WCR

Back at 7, nice. Maybe it's back in service for good now?

It would be cutting it pretty close. 2600s can't retire in mass until 7000 production cars start coming in over a year from now, and it'll be at least a year before we see production models for this bus order. That doesn't leave a huge window of time between the first 2600s departing and the last new buses arriving. But I'm probably thinking too hard about this. I think it is, that would explain the seemingly random decision to start the last Nova order off at 7900 (to make room for the 7000-series).

It's probably too early to say now, but if I had to put money on it I would say 8400 (picking up where the Novas left off). 2100s would risk interfering with railcar numbers, 3500s would dip into artic numbers. Maybe 5800s again could work too.

There's still supposed to be another EV order this year for 35 units, maybe NFI will win that. Although the transition to an electric fleet essentially opens it up to any manufacturer who makes such a product (Proterra, BYD, Gillig, Nova) so who knows what'll happen.

And bye bye oldest ~500 D40LFs! Jokes aside, I as well hope New Flyer gets the contract. They're capable of a speedy delivery and it'll be nice to see something new on the road. The XD40 platform probably shares a lot of components with existing equipment too. But whatever we end up with it'll bring some welcome variety.

Correct, 20401-20412 and 20414-20486 is 85 buses.

I think it would be 20401-20486 as the prototype delivered last month is 20401.

That's been established

If cars retired just because they're filthy most of the red line's 5000s would be gone by now

No, there's an MP36 that was recently repainted with a black roof. I can't make out the number but it looks like either 416 or 418. Also, F59PHIs are 73-93, F59PHs 94-99.

By any chance did it have a black roof? I saw a picture of a recently repainted unit but couldn't make out the number.

To add to that, 3351 is permanently mis-mated to 3448, but only the latter has roof boards. Don't know what happened to 3352 or 3447.

Not necessarily. The earliest ones are more than twelve years old, meaning they can legally be retired (MCTS retired its 2006 D40LFs last summer). Sure, they're still in excellent condition, but it all depends on when CTA wants or is able to retire them. Let's not forget the oldest novas started retiring in 2014-15 when they were about the age the 1000s are now. But regardless, the last of the 6400s will still probably be around until 2021.

20 Proterras won't be nearly enough to bump off the rest of the 6400s. There's supposed to be a diesel order placed sometime later this year to replace the 6400s and the early Flyers. At least that's what I've heard.

Nice catch. Surprised they don't just re-assign both of these to Chicago with the Proterras since their mechanics have apparently been altered to be more similar to them.

No one had posted close-ups of the cars yet so I figured why not. When and why were they in China?

This new photo of the 7000s has surfaced (via Railway Gazette). More details are visible, such as the side panels having 10 ribs (as opposed to 13 thinner ones on 5000s). Run number display box is on the left side like on the 3200s and 5000s. Expect these testing on CTA rails real soon!

This may be a dumb question, but if need be couldn't the roof boards just be removed? Didn't some cars already have them removed? I've heard they're looking at a contract for ~300 new diesel buses, which would replace the 6400s and the oldest of the 1000s. Not to mention upcoming electric test orders that are almost certain to happen.

Yeah, 164 of them

I remember before the production models started arriving there was a demo on the property at Chicago. I figured that was so maintenance, mechanics, etc could get a feel for them early on, resulting in a speedier entry to service. Boy was I wrong...

Now that we have a Flyer prototype on the property with plans for deliveries kicking off in March, any further word on the new El Dorados? I didn't hear anything about them in the last board meeting.

There's a couple other TAs with that style, Detroit's DDOT and Maryland MTA for example. I definitely think they look better that way, I hope if CTA ever finally orders these buses, they'll have full length fins.

For those like me who can't open the video on mobile, here. I REALLY like the look of it, but why must it have that terrible five-digit "year" numbering?

Somewhat related, when I was in Nashville a couple years ago I spotted a few former RTA bilevels stored, so reading this topic I tried to locate them on Google Maps. The third image is of one of the cars which sits separated from the others closer to the street, the VRE 451. The second image is a satellite screen grab as street view cuts off here. One of these two is still in RTA's brown/orange. The first image is of the same two cars on street view, seen partially over a Nashville TA bus. I can't tell whose property the railcars are stored on or who owns them, but it appears they sit directly next to a Nashville MTA bus garage. Some of their active fleet is parked there (image 4) as well as an old Neoplan (5 and 6). Any additional info on these railcars is welcomed.

I see rear facing seats are back. Surprising actually since CTA specifically requested the last nova order not have them.