chicagopcclcar Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 This announcement appeared today describing an upcoming charter trip on the 'L' featuring two types of equipment operating on a two-part charter. (No the two types will not be operated together) If you are interested, invest in some warm clothing, LOL. You know Chicago's weather! DH CERA Inspection Trip #206 - November 18, 2012, approx. 1030-1730 hours Join us for a one-of-a-kind inspection tour, highlighting what’s been and what’s to come on Chicago’s famous and storied ‘L’! This two-part event will begin with the Budd-built CTA 2200-series railcars and finish with an afternoon with the brand-new Bombardier-built CTA 5000-series railcars with all sorts of new technology, including Chicago’s first AC motors, digital signage and a whole lot more. Expect to learn plenty and have fun enjoying a trip on private, chartered train cars. Enjoy a ride and photo opportunities over multiple parts of the system (including some non-revenue track, because we know you expect nothing less!) with both series of cars, visiting stations both old and new! Routes we’ll visit include parts of the Blue, Green, Pink, Orange and Red Lines, with a lunch stop scheduled in-between. Reserve your seat today before tickets sell out! Space is limited! Registration Form Name: ____________________________ E-mail: ________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________ Phone: __________________________ No. of tickets: ______ CERA # ______ Preferred contact: ( ) Phone ( ) E-mail ( ) Mail Cost: $42/person, send check/money order, to: CERA, PO BOX 503, CHICAGO, IL 60690 Notes: Registration must be mailed by Nov. 13. Details are subject to change. Tentative meeting location is Jefferson Park, CTA Blue Line before 1015. A complete, final schedule, including confirmed meeting place will be sent to you by your preferred contact method at least a week in advance, and also be posted to cera-chicago.org and CERA’s message line at +1 (312) 987-4391. If you have special considerations we should be aware of, such as limited mobility, please let us know on a separate sheet and we’ll try to arrange accommodations. Note 2200s are not wheelchair-accessible. CERA membership not required to participate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted November 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 My confirmation notice contained the following information that space is still available for CERA's Inspection Charter, Sunday, Nov. 18. TIME: Check-in begins at 9:45am, please arrive before 10:15--train leaves at 10:30am DATE: Sunday, November 18, 2012 LOCATION: Jefferson Park CTA Blue Line station 4917 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60630 Meet in fare payment area to check in and receive your ticket. If you have any questions, please e-mail info@cera-chicago.org or call 312-987-4391 to leave us a message. If you need to contact us at the last minute, or have any last minute sign-ups that would like to just pay on the day of the event, you may e-mail the tour director, Tony Coppoletta, at tony@coppoletta.net or call him directly at 312-685-2446 to confirm availability. Room is still available on this tour, so if you would like to bring a friend, you may arrive, with payment, on the day of the tour. Please just let us know by e-mail or phone. David Harrison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 Great comment on Grid Chicago made by "edgewater roadie": Riders on the tour will be able to see that the seats on the CTA's oldest cars are exactly the same as the seats on the CTA's newest cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 Great comment on Grid Chicago made by "edgewater roadie": They may be now, but they certainly weren't in 1969, when they were padded black leather seats. So things have progressively declined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
See Tea Eh Posted November 15, 2012 Report Share Posted November 15, 2012 The seats themselves may be "exactly the same," they're just arranged differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Above average temperature and above average sunshine for a Chicago mid-November made it a perfect day for CERA's inspection charters, Sunday, Nov. 18. The group assembled at Jefferson Park on the Blue line and the four-car 2200 series charter train ran lite from Rosemont yard, picking up several ticket holders at Rosemont who maxed-out their ride. An eight-car road train two leaders ahead had left Jeff Park previously with yellow brake lights on the 6th and 7th cars and promptly broke down again so that the charter and its leader went nowhere fast. Fortunately the BO train was turned and crossed over, clearing up the railroad. The first photo stop was at Belmont in the Kimball cut and cover subway, a part of three planned photo stops in recognition that the 2200s have spent their entire lives on a select few routes: The West-Northwest-AKA Congress/Douglas/Milwaukee, The West-South-AKA Lake/Dan Ryan, and the current Blue line. The next photo-opt was on the West-South route.....Ashland on Lake Street. I remember teaching during the days when the West-South ran 2000 Pullmans with the silver Budds. Kids that had misbehaved were"on the wall" at recess, but if they were lucky in a little math excercise...if they could correctly guess the combination of the next 'L' train roaring by; two silver pairs or two green and white pairs or one of each, they were "pardoned." We used the "loop the Green" turn at Tower 18 to go around the Loop and at 17th St. we had to select since our cars didn't have Orange line transponders. Two more junctions and we were headed south on the Ryan. The photographers deboarded at Sox-35th and then the charter went to the middle track at 59th St. to turn and return for a pickup of the photogs. Then it was back to the Loop for a lunch dropoff at Madison/Wabash on the outer Loop. Photogs were reminded this might be their last opportunity to photograph this station. Our operator gave us one last runby by circling the Loop running lite, before he returned the train to Rosemont. Our supervisors called the second operator and scheduled his departure from Harlem/Lake allowing for us to get an hour lunch. David Harrison 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 The group assembles after lunch at the Madison/Wabash inner platform. Our first operator had been selected because he was the winner of the CTA Rail Rodeo competition. The runner-up winner operated the four-car charter of Green line 5000s that picked us all up. The afternoon photostops were planned to highlight the Bombardier cars in places they are not found today and we are off to the Orange line's 35th/Archer where the photogs might get the 5000s on the high up curve at Archer and Western Aves. I've heard the Bombardier's have transponders, but evidently they are not operator controlled because we stop at 17th St. junction again and manually select our way through, out onto the Orange line. After dropping the photogs, we go into the next middle track. Some of the riders are probably used to railroad practices where a far-off dispatcher remotely controls signals and switches, for they seem amazed that the CTA operator uses wayside selectors to set up our route after the "road train" passes. We settle in for a long ride as our next photo stop is at Oakton/Skokie on the Yellow line. Clark Tower puts us onto track three and we follow regular Red line trains. At Granville we enter the weekend reroute that puts us onto the normal southbound track two. Now its 15 MPH against traffic to Howard. The narrator had pointed out the quick acceleration when we were on the Orange line tracks, that quickness is again noted on the Yellow line. I have a nephew who is a train engineer for the Union Pacific and he remarked that he's noticed from the railroad alongside Lake Street that the new 'L' cars accelerate quickly. "You haven't been trying to race the 'L' with an intermodal?" I asked. He laughed and admitted that he does race the Metras. Oakton strikes me as a station designed for platform extension in the future. The charter goes on to Dempster/Skokie to turn and come back and pick us up. Coming northbound, our supervisor has cautioned all flagging crews to expect us to come south on track one. At Granville we wait for the hand throws to be aligned. Our next photo stop is also another "station soon to be removed...Wilson Ave. And its not just the platform on track one, I catch a Red line train leaving the regular platforms, again in a view that has only some time remaining. Leaving Wilson, we have only one more photo stop, another new station, Morgan on Lake Street. The inspection trip ends there which is different then most charters...you are not returned to the starting point. We make a courtesy stop at Clark/Lake and after noting that only seven people left the train there, Tony Coppoletta, tour organizer proclaims over the train PA to all of us remaining, " You guys are my very best of friends." David Harrison 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SE CTA Fan Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 David: Thanks for the trip report and pictures. I couldn't make it due to some prior engagements, and was really bummed about that. I have got to get up to Wilson before the demo starts on that to get some pictures. Any hints on equipment for the Snowflake Special? Thanks Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 David: Thanks for the trip report and pictures. I couldn't make it due to some prior engagements, and was really bummed about that. I have got to get up to Wilson before the demo starts on that to get some pictures. Any hints on equipment for the Snowflake Special? Thanks Terry There would be only four series to choose from and the 5000s lose seating capacity. Plus you can't see out the windows, except for four seats. You can't even see out the front, thanks to that big equipment box in the left hand side of the cab. I would hope if deliveries are slowing down, that they're re-engineering that seating up in Plattsburgh, NY. Washington METRO seats are traverse and mounted to the wall, so it IS possible. DH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 An eight-car road train two leaders ahead had left Jeff Park previously with yellow brake lights on the 6th and 7th cars and promptly broke down again so that the charter and its leader went nowhere fast. Was this an in service Blue Line train, or was this one of the "L" Charter 2200's breaking down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Was this an in service Blue Line train, or was this one of the "L" Charter 2200's breaking down? In-service road train. In fact, you posted about it when it happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 In-service road train. In fact, you posted about it when it happened. I forgot completely about that rail alert I posted... :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 In-service road train. In fact, you posted about it when it happened. Now that is a real coincedence, LOL!! When we came down to the platform at Jeff Park, the eight-car southbound was sitting there with all doors open. My trained, but retired nose told me , "I smell brakes." But no one was scurrying around, all excited and worried so I played if off. After sitting there for about five minutes they closed up and took off and that's when I noticed the two brake lights. The charter was second to arrive and we boarded and left Jeff Park and slowed and stopped just short of the Milwaukee Metra crossing. Normally I'm involved on charters and would be up in the front cab, but Sunday I was along just for the ride. I was surprised that they crossed the BO train over and turned it. I don't know if this is normal practice nowadays. The next place they could have removed the train would be the Morgan Middle way the other side of downtown. By the way, Morgan Middle will be real busy when the new schedule goes in. I've heard that there will be a BIG increase in turning back road trains on the weekends, all day, and not just in the am. rush. More from the CTA later, probably. DH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 Some photos from the trip: More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zolk/sets/72157632064805679/detail/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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