jajuan Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 True... but those are in service/revenue parts of the CTA you are talking about here. Of course they're going to keep those as clean and tagged-free as possible. I think you're wrong here. The Ironworkers buses don't sit all day and night at the work sites. I've visually seen Flyers and Flxibles at work sites in the past during the daytime, and when the work is done for the day, they drive them back to the storage area they are parked at. These 2200's are out of service railcars used by Switchmen as a locker room/breakroom. I doubt they will clean a 44-year old railcar up that's going to be scrapped and waste supplies and manpower that could be used to clean revenue service railcars, stations, platforms, substations, walls on inclines, signal huts and embankment walls. Have you seen IRM's 2000-Series railcars that have been tagged? They look pretty bad and attempting removal just caused significant damage to their paint scheme so IRM just left them alone. Photos © Chicago-l.org And regardless of if the cars 44 years old or older than dirt, their present use is as some form of facilities for a group of CTA's employees and as I said above I have yet to see CTA leave any of its worker facilities be they garages, storage facility buildings or what have you marked up with graffiti for more than a few days. If they can go through what expense it cost to reconfigure and wire those cars in place for their present use they can clean up the graffiti the same as they've done at any other CTA facilities. Or do you think they're going to keep a quad of 5000s or other series set of cars that can be used for transporting passengers parked next to those 2200s next what will almost be four and a half months? A big waste of use for four revenue rail cars don't you think when they've already shown at minimum they want to keep the graffiti out of sight when the easier option is to just remove it and be done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted June 9, 2013 Report Share Posted June 9, 2013 Or do you think they're going to keep a quad of 5000s or other series set of cars that can be used for transporting passengers parked next to those 2200s next what will almost be four and a half months? A big waste of use for four revenue rail cars don't you think when they've already shown at minimum they want to keep the graffiti out of sight when the easier option is to just remove it and be done with it. I think that's likely the scenario. There are always going to be 4-car sets of railcars that are not in use because they need repair or are spares, and they can replace the 4-car set that is currently parked there if need be. Cheaper(no cost to park railcars next to them), less time consuming(takes only a few minutes to park them, where it might take several hours to attempt to safely remove the tagging without damaging the railcars), and does the same job as removing the tagging(keeps it out of sight of the public eye). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted June 10, 2013 Report Share Posted June 10, 2013 I think that's likely the scenario. There are always going to be 4-car sets of railcars that are not in use because they need repair or are spares, and they can replace the 4-car set that is currently parked there if need be. Cheaper(no cost to park railcars next to them), less time consuming(takes only a few minutes to park them, where it might take several hours to attempt to safely remove the tagging without damaging the railcars), and does the same job as removing the tagging(keeps it out of sight of the public eye). And it's still easier to just remove the attempt at art than keep up the ridiculous musical chairs of trying to hide it with a set of four cars for the next four months. And you overlook one detail in your IRM comparison of their attempt at removing graffiti from a set of 2000s. The 2200s have no exterior markings to damage. And it's probably fair to say CTA has different equipment for removing graffiti. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted June 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Here's an end-of-the-fourth-week report on the 2200 series trainroom at 61st St. yard. My comments are not meant to start more arguments....I'm simply telling what I know personally. You can believe it and hope or you can not believe it....I guess four weeks of history is on your side. Time will tell. And while I'm on my soapbox, this post is blocked by one person, but I don't give a good ......... The graffiti was evidently done on day one. Today, I understand, tracks two and three are unoccupied, so its there for all to see, especially on NB Green line trains from Cottage Grove. However certain personnel at the CTA are making this a personal challenge and they say they will see this effort through to the end.....the removal of the graffiti. Problem so far has been, "is the 2200s trainroom a structure or rail cars?" The structure people say it's a rail car that it's their problem (rail)...the rail car people say it's a structure and it's their problem. Notice I used the correct homonym "their." And I hope you see the humor in the debate about whose problem it is. The cars do have their trolley shoes tied up and they're blocked. They are also tied into house current and other connections. So if the trolley shoes are let back down and contact the 600 v., the cars maybe can run. The carpenters evidently built a wooden enclosure around the third rail along the entire length of the two 2200s, so the rail probably is alive or can be made live. But the fact that individuals are taking this on shows why I resent wholeheartedly when people try to paint the CTA in a broad brush stroke as being naturally bad, inept, liars, etc. There are too many good people at the CTA for their work to be brushed aside like that. Getting down off the box, thanks for listening. The teacher in me says for a quickie test....count the homonyms, LOL. Yes, I can be crazy at times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted June 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2013 Today, Sunday, track two-south in the 61st ST yard was unoccupied so I got a Cottage Grove train at Garfield for an inspection ride. I am pleased to announce that the graffiti has been REMOVED from the 2200 dueces parked on track one-south. I don't know if the removal was from the natural chain of command or because a few acquaintances took it upon themselves and made this their mission too. SW4400, looks like you were on the wrong side of this bet this time, LOL. But I know its a friendly wager you didn't mind losing. I don't know when the cleanup was done, tracks two and three-south were occupied Thursday and Friday of last week. But the best news is that it's DONE!! Edit: Thanks everyone for the "votes up." Although the inspection rides were free...if I boarded at Garfield....I needed to knoow if the east side of the 2200 would be visible so I usually drove through Parkway Gardens on the Calumet Ave. side and I could see from there it the neighboring tracks were occupied or not. Most of the time something was blocking the view. One of my contacts lucked out last week and saw the damage and took on the cause. By lucked out ,I mean he could see the 2200s because the track adjoining were empty. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chgofan78 Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Today, Sunday, track two-south in the 61st ST yard was unoccupied so I got a Cottage Grove train at Garfield for an inspection ride. I am pleased to announce that the graffiti has been REMOVED from the 2200 dueces parked on track one-south. I don't know if the removal was from the natural chain of command or because a few acquaintances took it upon themselves and made this their mission too. SW4400, looks like you were on the wrong side of this bet this time, LOL. But I know its a friendly wager you didn't mind losing. I don't know when the cleanup was done, tracks two and three-south were occupied Thursday and Friday of last week. But the best news is that it's DONE!! Today, saw 2929 at Howard yard completely covered in graffiti. Lately, seems like cars have been getting hit regularly at Howard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkohut Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Today, saw 2929 at Howard yard completely covered in graffiti. Lately, seems like cars have been getting hit regularly at Howard. The only way this problem is going to end is install video cameras and have Judges who will have there assets sold to pay for the damage and cost to keep then in jail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Today, saw 2929 at Howard yard completely covered in graffiti. Lately, seems like cars have been getting hit regularly at Howard. That's probably why the #5000's have always been stored in the middle of Howard yard. Something that's not going to be possible soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 That's probably why the #5000's have always been stored in the middle of Howard yard. Something that's not going to be possible soon. Install a few more third rails, even where there aren't running rails. Then see if the heirs of some fried tagger sue. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Install a few more third rails, even where there aren't running rails. Then see if the heirs of some fried tagger sue. Or just put up a 600V electrified fence around the perimeter... ZAP!!! I don't think he's getting up.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Or just put up a 600V electrified fence around the perimeter... ZAP!!! I don't think he's getting up.... That would clearly be excessive, and get into the "spring gun trap" line of cases. On the other hand, some random third rail... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 That would clearly be excessive, and get into the "spring gun trap" line of cases. On the other hand, some random third rail... Well how about this*? Install a few of these sensors on the railcars and the taggers will get a dose of their own medicine. *= Fictional, but one can dream, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mkohut Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Well how about this*? Install a few of these sensors on the railcars and the taggers will get a dose of their own medicine. *= Fictional, but one can dream, huh? I like the 600V electrified fence better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 24, 2013 Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 Well how about this*? Install a few of these sensors on the railcars and the taggers will get a dose of their own medicine. *= Fictional, but one can dream, huh? The anti etching films apparently aren't working, so this doesn't seem so farfetched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted June 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2013 I'm glad that some of you are having an amusing time suggesting "cures" to solve the graffiti problems. Believe it or not, the suggestions you guys have offered are TAME compared to some of the other transit and railfan groups. I would suggest watching a couple of the YouTube videos that show just how efficient and speedy these graffiti criminals are in accomplishing their trasks. It's really an "awakening." I haven't gotten responses from my friends at the CTA. As I reported before, it probably was really a skit from a Three Stooges movie....."It's not my problem, it's your problem." No, that isn't mine, it's yours...." "Un unh...It's not mine anymore, it's yours now." And so on and so on...."Yuk! Yuk!" (Smile) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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