WOODLEY PARK: Singing Escalators

THIS SIGN HAS BEEN AMUSING ME as of late. If you can't read the text it says:

Please be aware that although you may hear a "singing" noise from this escalator, while it may be annoying, it is safe. The "singing" noise is common on long escalator units.

As a resident of Woodley Park, I have gotten to know the little quirks of our neighborhood escalator, one of the longest on the continent. (The escalators at the Wheaton station on the Red Line are the longest in North America) They do make some noise from time to time, but nothing that would jump out at me as "singing."

Now if you go to the Tenleytown-AU station on the Red Line, you will think you're listening to a New Age recording of whales under the sea. That to me sounds more like singing. Though the whales sound like they may be in the process of being harpooned by Captain Ahab. In reality, it's just moving pieces of metal making the machinery operate properly.

If only WMATA could join forces with the National Zoo to replicate Butterstick's juvenile barking in the Woodley Park escalator bank, to prepare zoo visitors for their panda visitation ...

In related news, WMATA informs us that the much-loved, much-feared Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan station elevator to Woodley Road will be undergoing reconstruction. For those who live on or north of Woodley Road, we will be denied our sometimes-quick shortcut to the surface. Hopefully, the display inside the elevator car will be fixed. Whether you're going to the surface or the station, you're always going to Level "K" ...