chicagopcclcar

I'll post a response to you. The Cincinnati Cars are conducting guests of the CTA. The cars are stored awaiting the guests return. After the guests are taken back the cars will run lite to Skokie. Get your pictures. DH

I'm not authorized to say. Plus my posting is ignored by one individual who posts 90 % posts so why should I. Case closed. DH

There was two-car one in CA this year. The longest UP special this year was a 22-car one. Bringing this comment back to CTA 5000s, here's the TEST train at O'Hare. DH

UP has over 30 cars. This consist had two diners, two lounge cars, and the theater car. The first car was the power car. There were three sleeping cars too. Location was E. 95th St. and S. South Chicago Ave. Over and out. DH

Yes....RUMORS....That's why I voided my own embargo of posting here. I see B-----k still won't read my posts. Let him stay the dark, LOL. Tonight I'm busy following that OSC Union Pacific Special coming back from New York to Chicago. The Sprit of UP is in the lead. NS cab signals were added so it can head the nine car passenger train. It west of Cleveland now. Here's a picture I took on the eastern trip last week. DH

To put rumors to bed....."Blue line is plagued with many little mini slow zones due to cracked rails and deferred maintenance. So with the 5000s being 10,000 lbs heavier per car, I guess the BIG WIGS wanted to see if we could ever accommodate them." TESTING....NOTHING ELSE.

Good morning Stanley.....I noticed your NEW photo....seems like you are arranging for two youngsters to become more interested in becoming CTA operators in future years. They looked like they are having fun....good job. I can say I enjoyed our conversations yesterday 09/30 about transit and experiences with the chitransit forum. And this comment in no way voids my promise not to report on rail system doings as I wrote to you in "RIP Chicagopcclcar in chitransit". I'll let you know when the next charter happens, and it might be real soon. David Harrison

geneking7320 Two responders say its the inverter, the device that changes the DC current into AC current. An another person said whistle or hum the first three notes from "There's a place for you" from West Side Story....he says most NYCTA AC railcars make that sound. EDIT.....Get ready for school....Got this off Subchat. " It's the sound of the motors getting AC from the inverters. A standard inverter these days is a PWM beast - pulse width modulation. What it's actually doing is turning on and off the voltage to the motor very quickly (a few thousand times a second). By varying the amount of 'on' time, the drive can approximate a sine wave of any voltage or frequency. The whine is at the 'carrier frequency' of the drive. Due to all sorts of fun considerations, the carrier frequency of the drive gets adjusted up and down by the control electronics, as needed. Contrary to what's been written in places, both IGBT and GTO inverters change carrier frequency. The actual drive makes a little bit of noise, but it's the motors that make the bulk of the noise. Various manufacturers do things differently, resulting in different noises. Also, what the drive is trying to make the motor do, can dictate the noise. This also creates electrical noise, so there's typically filters on one or both sides of the inverter. There's also typically a converter and DC-link." DH

I posted your question on Subchat. I'll let you know about responses I get. DH

BUMP...BUMP!

Are you interested in tickets. You would get to sit down with CTA HEAD HONCHOS, LOL. DH

The Cubs "W" cars will run next Sunday, 04/23 on "rare territory" including Blue line, Forest Park branch. DH

BUMP!

This statement is really incorrect.....to say the CTA will NOT BUILD CROSSOVERS FOR THE NEW WILSON STATION. I've posted and referred to CTA plans numerous times. I could not quote from a different topic so copied most if the information and reposted pictures. On March 9, 2015 at 10:36 AM, chicagopcclcar said: The plan shows three crossovers at Leland using a standard that the CTA seemed to have adopted with X's between the outer and the inner tracks and than a X's between the two inner tracks. The crossover that went into use today is temporary and will have to be reversed then the new track is completed and track two is scheduled for replacement. The plans also show two single crossovers south of Wilson between the two inner tracks. The fate of two more crossovers are outside of the plan boundaries. You might have noticed a internet dispute about information on those X's with a person I won't name. My photo. CTA design for four track interlocking....they may be reversed. Note complete interlocking signals including reverse signaling too. On February 15, 2016 at 4:16 PM, chicagopcclcar said: Bus Hunter, look in page 2 where I reproduced the track plan and see if the double-crossover you saw is in the same place in the track plan, then you have your answer. You are correct...after the change over from track 2 to track one, track will be out of service from Leland to Waveland. Red line track will crossover there to service Addison. On February 16, 2016 at 2:23 PM, BusHunter said: Ok, thanks. I remember you posting that somewhere, but I didn't know where. So no there is no diamond between purple and red, but only for tracks 2 and 3, so they must be going to rig up a switch from 2 to 1. So that says there will be a weekend closure. They looked to be attempting to raise track 1, they have the ballast removed there and seem to be cementing the structure. Maybe I'm wrong but they are doing something there. Like I said before the track coming off the new structure is higher than the existing track 1 from Lawrence so somewhere there's going to be a descent and it can't be at the switch, so they have about 15-20 feet to descend about 1/4 to half a foot. PHOTOS......Sample showing typical interlocking using crossovers between all four tracks........Track plan when Wilson Station and Red/Purple Lawrence-Bryn Marw is finished. DH

My personal thanks to KedziePink for the picture....its true, a picture is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, my sources at 567 W. Lake St. say it's nothing but a printing error, and it's already being corrected. The Red Line route card is a prime example for the correction being made. Sorry to splash water on all the speculation...... there's nothing to read into the red ending between 87th and 95th. David H.

Could you post some pictures? Thanks. DH

This rending of the location at Damen and Lake was done to give a feeling for the project since design work isn't supposed to start until this summer. I note it is turned to the north towards the Kinzie Corriodor which is a primary financier of the project. And perhaps to counter some railfans and others who feel that a "L" station should be built at Madison on the CTA Pink line, the press releases are straightforward that the goals of the station include neighborhood development and a link to the Kinzie Corridor, and if attendees at United Center events want to use the Damen station, they are welcomed. DH

Testing suspensions for 7000s. Posted this before. Forest Park branch is the best with its bad track. Car numbers..#5307-08, 5471-72. DH

A poster on Skyscraper Forum.Transit Development reported he was on a SB train that..."was just on the Red Line between Grand and Lake and suddenly felt a huge BANG BANG every time the wheels went over one point. " DH

Through out its history the CTA has had many managements that all had different ideas about historical items. Remember, the CTA is also a political body and its chief business is running a transit system....its not a museum. There is a example were a Hollywood film maker paid for the expenses in bringing three PCC 6000 series back to the Chicago "L" to be used to film the movie "Ali". I videoed the many of the retraining of crews and the actual shooting. The cars were also used for charters while they were on CTA rails. The video is in a YouTube, about 41:00 in...... DH as misbnsf

http://www.transitchicago.com/heritagefleet/