buslist Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 Anyone know what bus demonstrated on the CTA, in CTA colors, was sold to another bus company but spent most of its life as a CTA bus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 Anyone know what bus demonstrated on the CTA, in CTA colors, was sold to another bus company but spent most of its life as a CTA bus? I'm going to give it a shot here... It's a bus that was a prototype on the CTA in the colors of the CTA(you didn't mention appearance order of the colors). It was sold to another bus company but spent most of it's life as a CTA bus. I'm going to go with a recent bus that fits this bill and say you're referring to the 2005 NABI 45C-LFW that the CTA had for a couple of months, but then it was parked, returned to NABI who shipped it off to Hawaii to operate for their bus company down there. I haven't checked to see, but I'm sure this bus is probably retired now. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 ... I'm going to go with a recent bus that fits this bill and say you're referring to the 2005 NABI 45C-LFW that the CTA had for a couple of months, but then it was parked, returned to NABI who shipped it off to Hawaii to operate for their bus company down there. I haven't checked to see, but I'm sure this bus is probably retired now. I wasn't going in that direction, but you appear correct. As for it being retired, since it was a demonstrator in Hawaii, and it was announced that NABI was getting out of the Compobus business before it was sold to New Flyer, undoubtedly it is retired. Of course the question was whether that bus was ever "sold" to another company, as opposed to a NY demonstrator Flx, which was sold to CTA as 8650 (or something like that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buslist Posted October 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 Just to clarify the history, demonstrator > another bus company > CTA ( where it spent most of its life). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 Just to clarify the history, demonstrator > another bus company > CTA ( where it spent most of its life). Then I rely on my response, above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 He might be talking about one of the flx's. I believe there was demonstrator, #8650 that was sold to New York but did run as a CTA bus, but I don't know for how long. I'd have to look it up. (maybe I'm wrong but it sounds vaguely familiar) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 He might be talking about one of the flx's. I believe there was demonstrator, #8650 that was sold to New York but did run as a CTA bus, but I don't know for how long. I'd have to look it up. (maybe I'm wrong but it sounds vaguely familiar) 8650 ended up here, I remember it in the early 70s. Also it was involved in a famous carbon monoxide poisoning case, cited by me here. But Googling 8650 indicates that buslist may have already given the answer to his question here (or thrown more confusion on the pile). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 More Googling got me to this bit of fiction on the Metro Wiki that some Orion VI hybrids in NY were Chicago (as well as NJ) rejects. Can't believe everything on the Internet (especially since the entry indicted that they had NJT padded seats). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 8650 ended up here, I remember it in the early 70s. Also it was involved in a famous carbon monoxide poisoning case, cited by me here. But Googling 8650 indicates that buslist may have already given the answer to his question here (or thrown more confusion on the pile). They had alot of carbon monoxide problems on the #7300's. They always had reports on the radio of fumes on the bus. I've inhaled some myself. It's a good thing they installed a few sliding windows from the 7100's or they probably would of had more lawsuits. You think they maybe installed those for the comfort of the rider but it might have been to protect there own behind. As far as my source of info for my Answer I believe on the cta pacefan site they talk about this demonstrator I mentioned. That bus is a little before my time and all my info is basically research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Around the Horn Posted October 28, 2013 Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 More Googling got me to this bit of fiction on the Metro Wiki that some Orion VI hybrids in NY were Chicago (as well as NJ) rejects. Can't believe everything on the Internet (especially since the entry indicted that they had NJT padded seats). Some O6 in NYC were NJT rejects(they had the black trim from the NJT paint scheme),however I never heard anything about CTA rejects... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted October 29, 2013 Report Share Posted October 29, 2013 Some O6 in NYC were NJT rejects(they had the black trim from the NJT paint scheme),however I never heard anything about CTA rejects... Certainly not Orion 6s. CTA didn't order anything between 1995 and the Novas, and certainly didn't think about hybrids until the 800s and 900s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buslist Posted November 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2013 This answer is slightly sneaky in that the property that General Motors sold the bus to was Chicago Motor Coach. The bus that I had in mind in this question is General Motors model TDH 5502 serial exp 248. This bus was built as the demonstrator for the 5502's. There were 100 5502s built for Chicago Motor Coach. GM did hope to sell this model to other properties and built this demonstrator. It differed from the production coaches in having an emergency exit which was not present in the others. I have never been able to get a definitive answer as to whether this bus was built before or after the 100 production units. If built before it would be the very first paired window GM old look built. We do have evidence that the bus did demonstrate for the CTA. Attached is a picture of the bus painted in pre-1950 CSL/CTA Green Hornet colors. Receiving no further orders for this model General Motors sold the demonstrator to Chicago Motor Coach as their number 500. It then became CTA 500 with the acquisition of CMC by CTA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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