Bright Sunny Morning at Brentwood Metrolink Station

This morning due to the forecasted snow this afternoon I decided to park over at the Brentwood Metrolink station instead of the Richmond Heights one so I wouldn't have to worry so much about having a snow covered car this afternoon. But as I approached the platform, I noticed all the passengers were clustered near the middle of the platform and that area seemed unnaturally sunny and bright. It was as that point that I realized that the recently installed overhead heaters were in use there at the station. I had noticed them installed at the Richmond Heights station in the past, but I had never seen them actually turned on. So I was curious what was the criteria they used to decide whether to turn them on or not. As we passed the Richmond Heights station I did not notice them on (i.e. no extra sunny spot on a gloomy Monday morning), but they were definitely on at the Clayton station. It is actually in the mid 20's this morning, and I know it has been colder before at the Richmond Heights station but they were never on there while I waited on some very cold mornings. Once I googled "metrolink brentwood heaters" I found this informative article at NextStopSTL and I realized that I was supposed to push the button to turn them on myself. So I could have been using them at the RH station all along if only I had known! In reality Richmond Heights needs them more than Brentwood since the Brentwood platform is in a "ditch" that helps block the wind whereas the RH platform is much more out in the open and the wind blows right through it. I also found it amusing how they only installed two of these little "heat lamps" for all the patrons. With over a dozen or so folks for the 7:45am eastbound Brentwood train there were quite a few of us trying to get warmed by the two small heaters. It almost seemed like a bunch of moths flying around a couple light bulbs in the summer. It might be useful to have more than two in a more popular commuting station like Brentwood and perhaps install some instructions so patrons will know they can use them! Better yet would be to rearrange the plexiglass panels to create more windblocked ("semi-enclosed") areas that the heaters could better heat up. It seems much of the heat of the heaters as they are installed aims straight at the plexiglass divider and much of it is wasted.

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