Even More 'L' Cars

We'll forgive you if you're getting a bit of 'L' car fatigue, but I've been notified that another pair of Chicago Transit Authority rapid transit cars has been preserved. This time it's CTA 2401 and 2402, the first pair of 2400-series cars built by Boeing-Vertol in 1976. They're shown above in an October 1976 photo from here. Unfortunately, I can't find any recent photos of them, nor is there any information about them online other than a statement on the CTA's heritage fleet page about having an eight-car train of 2400s. These cars are generally identical to the other six 2400s kept by the CTA for preservation except that they were part of a subset of these cars that were rebuilt in 1995 for use pulling work equipment such as flat cars. Their grids and control groups were beefed up, they had sockets added for jumpers, and they acquired red-and-white strips in place of the more typical red/white/blue stripes, but those were about the only modifications. Of the 10 cars of this type on the PNAERC roster, these are the only two that received work-motor modifications. This increases the CTA historic fleet to 18 cars: eight 2400s, four 2200s, four 6000s, and two 4000s.

CTA Budds Back from the Dead

The CTA has been maintaining an historic fleet for about a decade or so now, and it has recently comprised one pair of 1920s-era Cincinnati-built 4000s, two pairs of 1950s-era St. Louis-built 6000s, one pair of 1969 Budd-built 2200s, and three pairs of 1970s-era Boeing-built 2400s. But a second pair of 2200s is now back from the dead! Married-pair cars 2231 and 2232 have been retrieved from Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, where they were shipped in 2012 following retirement for use in training, and have returned to Chicago. The news was reported here, along with the above photo, courtesy of LaQuan Miller.

That brings the size of the CTA historic fleet up to 16 cars. That's far smaller than the New York historic fleet, of course, but it's enough to represent every major class of 'L' car used in Chicago since the dawn of the steel car era - no minor feat.

Down Two Boeings

Word has arrived that the Chicago Transit Authority, which in 2015 set aside eight 2400-series 'L' cars built by Boeing-Vertol for their historic collection, has downsized a bit. Cars 2543 and 2544, shown above back in 2017, are being sent to scrap. This isn't too much of a loss; the CTA still has three pairs of these cars, all repainted in c1978 red/white/blue livery. They've even been slowly backdating 2455-2456 to original, or at least more original, condition, including conductor's positions. There's also a pair preserved at IRM and several pairs evidently still in work service on the CTA. The CTA heritage fleet, which for many years was frozen at only two 1920s 4000-series cars, now stands at 14 cars, including the two 4000s, four 1950s-era 6000s, two 1960s-era 2200s, and six 2400s.

Historic fleet progress at CTA

As recently as four years ago, the Chicago Transit Authority had only two cars on the PNAERC list: their two 1920s-era 4000s, 4271 and 4272. That's changed now, though, with a new emphasis on historic preservation, and CTA currently rosters no fewer than 14 cars on the PNAERC list of three different types. Of those, eight are recently-retired 2400-series cars from the 1970s while four are 1950s-era 6000-series cars that were purchased back from museums that had originally acquired them from the CTA in the 1990s.

After a fair amount of work by CTA employees, largely volunteering their time, the first of the two pairs of 6000s has been made operational. Cars 6711 and 6712, shown above in a Lou Gerard photo taken September 1st, have been returned to operational condition and were actually run for the public during the CTA's annual "Roadeo" this past weekend. Their status has been updated on the roster. These cars were owned by the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis for many years, until CTA bought them back in November 2017, and for virtually the entire time they were in St. Louis they were stored indoors. That seems to have kept them in excellent condition and limited somewhat the work required of the CTA employees.

The other pair of 6000s owned by the CTA, 6101 and 6102, were bought by the CTA from the Fox River Trolley Museum earlier in 2017 and will need significantly more work before they run again. These cars sat outside for the 23 years they were at FRTM and suffered accordingly. But before they went to Fox River they were restored to their original color scheme and briefly functioned as historic cars for the CTA, so there is definitely interest in doing the work to fix them up.

CTA acquires more 6000s

The head of the Chicago Transit Authority's heritage fleet program, Graham Garfield, has posted on Facebook at this link (should work regardless of whether you have an account) the news that CTA 6711-6712 have been acquired from the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. Car 6712 arrived in Chicago on Tuesday the 28th with car 6711 soon to follow. This brings the CTA's historic collection up to a total of fourteen cars, which includes two 4000s, four 6000s, and eight 2400s.

The collection includes both the newest and oldest sets of 6000s preserved. This set of 6700s, built in 1959 at the tail end of 6000-series car production, was retired in 1992 and acquired by MOT in 1993 but never ran in St. Louis. The cars were stored in the MOT barn until this month but in the last two or three years the museum had been slowly stripping them for parts to use on CTA 44, which is regular use on the museum's electric line. It's thought that most essential components remain on the 6711-6712 though and the CTA should be able to restore them to service to operate with their other set, acquired recently from Fox River.

CTA "L" cars added to roster

One of the more unexpected developments in historic preservation in Chicago in recent years has been the establishment by the Chicago Transit Authority of an "historic fleet" of vintage transit equipment. The CTA has maintained a pair of 1920s-era 4000-series cars since the 1970s, but other than those two cars the system has steadfastly declined to preserved other examples of its history. This isn't unusual; in fact New York is the only rail transit system in the country that seems interested in preserving more than a light sampling of its own historic rolling stock as it reaches retirement age. The CTA actually did have a collection of historic rolling stock until 1985, but in that year the historic collection was transferred to area museums (mostly IRM although one car went to Fox River). And the recent retirement of the 1960s-era Budd-built 2200-series cars, which were fan favorites of a sort due to their outdated blinker doors, did not prompt the CTA to keep any for preservation.

But things seemed to change in 2015. For the retirement of the 2400-series Boeing-built cars from passenger service in January 2015, the CTA repainted an entire eight-car train into their as-built red/white/blue colors. After that happened the repainted train was squirreled away and before long it - and the 1920s 4000s - were announced as the nucleus of a new historic fleet. Three buses were also added to the fleet and in August of this year a pair of 6000s were purchased from Fox River.

Anyway, it's taken me a while, but I've finally added those eight 2400-series cars to the PNAERC roster. The CTA itself has designated them for preservation per its website and they are being well maintained and available for use in historic operations (such as the CTA's 70th anniversary celebrations last weekend). The list is here. The CTA also operates a number of these Boeing-built cars in work service but those are not on the list as they're recently retired and in utility service.

CTA 6000s return to Chicago

It appears that today was the day that CTA 6101-6102, the preserved set of 6000-series "spam cans" at the Fox River Trolley Museum, were loaded and transported back home to the Chicago Transit Authority. There they join a pair of 4000s and a handful of buses in the CTA's new "historic collection," a project headed up by Graham Garfield of the CTA. The plan, supposedly, is that Skokie Shops will rebuild (and presumably repaint) the 6101-6102 so that they can be operated for special events, similar to how the 4000s are used. The cars had been sold to FRTM in 1994 with the provision that they could not be operated carrying passengers, and as such had always been on static display at South Elgin. Back with the CTA, they will presumably see use on their home rails and may at some point be joined by more 6000s. Only time will tell on that point.