Chinatown station escalator repairs in progress. (Photo: TBD Staff)

 Metro's escalators have made news recently for machine failures and undisclosed maintenance problems, and have always been a source of lesser complaints. TBD is asking for your help to note the condition of escalators in every station. E-mail descriptions, photos or videos of escalators in your stations to mynews@tbd.com, or tweet with the #wmata hashtag, and we'll add it to the map and liveblog below. Red bubbles on the map are stations with the most escalators out. Yellow bubbles have escalators out, though not enough to cause too many problems. Train icons are stations with all escalators working. (When we checked, of course, for all of those.) Also check yesterday's escalator liveblog, where we checked all of the Red Line and parts of Blue, Orange and Yellow.

10:13 p.m. update: Via Twitter, Danny Glover sends in this photo and information:

FYI @stevebuttry, This is how @wmata responded today to the outcry over escalator incompetence: http://twitpic.com/37pbv8. #MetroFail

Two of three escalators blocked at Metro Center's 13th and G exit. (Photo: Danny Glover)

6:25 p.m. update: TBD's Mandy Jenkins reports from Smithsonian, one of our last remaining stations to check: All 8 escalators from the platform to the  mezzanine are going. On the Mall surface exit, one is working each way and one is under repair (photo below). On the Independence surface exit, one is working each way and one is barricaded.

Two that are working are very noisy on both sides going to the street. "It sounds like a rattle and squeak chorus with a loud elephantesque noise every now and again."

Smithsonian escalator being repaired (Photo: Mandy Jenkins)

1:35 p.m. update: TBD's Steve Buttry made it to the New Carrollton and Largo Town Center ends of the Orange and Blue Lines this morning. Escalators at those stations as well as Deanwood, Cheverly, Landover, Morgan Boulevard and Addison Road-Seat Pleasant were all in working order.

Minnesota Avenue offered an escalator double whammy, with both escalators from the street level out of order, shown in the video below:

1:10 p.m. TBD staff members Lisa Rowan, Nathasha Lim, Daniel Victor and Steve Buttry have now made it to all the far reaches of the Metro system checking out escalators the past two days. We still have a few stations along the Orange and Blue lines to check and will get them by the end of the day.

Daniel Victor's breezy tweets as he checked the Green Line drew this jab from colleague Mandy Jenkins: "If @bydanielvictor's tweets from #wmata escalator surveying are any indication, I think he's losing it."

1:01 p.m. update: Only complaint from the last several Green Line stations checked by TBD's Daniel Victor was a noise issue: "A few hums and squeaks on the Anacostia escalators, but these babies will get you where you're going."

12:57 p.m. update: TBD's Daniel Victor has finished his survey of the Green Line. Lots of working escalators on his run: West Hyattsville, Prince George's Plaza, College Park, Greenbelt, Branch Avenue, Suitland, Naylor Road, Southern Avenue all have all their escalators in working order.

12:54 p.m. update: We mentioned yesterday the Mitch Hedberg joke about escalators. TBD's Dan Victor found it in a YouTube video:

12:50 p.m. update: Jess Dellen (@theDellenator) tweeted at TBD's Daniel Victor: You missed one helluva ride on the Dupont south escalator--it stopped halfway up. I didn't see anyone fall, thankfully.

12:48 p.m. update: More from TBD's Steve Buttry at Capitol Heights (his report delayed by difficulty emailing photos from the Metro and then by a meeting):

The three photos below show the escalator on the left (looking up) between the station and the street. The first photo shows the escalator and repair-related equipment and parts (though no one was working on it at the time). For the second photo, Buttry leaned over (but was careful not to touch) a barricade.

Disabled escalator at Capitol Heights Metro Station (Photo: Steve Buttry)

Closer view of Capitol Heights escalator (Photo: Steve Buttry)

About two minutes later, this barricade next to the disabled escalator toppled over in a gust of wind. (Photo: Steve Buttry)

Then Buttry ascended a working escalator, a trip of 50 seconds, punctuated by several loud groans from the machinery. He noticed it was quite breezy, with the wind swirling a bit in the stairwell. After a brief look around at the top, he started his trip down the other working escalator, the middle one. When he was about 10 steps from the bottom, a gust of wind knocked over a barricade extending out from the disabled escalator. (Just to the right of the equipment, out of the first photo). This partially blocked the middle escalator. After stepping around the barricade, Buttry alerted the attendant about the downed barricade.

Then he went through the gate and headed for the platform. The down escalator, which had been stationary a few minutes earlier, was back in service.

10:51 a.m.: TBD's Steve Buttry says the escalator exiting down the platform from Capitol Heights was out, but the up escalator was working fine. Two of their longer escalators to the street are working, but the left escalator going up is barricaded.

10:34 a.m.: TBD's Dan Victor at the exit to Congress Heights, both the upward and downward escalators are stairs. And the escalators on the platform are making scary noises.

10:10 a.m.: TBD thinks Daniel Victor is going to lose it pretty quick today with updates like this one, via Twitter: Navy Yard lost a perfect game in the 9th. One escalator is now stairs at the stadium entrance but one's moving in both directions. #wmata

9:57 a.m.:  Now you see them, now you don't: Steve Buttry took this video at the Deanwood station. He was convinced that these WMATA employees were coming to work on an idle escalator, but alas. It remained idle.

9:51 a.m.: TBD's Dan Victor is on his way out to explore the green line, but for now, we appreciate this appropriately snarky update from reader @meganh: 1 in 5 escalators actually stairs at Georgia Ave/Petworth metro.

8:55 a.m.: TBD's Julie Westall reports flawless escalator service at both Eastern Market and Rosslyn stations this morning. But! (There's always a but.) Faregates are not functioning at Rosslyn and SmarTrip travels are being let out of the station by showing their cards to a police officer. We're not sure what kinds of issues this will cause on everyone's return commute.

8:18 a.m.: This just in from reader Michelle Yarmer: Mechanical problem at Medical Center. All entrance escalators out of service.

Those babies are long, Michelle. I feel for you.

8:08 a.m.: Steve Buttry is out and about, and sends this alarming report from Capitol South:

What this is: a handrail that has become separated from its home on the escalator. We're going to call this #handfail. 

7:41 a.m.: Hey WMATA riders, it's day two of our escalator-stravaganza and I'm manning the controls here. Got an update? Fill us in, and I'll start filling in this here map we've got to track the status of the Metrorail system's nearly 600 escalators.