:

Artist Susan Magilow's design for Burbank Station celebrates the influence that nearby Dallas Love Field Airport had on the area. The platform features stainless steel columns with miniature planes laser punched into them. The punches depict the evolution of aircraft from past to present. Each of the columns is lined with a different colored acrylic liner to symbolize the area's diversity. The columns also have been backlit with LED lights for a breathtaking nighttime view.

The Green Line: Bachman Station

Bachman Station is the northernmost station that is on both the Green and Orange Lines, and of course is the point at which the Orange Line veers off and heads out to DFW Airport. It is the station that serves Bachman Lake Park, which is very popular with the many Hispanic neighborhoods that surround it.

Bachman Station Column Style

Here, the column style was rectangular, with different shades of red brick; very understated. Below is an aerial view of our route here from Burbank Station:

Sited on land purchased in 1901 by the City of Dallas from Reverend John B. Bachman, Bachman Station tells the story of circles and cycles. More than a century ago, the city impounded Bachman Creek to form the lake and create a water supply. Since then, the neighborhood has gone through many cycles of change, with businesses coming and going, a public park opening and Dallas Love Field Airport becoming a transportation hub.

The Green Line: Walnut Hill/Denton Station

From the Bachman Station north, the DART Light Rail line parallels I-35E on the east side, and since this part of North Dallas is pretty much a grid, I guess the aerial views aren't all that informative.

Walnut Hill/Denton Station Column Style

The Walnut Hill/Denton Station is another elevated station, and all of these stations have expansive views in all directions. That would be one thing if you were in some sort of scenic area, but having an expansive view across the tops of office/warehouse, retail and business buildings is of dubious value. But the station is elevated because it is easy to see that there was really no available space on the ground for the station.

The columns here were done in a multi-colored slate motif on the bottom, and plaques (some of them picturing walnut trees) above.

Walnut Hill/Denton Station tells the story of how agrarian society evolved and merged with an industrialized society. The area around the station is largely industrial and historically had been a farming community. Thus this art project is dedicated to the hard-working men and women of the past - farmers, carpenters, mechanics, machinists and the like.

On the way back through the Walnut Hill/Denton Station, I hopped off the train for a moment to take two more pictures at this station:

The Green Line: Royal Lane Station

The next station is exactly a mile north- the Royal Lane Station. It is located in a very odd area that is chock-a-block with Asian stores and shopping centers. Why they are all located here, I have no idea, but the plethora of signs in Chinese, Japanese and Korean makes one thing he is outside Tokyo or something. As at the Walnut Hill/Denton Station, we are elevated here, and so you can see a long way from the station.

Royal Lane Station

Style 1

Style 2

Style 3

The Royal Lane Station had the first multi-column-design strategy that I'd seen yet. The rectangular columns were in two colors- yellow and red- both "lucky" colors in Asian cultures. The columns that were red were also decorated in a couple of different ways; some of them had symbols representing good luck in Oriental cultures.

I got the station picture above on the way north; on the way back south, I got off the train for a moment and took two pictures looking north and south along the side of my train:

Looking North

Looking South

Royal Lane Station is located near the Asian Trade District, home to 21 shopping centers and more than 300 specialty shops. Multi-Asian culture has defined the area, with a blend of influences. It is a trading hub unlike any other in DFW. The station design pays tribute to society's connection to trade as a cyclical resource, emphasizing the inter-reliance between Asian and American culture as a means of growth and progress. The station is an example of the interdependence of man, trade and transportation. It is also intended to be a gateway of east to west.

The Green Line: Farmers Branch Station

After the Royal Lane Station, the DART light rail descended to ground level and went under I-635 rather than over it. The tracks stayed on the ground all the way to the next station, as there were no major streets to cross. Formerly the site of the Farmers Branch Park & Ride (this used to be the terminus of the light rail before it was extended northward), Farmers Branch Station is located near the Dr Pepper StarCenter, the Farmers Branch Historical Park and the Farmers Branch City Hall.

Farmers Branch Station Column Style

The column style here was reminiscent of another I'd seen earlier. It was a style of multi-colored brick arranged in a spiral pattern around the rectangular shape. At the top and bottom there were impressions in concrete of frontier images- perhaps a tie-in to the Historical Park just south of the station.

Artist Lisa Ehrich designed Farmers Branch Station to be an urban landscape that honors the history and foundation of the community with an eye toward tomorrow. The windscreens layer modern photographs of Farmers Branch over historical ones. The resulting composites merge the area's past and present, while implying the future.

Below are views of the Historical Park, taken as the train passed it, and of the Farmers Branch Station itself:

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The Farmers Branch Station is a good example of how development tends to follow transportation lines like the DART Light Rail. Years ago, this was an area of nondescript businesses, and there was also a fair amount of undeveloped land. After the station was built, many of those old buildings were torn down and replaced with upscale apartment housing- like the Mustang Station Apartments.

The Approach to the Farmers Branch Station

The Station and New Housing Units

The Green Line: Downtown Carrollton Station

Downtown Carrollton Station is conveniently located near historic Downtown Carrollton Square. We have come up from ground level yet again; this aerial station features a pedestrian bridge over Belt Line Road for easy access to the square. Below are an aerial view of this area of Carrollton and a picture I took as the train was crossing over Belt Line Road; the arrow on the aerial view is the direction in which I was looking when I took the picture:

Old Downtown Carrollton Area

Looking West from the DART Light Rail Elevated Track

Even though I hopped off the train momentarily and got a good, clear picture here at the Downtown Carrollton Station, I could not quite figure out the decoration scheme for the columns.

The Downtown Carrollton Station Column Style

This station captures Carrollton's past, present and future. Powder-coated steel columns, each containing a series of windows, line the platform. Historical photos have been laser etched into the windows, and a light shines from the bottom to illuminate them. Station artist James Michael Starr scoured the station site for artifacts and inserted these inside the windows to create a heroic portrait of collage art.

As we left the station and headed north, I got a couple of pictures looking out to the west:

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The Green Line: The Trinity Mills Station

At the next-to-last station on the north end of the Green Line, we are back on the ground again.

Trinity Mills Station Column Style

This station is the transfer point from the DART Light Rail to the DCTA (Denton County Transit Authority) train that runs from here to make five stops in Denton County- three in Lewisville and two at its north end in the city of Denton. This train is known locally as the A Train.

To residents of today, Trinity Mills may just sound like the name of a road. In fact, it's a reference to the grain and gravel industry that grew up around the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in Carrollton.

The art project at Trinity Mills Station points to this history. Artists Charlotte Lindsey and Larry Enge, operating in partnership under the moniker Montage 48/61, used a thin ribbon of colored concrete to represent the river and a circular millstone to represent the movement of a mill wheel. Located at the station entry point, the circle also symbolizes the seasonal cycles of farming.

The Trinity Mills Station is named for the majory east-west street just off which it is located, but it is also located in the southeast corner of the interchange between I-35E and the President George Bush Turnpike.

As you can see from the aerial view of the Trinity Mills Station, it is just to the south of PGBT and just to the east of I-35E. The Interchange between these two expressways is basically no more complicated that when any two Interstates or expressways meet, but in actuality is made more complex in that there are frontage roads along I-35E that have to be tied in, as well as Trinity Mills itself.

As I discovered, this interchange is one of the four or five most complicated in the entire state; two others are right here in the Metroplex and two are in Houston. When the train left Trinity Mills Station heading north, we passed under six of the individual roadways involved in the interchange, and I took a picture while we were underneath. When we got north of PGBT, I took a picture looking back at the interchange:

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The Green Line: The North Carrollton/Frankford Station

The North Carrollton/Frankford Station was the last station on the Green Line as you head north. Because it was the "end of the line", it had the same kind of X-crossing as at the DFW Airport station, allowing a train that arrived on the east track to cross over to depart on the west track- without actually having to turn around.

The North Carrollton/Frankford Station

Column Style 1

Column Style 2

Column Style 2

As the northernmost Green Line stop, North Carrollton/Frankford Station is intended to be a gateway to the DART System. Artists Charlotte Lindsey and Larry Enge wanted the station art and design to be unlike any other - a kind of visual surprise. Inspired by Austrian architect and artist Friedrich Hundertwasser, the duo designed columns made of brightly colored ceramic forms, glazed to mimic the appearance of pottery. Stacked in unique ways to add color and variety, these columns set the tone for the project.

Since we are at the end of the line now, having ridden from Inwood all the way north, let's return to the Inwood Station and ride the Green Line all the way to its southern terminus.

To follow along as I complete today's excursion on DART, please click the link below:

	July 23, 2016: A Visit to The Modern & Kimbell Museums in Fort Worth
	June 13-15, 2016: A Visit with Jeffie in North Carolina
	Return to the Index for 2016