Last Howard-95th, First Howard-Ashland/63

[nflyer22]

Strangely enough, run 838 shows that it has wandered off toward Cottage Grove. Add this to the list of glitches, unless the operator unknowingly went onto the Cottage Grove branch.

Edit: Looks like I have a near exact shot of what you described previously, jtrosario.

[jtrosario]

Oops... train tracker shows R838 at King/East 63rd going to Cottage Grove. Did the train actually get sent down the wrong track or does train tracker have the same logic as the automated 59th switch? (where every other train alternates from East 63rd to West 63rd branches)

[nflyer22]

Darn I took too much time editing my picture.

Yes it looks like it's on the wrong branch. I don't think it's that automated, where it switches between every other train blindly, but automatic where the switch will select the proper route based on the destination and cab signals of the particular run.

[jtrosario]

Strangely enough, run 838 shows that it has wandered off toward Cottage Grove. Add this to the list of glitches, unless the operator unknowingly went onto the Cottage Grove branch.

redline.jpg

Edit: Looks like I have a near exact shot of what you described previously, jtrosario.

Thanks for the screen shot. Yes that's R826 and R836 next to each other. That's the ONLY time that could happen until a possibility of the same happening SB 5 months from now during the change back to the Dan Ryan.

[jtrosario]

What the...? Train tracker was just showing R837 NB "Delayed" just before 59th junction, R838 still sitting at King Drive on the East 63rd Green branch, and R840 "Delayed" SB just before 59th junction.

Then R837 disappears and R838 is moving backwards(reverse operation), meaning the arrow is pointing South but moving North on the map.

Edit 2:42am: R838 showed up NB just before Garfield, and now is SB on the West 63rd branch. Looks like R838 really did take an improper turn. I would have thought that after the last Green Cottage Grove run that the points would be set overnight to the Ashland branch until Green line service resumes.

[nflyer22]

Looks like 838 did take an improper turn. I saw what you described and it looked like it was "backing" up north into a crossover to switch back onto southbound tracks and now it looks like it's back on its way.

[chicagopcclcar]

You guys are pretty good...and so is the Train Trackers. I'll explain in the morning. It did happen what you said happen.

[renardo870]

Englewood Howard is back along with Jackson Park Lake* The A and B trains are running along the South Side Main between 63rd and Roosevelt! ! Wow

[renardo870]

Englewood Howard is back along with Jackson Park Lake* The A and B trains are running along the South Side Main between 63rd and Roosevelt! ! Wow

[chicagopcclcar]

Rode the first train to Ashland/63 from Howard. Control insisted the last and the first trains be 5000 equipment. I guess in case there were TV cameras....there weren't!! Here's the last schedued departure, run 928, it left very late due to door problems.

It left, finally with a blaze of red!

The next train set was 2600s which people flocked onto. Took Howard yard over ten minutes to get another 5000 set around the turn-back. Loaded the 5000, including people on the 2600, we left about 15 minutes late, with no signs, ran express from Loyola to Addison. Finally got "Ashland/63" signage up. At Roosevelt many people panicked, when announcements said we were going to Ashland/63. Unfortunately there was no announcement that there was "no more Ryan service and how to change to shuttle at Garfield. Picked up two supervisors/managers. Green line train to Ashland was put ahead of us at 17th St. 59th St. was evidently unmanned, the Ashland train had taken way the lineup. Took the three people in the cab five minutes to finally select our way. Ashland yard has trainsets stashed at the east end of the yard...leaving yard only 10th filled. Got off at Garfield NB. A shuttle departed while we were there.

[chicagopcclcar]

Overheard the crew's radios saying a Red line went the wrong way...Run 838 with 2600s. Jumped in the car and went searching for it.....found it on the curve at East 63rd going NB with "Howard" signs and empty. Lo and behold, it passed at 61st running "wrong main"...I think there is work at 61st yard, but out of service time so not public notice. It went NB through 59th and then reversed and went SB correctly to Englewood branch. I joked with top management I ran into on the street, "What's this...A do-over? A make-over?" ( I can't mention names, LOL) I'm theorizing the 2600s were planned to be a lay-up at Ashland.

Here's the way-ward Run 838 of 2600s at 61st St. yard and cleary seen from the alley, runnng 'wrong main."

And someone mentioned the junction....59th does not recognize trains by line, its one of the oldest automatics still in operation. So if on automatic, it alternates giving routes to Cottage and to Ashland. If the incorrect route is displayed you cancel and select what you want.

[chicagopcclcar]

Congratulations to two posters....jtrosario and nflyer22. You've answered a back room question at the CTA and restored a long-time operational question...."Can an eight car train fit into Cottage Grove." I re-read this topic from end to end and thanks to your discussions, I don't believe the errant first-day Ashland/63 red line train ever made it to Cottage Grove. Based on your postings, the train unloaded at King Drive and turned south to north there. Several folks had surmised that the train had made it all the way and had ended the mythical question "Can an eight car fit...."But your accounts and your photos of Train Tracker says that the train turned at King Drive and ran wrong main back to 59th St. Jct. I took photos by that time and waited over ten minutes for the train to clear the yard. Maybe they tried to select back to the NB track and couldn't. A supervisor by then was manning the tower and routed the errant train through the crossover at 59th. I don't think that routing is "selectable." Then the errant train turned south and used normal selectable routing aided by the tower. And you guys saw it all. One result, rail control within a day, added to its hourly and half-hour annoucements that all red and green line operators must use extra care to insure they had the correct route through interlockings. Which raises another question.....in the early years of the rehabbed Green line, there were a few eight car trains NB. Did they originate only at Ashland/63. Or were there putouts from 61st St. Rats! More investigational research.

[nflyer22]

Thanks to you chicagopcclcar as always on your proficient knowledge of the 'L' and its history. It would have been nice to ride that maiden trip coming out of Howard yard that night, particularly because that first trip was run with 5000 series equipment (don't get me wrong, I like them to some extent), but it was rather late for someone like me to be riding along the south Green/Red Line branch at the time.

As mentioned before on the forum, I cannot wait to see the finished product come October.

[chicagopcclcar]

Which raises another question.....in the early years of the rehabbed Green line, there were a few eight car trains NB. Did they originate only at Ashland/63. Or were there putouts from 61st St. Rats! More investigational research.

Well, that wasn't too hard.....those rare eight car northbounds in the pm rush on the Green line a few months after it reopened, all originated at Ashland/63.