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6000-series Flxible - Retirements


BusHunter

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This morning I went with my fire company down to the CFD repair shops at North/Throop.

There I found two of the CTA #6000 Flxibles that are getting a second life, joining the fire dept. fleet, parked in the yard. Not known yet where they will be assigned. I couldnt get close enough to get the numbers. What I do know is that the #5800 New Flyer is moving from its presnt location at Kedzie/Lake to Eng.107 at 1101 S.California which will put it in my response area, Im excited because I will now have the opportunity to get assigned to it when Im working at that station.

post-158-12948617159982_thumb.jpgpost-158-12948617318701_thumb.jpg

Does any fire departments still has few TMC 4900s?

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What a shocker! I passed 77th Garage on the way home from a funeral today. Took a quick drive around the back on Perry ave. What a shocker it was to see a line up of #6000 Flxibles all ready for the scrapper. When I saw buses #6121, #6187 and #6213, it just hit like a runaway Flxible bus! :) I couldnt believe it was the end of the line for these buses. I remember driving those particular buses out of Kedzie and FGlen. They were awesome vehicles to drive, I enjoyed it so much! What a bittersweet ending! Ill miss them!!

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have two crappy pics of a workbus I saw. Saw the same workbus later on in the week, and took more crappy pictures, but they're too crappy to post. >_>

Oh yes and to add on to the horribleness they come out sideways when I post them on the forum, but look normal on my desktop.

That's a lot of crap from you, busfan4022!!! :D

But, I thought I'd attempt to give you a hand in up-righting these photos. These photos are busfan4022's, I re-posted them in a reply so they would be upright.

Run number in the box is "F873". This was probably messed around with by the Ironworkers, but if not, perhaps this bus was last on #80???(although the run numbers only go to F870 according to the lists in the chicagobus.org site)

IMG_20101119_074650.bmp

IMG_20101119_074714.bmp

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  • 1 month later...

I cant believe this morning I had a dream that I was standing on a corner waiting for a bus, Imagine that!!! :)

Then out of nowhere, on the intersecting street, I see a CTA #6000 Flxible with a slightly modified paint scheme similar to the one #6128 had temporarily, pulling out of the stop and I was looking at it, it had a tire strapped on the rear part of the roof and it just drove off with that familiar Detroit sound. So weird!

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I cant believe this morning I had a dream that I was standing on a corner waiting for a bus, Imagine that!!! :)

Then out of nowhere, on the intersecting street, I see a CTA #6000 Flxible with a slightly modified paint scheme similar to the one #6128 had temporarily, pulling out of the stop and I was looking at it, it had a tire strapped on the rear part of the roof and it just drove off with that familiar Detroit sound. So weird!

Don't know what you were drinking before bed, but it sounds good!!! :lol:

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

at the bus roadeo 4/16/2011 this suprised me big time post-1143-13031833992821_thumb.jpg

Wow! #6227, I drove her when she was brand new at Kedzie Garage. Nice shot of the drivers area, I love that semi truck style steering wheel. I loved driving the #6000 Flxible bus. It felt like driving an 18 wheel truck! Just a tough, menacing looking bus! Sure brings back some good memories. :) I wonder if theyre keeping it to add to the collection. Thanks for posting!

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Has anyone read the story of the exCTAFlxible #6000 that will be used to bring fresh fruits and veggies to economically depressed areas in Chicago?. Apparently the organization Food Desert Action purchased the retired CTA bus for a $1! and convert it into a fresh food market to be driven around the west and south sides of Chicago to give residents an alternate choice due to the lack of supermarkets in these areas. The interior seats have been removed and food racks have been put in place.

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Has anyone read the story of the exCTAFlxible #6000 that will be used to bring fresh fruits and veggies to economically depressed areas in Chicago?. Apparently the organization Food Desert Action purchased the retired CTA bus for a $1!

Must've played "Lucky 7" for it.... Hopefully, Bob Barker was the Auctioneer. :lol:

A Used Bus!!!

This is a 1995 Flxible Metro-E previously operated by the Chicago Transit Authority. This bus comes with Heating and Air Conditioning, Power Steering, Air Brakes, Optional LED Display, Alcoa Rims. It is powered by a Detroit Series-50 Diesel Engine & paired with a ZF Ecomat Transmission and Illinois Emission. This Bus can be yours.... if The Price Is Right!!!

Flxible-TPIR.bmp

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Has anyone read the story of the exCTAFlxible #6000 that will be used to bring fresh fruits and veggies to economically depressed areas in Chicago?...

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=CI4PFtRHL5M

It was discussed in this thread.

This is a 1995 Flxible Metro-E previously operated by the Chicago Transit Authority. This bus comes with ... This Bus can be yours.... if The Price Is Right!!!

Well, there was this guy fishing for Gilligs this morning. Maybe he wants something older but a bit higher in class.

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Well, there was this guy fishing for Gilligs this morning. Maybe he wants something older but a bit higher in class.

You know, what would be really funny to be given away for $1 on TPIR would be a NABI-60LFW. I could just see that...

This is a 2003 NABI 60-LFW previously operated by the Chicago Transit Authority. This Bus comes with Heating and Air Conditioning, Power Steering, Air Brakes, Kneeling System, Optional LED Display, Alcoa Rims, Rebuild Package 9-1-1, a lifetime supply of Duct Tape and Band-Aids. It is powered by a Cummins ISM Engine paired with a ZF Ecomat Transmission and Illinois Emission. This bus can be yours.... if The Price Is Right.

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You know, what would be really funny to be given away for $1 on TPIR would be a NABI-60LFW. I could just see that...

This is a 2003 NABI 60-LFW previously operated by the Chicago Transit Authority. This Bus comes with Heating and Air Conditioning, Power Steering, Air Brakes, Kneeling System, Optional LED Display, Alcoa Rims, Rebuild Package 9-1-1, a lifetime supply of Duct Tape and Band-Aids. It is powered by a Cummins ISM Engine paired with a ZF Ecomat Transmission and Illinois Emission. This bus can be yours.... if The Price Is Right.

I wish those 60ft Nabis werent lemons. I thought they were really good looking buses. Too bad they fell apart so fast and so soon. Its weird CTAs Nabi buses were falling apart so soon. The models Pace has seem to be holding up. At the least ours at Academy, theyre not giving us any more problems than any other buses.

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I wish those 60ft Nabis werent lemons. I thought they were really good looking buses. Too bad they fell apart so fast and so soon. Its weird CTAs Nabi buses were falling apart so soon. The models Pace has seem to be holding up. At the least ours at Academy, theyre not giving us any more problems than any other buses.

I think the biggest problem is that the NABI 60-LFW was terribly manufactured. PACE riders have complained about the

40-LFW suspensions. The 40-LFW's might be good, even the 45C-LFW, but NABI needs to get some help from New Flyer or M.A.N on how to make a good 60' Bus.

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I think the biggest problem is that the NABI 60-LFW was terribly manufactured. PACE riders have complained about the

40-LFW suspensions. The 40-LFW's might be good, even the 45C-LFW, but NABI needs to get some help from New Flyer or M.A.N on how to make a good 60' Bus.

Suspensions have always been a problem on most low floor transit buses since their inception in the late 1980s.

Nabi buses arent any more different than New Flyers or any other low floor model. I remember feeling the same bumps driving the NF 5800s. I wish we went back to high floor buses and ditch the low floor concept. It never worked!

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You know, what would be really funny to be given away for $1 on TPIR would be a NABI-60LFW. I could just see that...

This is a 2003 NABI 60-LFW previously operated by the Chicago Transit Authority. This Bus comes with Heating and Air Conditioning, Power Steering, Air Brakes, Kneeling System, Optional LED Display, Alcoa Rims, Rebuild Package 9-1-1, a lifetime supply of Duct Tape and Band-Aids. It is powered by a Cummins ISM Engine paired with a ZF Ecomat Transmission and Illinois Emission. This bus can be yours.... if The Price Is Right.

It probably will be in the game where Drew says "well, you got the first four numbers of the price, but is the fifth digit 2, 5, 7, 8, or 9? You said 5. Sorry, it's 7." The game doesn't get to the sixth digit. Then guest star Craig's friend Sid the Cussing Rabbit says, with a Hungarian flag over his mouth [bleep].

I think the biggest problem is that the NABI 60-LFW was terribly manufactured. PACE riders have complained about the

40-LFW suspensions. The 40-LFW's might be good, even the 45C-LFW, but NABI needs to get some help from New Flyer or M.A.N on how to make a good 60' Bus.

You better not mention that. There are NABI employees on this board that don't tolerate dissent.

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  • 3 weeks later...

More relevant to this subject is that the CTA Contract Opportunities Page includes an entry for Sale of Scrap Buses.

Cracking this open, it is for approximately 120 6000 series Flxible buses. I don't know if any of you have counts of how many are currently left, but it looks like the beginning of the end, and, probably to CTA Tattler's Kevin's dismay, no chance of restoring service to 2009 levels.

The bidder has to tow them as directed by the CTA storeroom at 7801 S. Vincennes, but may only scrap them. Also, CTA can ask that the wheels and tires be returned.

________________________

BTW, unlike Pace proposals, this is a scanned pdf, not a computer generated one. Didn't Huberman leave computers at the CTA?

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More relevant to this subject is that the CTA Contract Opportunities Page includes an entry for Sale of Scrap Buses.

Cracking this open, it is for approximately 120 6000 series Flxible buses. I don't know if any of you have counts of how many are currently left, but it looks like the beginning of the end, and, probably to CTA Tattler's Kevin's dismay, no chance of restoring service to 2009 levels.

The bidder has to tow them as directed by the CTA storeroom at 7801 S. Vincennes, but may only scrap them. Also, CTA can ask that the wheels and tires be returned.

Ok, so say for example I was a bidder... I win a bid for Scrap Bus # 5 of 120. I have to pay a towing company to pick up Bus #5 of 120 at Archer Garage, have them tow it to 7801 S. Vincennes just to scrap what I bought??? It makes no sense!!! I paid money for that scrap bus, so why shouldn't I just take that bus, rehab that Detroit Series-50 Engine(Cummins M11 if #5 of 120 was 6305-6329), maybe give it a fresh paint job and make it a RV. That just sounds so stupid to spend money on a bus where it's yours until it gets to 7801 S. Vincennes, then it becomes the junkyards'...

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Ok, so say for example I was a bidder... I win a bid for Scrap Bus # 5 of 120. I have to pay a towing company to pick up Bus #5 of 120 at Archer Garage, have them tow it to 7801 S. Vincennes just to scrap what I bought??? It makes no sense!!! I paid money for that scrap bus, so why shouldn't I just take that bus, rehab that Detroit Series-50 Engine(Cummins M11 if #5 of 120 was 6305-6329), maybe give it a fresh paint job and make it a RV. That just sounds so stupid to spend money on a bus where it's yours until it gets to 7801 S. Vincennes, then it becomes the junkyards'...

CTA said to contact whoever runs the storeroom at 7801 S. Vincennes to inspect and pick up your buses. Since the bid documents say that all the fluids, batteries, and freon are out (remember, just about any bus previously put into scrap status has painted on it SCRAP and DEFUELED, and there were also reports here that they cut the brake and fuel lines), no, you tow it to your scrapyard (at I guess 93rd and Ewing if you are that successful bidder) and scrap it there.

I didn't mention, but the bid documents did, that

  • In both the rail car and bus documents, the bid is plus or minus the (George)Scrap Iron (Kadasky*) index (actually the American Metal Market index).
  • There is a representation that the buses are purchased for scrap metal only, and all equipment is accepted as is,** CTA makes no representation about the condition of the buses, and there is no representation that CTA will recondition the buses or their parts.
  • The buses are not sold by unit (as in the Pace bids; what's your bid for 2339), but by scale tonnage.

So, it is clear that CTA is not assuming the liability that someone wants to reuse its junk.

The only thing that isn't clear is whether CTA will drive the bus from Archer to 77th for the defueling, and the junk dealer picks it up from 77th. However, that is the implication, since Archer is never mentioned.

___________

*Actually, a jobber wrestler from the AWA days. As they said when he died, "he fought the best," but didn't say that he lost to all of them.

** Again, this reminds me when the MBTA was sucessfully sued when someone was hurt restoring one of its streetcars.

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