Bombardier 5000 Series 5040

Location: Quincy/Wells Station, Chicago, IL
Operator of Vehicle: Chicago Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 9, 2014

This month, the Chicago “L” celebrates its 131st birthday!  The first section of what is now known as the “L”, then operated by the South Side Elevated Railroad, began service on June 6, 1892.  The line ran from a station at 39th Street (between the current 35th-Bronzeville-IIT and Indiana stations on the Green Line) to Congress Terminal.  When it opened, a ride on the steam powered trains from end to end took 14 minutes and cost five cents.  The line was later extended to Jackson Park and the site of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (World’s Columbian Exposition), where incidentally, the concept of an electrified third rail to power trains was introduced.  This form of traction would ultimately be used on the entirety of the “L” as well as on underground and elevated train systems around the world, replacing steam powered locomotives. 

The Lake Street Elevated Railroad and the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad came into existence after the South Side Elevated, and each railroad had its own terminal on the edge of Downtown Chicago.  Financier Charles Tyson Yerkes had bought up many of the streetcar and elevated railroad lines in Chicago in the 1890s and proceeded to build an elevated loop track in Chicago to connect the individual lines.  The Loop was completed in 1897 and its two tracks along a 1.79 mile (2.9 kilometer) route remain in service to this day.  

In the featured photo, a relatively new train of 5000 Series cars is seen departing the Quincy station, which opened in 1897 shortly after the Loop was completed.  Some of the station’s features are original to its 1897 opening.

For more photos of CTA 5000 Series trains, please click here.  

3200 Series 3274

Location: Quincy/Wells Station, Chicago, IL
Operator of Vehicle: Chicago Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 9, 2014

As of this writing, the Chicago Transit Authority is the largest transit system in the United States that is still running normal weekday service despite the Covid-19 Health Crisis.  Ridership is down 82 percent on CTA trains and about 76 percent on CTA buses according to local news reports.  Transit workers are considered essential employees, so despite the “stay at home” order in place in Illinois and many other US states, they are still reporting to work in order to help other essential workers, such as doctors, nurses, paramedics, firemen, and police officers to their jobs.  Determining how much service ought to run in light of lower ridership numbers and the desire to maintain social distancing protocols is a challenge that agencies will be wrestling with as this crisis continues.  However, regardless of how much service is operated in Chicago or wherever you are, be sure to thank the transit employees and other essential employees for their service, especially in these times (assuming you yourself have essential business, otherwise, please stay home).  Being a transit employee is challenging enough in normal circumstances as it is, so your thanks will be even more appreciated now.

For more photos of CTA’s 3200 Series trains, please click here.

2200 Series 2222

Location: Polk Station, Chicago, IL
Operator of Vehicle: Chicago Transit Authority
Date of Photo: July 30, 2007

Yesterday, the Chicago Transit Authority celebrated its anniversary.  On October 1, 1947, the CTA assumed the operations of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (the ‘L’ system) and the Chicago Surface Lines (the streetcar system).  In recent years, the CTA has marked the occasion with a “Customer Appreciation Day.”  This year’s edition included the first public run of the 6000 Series trains since their retirement on December 4, 1992.  The 6000 Series cars were introduced in 1950 and featured “blinker doors” to facilitate better movement within the cars for ingress and egress.  They were also the first cars in the CTA rail fleet to be married pairs.  

To celebrate its 72nd anniversary, the CTA ran the cars in the Loop during the midday yesterday.  I wasn’t in Chicago, so I don’t have any photos of the event.  (This post could turn in to a lament about how it has been too long since I’ve visited Chicago, but it won’t.)  Instead, I decided it was fitting to share a photo of a 2200 Series Car that featured the same type of blinker doors that the 6000 Series cars featured.  The 2200 Series cars were retired in August 2013, and like the 6000 Series cars, a limited number have been preserved for historical purposes.  

For more photos of the CTA 2200 Series Cars, please click here.