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.