MAN Artic's

[T8H5307A]

I thought is was very good,did you attach the camera to the hand rail inside by the front doors?

No rubber-banded it to the Mobile Data Terminal box!

[nflyer22]

That building and picture was just west of Archer and Canal. The building was the former Cueno Press building.

That bldg was used in the final scene of the movie Backdraft where Kurt Russell's character and Scott Glen's character died in the fire/explosion.

Thanks to both of you for the information.

[ChicagoChinatown]

TBH5307A, thanks for sharing the picture, it brought back a lot of memories. MAN Bus 7143, 7169, & 7183 were all at the Archer garage, mostly serving either as 62 Archer Express, 99 Stevenson Express, 99M Midway Express, 162 Pulaski Express, or 164 Narragansett Express. I remembered how the rear door will simply slide out to the side by simply pressing the handle bar, nothing like the new "Class Sensing System" that CTA is currently using (find it take more effort to open the rear door, then on the current Nova buses on the Archer route). And, one can never forget the hum of the engine plus the air pressure release, that one can not compare to the current NABI or the New Flyer articulated buses.

Right after the Midway line open in 1993, that when I saw all the Express buses, including the MAN buses slowly disappearing from the Archer garage. And, the Archer garage has never seen an articulated bus since the MAN bus retirement in the early-to-mid 90's.

Man Bus 7219 sat at Archer / Ashland junk yard for many years right after the accident, near the mouth of the westbound entrance of I-55 on Ashland. It was the only MAN bus that sat along with other retired and wrecked State police car before it finally met the metal scrapper in the mid 90's.

Still, are there any existing MAN series 7100-7200 buses (not the Seattle MAN buses) that are preserved or hidden somewhere in some CTA garage, or have they all been scrapped?

Off topic, for the Cuneo Press Building between Cermak Rd & Archer, there were some talk in mid-to-late 80's in converting the building into something (probably loft), but the building caught fire, because of hundredth of used tires were stored in the building, pretty much left the building in a huge mess right after the fire, resulting in building demise right after filming Backdraft. However, the western portion of the building still stand (minus the connecting bridge). I tend to go around there sometime, including 18th street, great area for train watching.

[mbta9244]

Here. My first attempt of a deadhead video for you. Going to South Shops. I took this with my digital camera and makeshift camera retention system (rubberbands), So any bumps from the lovely streets in Chicago are depicted in this video also! Enjoy!

I just tried to view that video and it seems to have been removed. Has it been moved somewhere else? Sounds quite interesting from the above description! Please let me know and thanks.

Also, another question about MAN Articulated buses. Now I am aware that the CTA picked up over 100 Ex-Seattle MAN Articulateds, but what I am wondering is if anyone has the list of the former seattle fleet numbers and what fleet numbers each unit became in the CTA fleet. Right now, all I have found is that they were numbered 7300-7413. I looked around this board to see if this info was posted at all, but maybe I have not looked hard enough. Thanks.

Edited February 3, 2011 by mbta9244

[BusHunter]

I just tried to view that video and it seems to have been removed. Has it been moved somewhere else? Sounds quite interesting from the above description! Please let me know and thanks.

Also, another question about MAN Articulated buses. Now I am aware that the CTA picked up over 100 Ex-Seattle MAN Articulateds, but what I am wondering is if anyone has the list of the former seattle fleet numbers and what fleet numbers each unit became in the CTA fleet. Right now, all I have found is that they were numbered 7300-7413. I looked around this board to see if this info was posted at all, but maybe I have not looked hard enough. Thanks.

I posted that info about the former #7300's fleet numbers in seattle as well as their livery while they were CTA buses. You can find that info under "Seattle MAN Artics?" in the CTA general discussion thread (page 4) on the forum page or simply type #7344 in the search engine. It should pop up. Many thanks to Andrethebusman for helping me complete my list. I was missing about 10 to 15 buses at the time. Now if I could only get a bicentennial bus fleet list, I'd be very happy. :lol:

[mbta9244]

I posted that info about the former #7300's fleet numbers in seattle as well as their livery while they were CTA buses. You can find that info under "Seattle MAN Artics?" in the CTA general discussion thread (page 4) on the forum page or simply type #7344 in the search engine. It should pop up. Many thanks to Andrethebusman for helping me complete my list. I was missing about 10 to 15 buses at the time. Now if I could only get a bicentennial bus fleet list, I'd be very happy.

WOW! Very nice listing and thanks to both of you. This is great! Very much appreciated.

[New Flyer]

The seattle artics were 2100s isaw the number on one being brought in from an overpass, CTA gave them 73,74s to go with the 71,72s we had in service

[Guest ctafan630]

The Man artic demo shows one additional exit on the right side in the front portion of the bus. Does anyone know if it was MAN that made the change to eliminate that additioanl exit door or was that a CTA decision?

[Busjack]

The Man artic demo shows one additional exit on the right side in the front portion of the bus. Does anyone know if it was MAN that made the change to eliminate that additioanl exit door or was that a CTA decision?

European buses have all sorts of doors on the side. Some have more doors than windows. MAN artics I have seen in other cities have a similar configuration (exit door only in the back compartment), and the Seattle ones that came here (7300s) were no different.

There wasn't any Standard Bus Spec. then, and I am fairly sure no one has a CTA one dated about 1982 now.

BTW, the original sketches on the NABI website for the 60LFW indicated an exit door in the front compartment and a high floor before the joint, but, obviously, no such bus was ever constructed.

[BusHunter]

The Man artic demo shows one additional exit on the right side in the front portion of the bus. Does anyone know if it was MAN that made the change to eliminate that additioanl exit door or was that a CTA decision?

ultimately, that decision should rest with the purchaser. It all depends how the transit agency would want there service to appear. If they want faster boarding and exiting they would purchase the 3 door model, but this would require an operator to control three doors, with more of a chance of an accident or a person trying to steal a free ride. The three door model actually fits in better in a paid fare boarding area. This way no fares are collected there and the operator can basically just drive the bus and open/close doors. Also this would be considered a high traffic boarding area and the three doors would speed up the boarding. ( like an "L" stop) Possibly the reasoning behind why most European buses have more doors, would be more riders tend to ride the bus/train than here in America and they are attempting to speed boarding.

[Busjack]

The Man artic demo shows one additional exit on the right side in the front portion of the bus. Does anyone know if it was MAN that made the change to eliminate that additioanl exit door or was that a CTA decision?

BTW, if you mean the Baron von Steuben which was demonstrated in Chicago around 1974, Krambles's book said that it was diverted from Dusseldorf production. I'm not aware of any MANs in service in the U.S. that didn't have the bump for the headsign in the front, nor did have a bump for the side sign, as that bus did.

Also, in the early 80s, various foreign manufacturers were demonstrating product in the U.S. I remember a Hino bus in upstate New York, with a sign saying that it did not meet U.S. standards (among other things, the seats were too small). There was also a traveling Crown-Ikarus, which, as the Orion III in Toronto, turned out to be a rust bucket. The only thing that seemed to be successful from that tour was a MAN articulated.

[Guest ctafan630]

Thanks Busjack and Bushunter for that information. I didnt think an extra person would be necessary to operate the second set of exit doors, but I do feel the extra door would slow down service as Bushunter mentioned.

[BusHunter]

Thanks Busjack and Bushunter for that information. I didnt think an extra person would be necessary to operate the second set of exit doors, but I do feel the extra door would slow down service as Bushunter mentioned.

I didn't mean that an addition worker would be required, moreless that the operation of the three doors by one operator would ultimately slow them down or distract them if they were messing with fares too. Kind of similar to the motorman, conductor setup on the "L". It was faster when it was two people.

[artthouwill]

I didn't mean that an addition worker would be required, moreless that the operation of the three doors by one operator would ultimately slow them down or distract them if they were messing with fares too. Kind of similar to the motorman, conductor setup on the "L". It was faster when it was two people.

Not necessarily. Vegas used to operate the three door artics on the strip (on the express route, not the local). It worked really well.

[MetroShadow]

Not necessarily. Vegas used to operate the three door artics on the strip (on the express route, not the local). It worked really well.

But that's assuming they are enforcing the tickets. I was on the Express in October and didn't really see any enforcement on those routes.

This might deviate slightly but on the 7300's, they had a sign on the back door that says "During Rush Hour board here" which might assume they had a board-first, pay later policy. Is there any logic or approach to this?

[chitowndude84]

SF Muni's Neoplan artics have 3 doors,And it works very well on boarding and de-boarding.But it creates a problem of "Dishonest" folks who enter through the back door's without paying.It's a risk they take with SF transit cops and a $75 fine !!!

[Busjack]

This might deviate slightly but on the 7300's, they had a sign on the back door that says "During Rush Hour board here" which might assume they had a board-first, pay later policy. Is there any logic or approach to this?

If you are referring to LV, I don't know. Rochester NY used to have that kind of system in that it allowed a free ride in the downtown area, and then enforcement of zone fares for suburban rides. However, that was at all times.