Old Trolley Film

[trainman8119]

For our trolley buffs, I found a You Tube video of the last days of

the CTA trolleys from 1972. It is about 45 minutes long, appears that

it was taken with an old 9mm film camera. It is a little dark on the

contrast, but I have watched about 10 minutes of it so far. It is really

cool to see the old trolleys, which the first 6 minutes show along

Fullerton at the Howard L station, Central terminal and Cicero.

It brings back memories of the old neighborhood to me. The next few

minutes are at the old North Ave garage, with buses on the street and

some good scenes of the old yard. Although the video is about trolleys,

I have noticed some 3700's, an old look GM work bus, and some old

Twins. You can see what would be a fairly new fishbowl on Central

heading north by Hanson Staduim.

The quality is nothing like it is today. Most numbers are hard to read

as are destination signs. I am looking forward to getting back into it

when I have a little more time.

I thought the group would appreciate something like this, especially

newbies who may not remember these classics.

Here is the link, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcxGKmTAnVc

[xpat-chicagoan]

Thank you for posting this link. I loved riding the trolley buses when I was a kid. I remember being afraid to jump off the step one time. I must only have been three years old at the time, as I also remember walking home from the bus stop with my mother. We moved away from Belmont and Overhill in 1967 when I was 3 and there were no trolleys within walking distance of Higgins and Nagle.

What I find amazing the is lack of traffic. Can you imagine a CTA bus whizzing down the street today? Fullerton, Central, and Cicero are always packed with cars when I visit.

Thanks again for the memories.

[Guest]

For our trolley buffs, I found a You Tube video of the last days of

the CTA trolleys from 1972. It is about 45 minutes long, appears that

it was taken with an old 9mm film camera. It is a little dark on the

contrast, but I have watched about 10 minutes of it so far. It is really

cool to see the old trolleys, which the first 6 minutes show along

Fullerton at the Howard L station, Central terminal and Cicero.

It brings back memories of the old neighborhood to me. The next few

minutes are at the old North Ave garage, with buses on the street and

some good scenes of the old yard. Although the video is about trolleys,

I have noticed some 3700's, an old look GM work bus, and some old

Twins. You can see what would be a fairly new fishbowl on Central

heading north by Hanson Staduim.

The quality is nothing like it is today. Most numbers are hard to read

as are destination signs. I am looking forward to getting back into it

when I have a little more time.

I thought the group would appreciate something like this, especially

newbies who may not remember these classics.

Here is the link, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcxGKmTAnVc

Wow! great find! Theres a possibility that my dad could be in one of these shots. He was hired by CTA in Sept. 1972 and began working out of North Ave. He used to tell me many stories about the Mar/Herr. trolley coaches he drove. He did work #74 Fullerton often in his early days. Seeing the North Ave Garage brings back some great memories for me. I remember walking through the facility with my dad, in and around the station many times in the mid to late 1970s. By then the trolleys as well as overhead wires were gone. The garage mainly operated the then brand new GMC 5307s. North ave. got GMC buses #1330 to #1524, as well as the #3700 series Flxibles and a few GMC #300s. Later the GMC buses, starting with the #9100/9550 series were sent to that garage. In 1983, North ave. was next in line behind Beverly Garage to recieve the Flyer D901, they got #9850-#9929. In 1986, North ave closed for rebuilding sending Routes #57,65,66,70,72,73 and #74 to Kedzie with the 9500 series buses. Lawndale was of course reopened, they got Routes #53 Pulaski and #54 Cicero along with the #9100 and some #9550 series GMCs. Routes #76, #77 and #86 went to Forest Glen with the Flyers, supplementing the #9930-9974/#1600-1624 series that FGlen had recieved. Around this time FGlen also got Flyer #9844 from Beverly. I remember that bus was equipped with a Cummins Diesel. It had an awesome sound to it!!! Of course with all the typical pigheaded Chicago politics, the CTA scrapped their plans for the North ave. site and rebuilt the new facility what is now today's Chicago Ave. Garage. When Chicago opened in 1994, all of the original North ave. Gar. routes, with the exception of Routes #77 and #86, went to Chicago Ave. Route #76 Diversey was also reassigned from FG to Chicago ave as well. Routes #77 Belmont and #86 Narragansett remained permanantly assigned to FG. My dad went to FG after the North ave. closing in 1986. When Chicago opened for business he decided to remain at FG where he spent another 14 years! He retired in 1998, not long after my one year mark at CTA! . I wish there was some way to get this onto a dvd. According to the YouTube acct. this video is from Jerry Saunders who is a CTA rail employee and a volunteer at IRM. You usually see him driving the trolley coaches there.

[Busjack]

... He did work #74 Fullerton often in his early days. Seeing the North Ave Garage brings back some great memories for me...I wish there was some way to get this onto a dvd.

Thanks for mentioning Fullerton, because at first I didn't recognize the L station at the beginning. The Cicero-Montrose loop and North-Cicero barn were more discernible.

As far as getting a DVD, copyright issues aside, and they probably are for private use, you could download it and burn one (assuming you have Real Player or even a Windows Media player) and a writable DVD disk, and a computer with a writable DVD drive (most newer ones have one, for no other reason, than to back up the recovery partition).

There is a surreal element to the film, in that it is silent, and hence the trolley buses appear to be silently gliding along the street.

[Guest]

Thanks for mentioning Fullerton, because at first I didn't recognize the L station at the beginning. The Cicero-Montrose loop and North-Cicero barn were more discernible.

As far as getting a DVD, copyright issues aside, and they probably are for private use, you could download it and burn one (assuming you have Real Player or even a Windows Media player) and a writable DVD disk, and a computer with a writable DVD drive (most newer ones have one, for no other reason, than to back up the recovery partition).

There is a surreal element to the film, in that it is silent, and hence the trolley buses appear to be silently gliding along the street.

Just seeing the North ave. footage just broought back memories! I remember so much of that place! I wish I had taken photos but I was too young to own a camera! :)

[RJL6000]

Great find! Also noted is the fact that after the electric trolley bus fleet was retired, the CTA sold 124 of the buses to Guadalajara, Mexico.

[sw4400]

It's not old footage, but here is Electric Trolley bus #9553, the last electric bus to be used in 1973 by the CTA being taken for a short ride around IRM.

#9553 @ IRM

[Guest]

It's not old footage, but here is Electric Trolley bus #9553, the last electric bus to be used in 1973 by the CTA being taken for a short ride around IRM.

#9553 @ IRM

My dad drove the Marmons out of North ave. from Sept. 72 to the end in 1973. Six months before my dad passed in 2003, I took him to IRM to ride the CTA Marmons. It was his first and would be his last time ever to ride those buses. He was very excited to have had the chance to step aboard and ride those buses just once more! He used to tell me many stories about them. :)