7900-series Nova LFS - Updates

[BusHunter]

Got some good shots of #7990. Will be uploading them probably around 9-10 tonight. Also got a shot of #1910. I'm on my way to #1890 on the #54B.

[BusHunter]

Got some good shots of #7990. Will be uploading them probably around 9-10 tonight. Also got a shot of #1910. I'm on my way to #1890 on the #54B.

Here we are lots of shots of #7990. The side destination and rear destination were not working though!!

[artthouwill]

Ahh, the power of googling. The #5000's and probably the #7900's take a business week to transport from New York to Chi-town. Now in a car that should take 12-15 hours, interstate speed. The #5000's however have been spotted on US highway 30 in Ohio and Indiana which makes those sound like they are coming via a slower perhaps safer highway commute perhaps making the commute a third longer in time. (Maybe 24-30 hours) But there has been a few reports of them on I-90, including a recent photograph. So I wonder if it's a truck drivers decision or bus drivers which way they go or are they just allowed 5 days to get there. Sounds like they have alot of downtime.

Also note that D.O.T regulations require maximum 10 hrs and no more than 550 miles of driving. which means drivers have to spend the night somewhere between NY and Chicago. Also with respect to the rail cars, there may be height restrictions with the L cars going on the Pennsylvania Turmpike going through the mountains. Also considering that they are probably shipped on oversized vehicles, there may be constructions zones where there is maximum width which these vehicle probably exceed, thus alternate routing.

[BusHunter]

#7944 is on the #8 this morning

[Busjack]

...so it's pretty safe to think that the first two batches of 50 buses have been completed. However there's no clue whether production of the third batch has started yet.

Is there any source for your assertion of "batches of 50 buses?"

If you think there is any connection to the 1998 Nova contract for 150 base and 2 options of 150, here the base order is 300, so one would presume that is what is going to be built, pending if and when CTA exercises the option in this contract for another 150.

[Lothian]

Is there any source for your assertion of "batches of 50 buses?"

Sorry I should have made myself clearer. By batches I mean production batches, not order batches. Production lists show that Nova first built 2 pilots for CTA, then a few months later 48 more buses. That's the first batch. After an interval building buses for other TAs, they built (or are still building?) 50 more for CTA. And this will probably go on until the order is complete. I think someone mentioned earlier in this thread that Nova would deliver 50 buses every 2 months or so -- this is reflected in the production schedule.

[andrethebusman]

Eff 9/29/14

77th to Chicago 1045,1046,1049,1052,1060,1062

Also new Buses added to 77th street garage = 7944,7971,7990,7991

[andrethebusman]

Sorry I should have made myself clearer. By batches I mean production batches, not order batches. Production lists show that Nova first built 2 pilots for CTA, then a few months later 48 more buses. That's the first batch. After an interval building buses for other TAs, they built (or are still building?) 50 more for CTA. And this will probably go on until the order is complete. I think someone mentioned earlier in this thread that Nova would deliver 50 buses every 2 months or so -- this is reflected in the production schedule.

This is common practice and has been for years by most builders. If they have several large orders going at the same time, they will build alternating batches for each order so that delivery is simultaneous. In a few cases, the alternating batches have been as small as 20 if both orders are on a tight schedule.

[BusHunter]

Eff 9/29/14

77th to Chicago 1045,1046,1049,1052,1060,1062

Also new Buses added to 77th street garage = 7944,7971,7990,7991

Anything on the South shops roster to indicate #7952 exists on CTA property? I'm seriously starting to doubt this bus is here. Thanks for the update.

[BusHunter]

Sorry I should have made myself clearer. By batches I mean production batches, not order batches. Production lists show that Nova first built 2 pilots for CTA, then a few months later 48 more buses. That's the first batch. After an interval building buses for other TAs, they built (or are still building?) 50 more for CTA. And this will probably go on until the order is complete. I think someone mentioned earlier in this thread that Nova would deliver 50 buses every 2 months or so -- this is reflected in the production schedule.

It sounds like they wouldn't deliver to a TA on an existing batch order, still in production, so I would say that they are done with the first 100. I wonder how fast can they build 50 buses? We can probably figure out the answer if we knew which TA's were getting deliveries. (SEPTA is) Like if there were 4, then they could build 50 buses in two weeks.

[Busjack]

... Also with respect to the rail cars, there may be height restrictions with the L cars going on the Pennsylvania Turmpike going through the mountains. ...

That doesn't seem relevant here, as the direct toll route would be via the N.Y. Thruway (I-90), which is comparatively flat, since it runs through the Mohawk valley. If they want to avoid tolls, there is always U.S. 20, or they can head further south via I-86.

Construction zones, of course, are always relevant.

[sw4400]

Couldn't they just ship them from NY into Illinois via freight like Union Pacific or CSX and once they reach a certain destination in Illinois, they are trucked in on flatbeds? The flatcars designed to hold trailers on the freight trains should be able to hold one railcar each and if you line them up in a train hauling 100+ cars from NY through here, they can haul 6 or more cars if completed and ready to go at Bombardier.

[BusHunter]

#7944 is a ghost bus this afternoon on the #8. #1954 is it's follower. #7944 is going through Lake st. Sb currently going to Root. So if you want to track it you'll have to track the root leader/follower. Root follower has #1089.

[artthouwill]

Couldn't they just ship them from NY into Illinois via freight like Union Pacific or CSX and once they reach a certain destination in Illinois, they are trucked in on flatbeds? The flatcars designed to hold trailers on the freight trains should be able to hold one railcar each and if you line them up in a train hauling 100+ cars from NY through here, they can haul 6 or more cars if completed and ready to go at Bombardier.

You'd still have to truck it to a rail intermodal yard, load it from a truck to a flatbed rail car, then unload it from the railcar in another intermodal yard and reload on another truck. Seems to me that would increase the likelihood of damaging these new cars.

[garmon757]

Shots of #7923, #7935, #7954, #7974, and #7977 in which all except for #7977 have their license plates. By the way, #7906 is back while on #79 right now.

[BusHunter]

Great pics Garmon. I guess it's time to do my thing. Here's a bunch of shots of #7944's first day in service, #7983 and #7968.

#7944:

#7983:

#7968:

[garmon757]

Great pics Garmon. I guess it's time to do my thing. Here's a bunch of shots of #7944's first day in service, #7983 and #7968.

Very well quality shots there! I forgot to add shots of #7940 and #7991 (both were @ 79th/Vincennes on behalf of representing south side routes).

[BusHunter]

Very well quality shots there! I forgot to add shots of #7940 and #7991 (both were @ 79th/Vincennes on behalf of representing south side routes).

Yeah my camera takes great pics in the daylight, the higher the sun the better. Once the sun starts setting or it gets darker then they start getting fuzzy.

So what #7940 was in service? I see the run number. I'm starting to see alot of these buses especially on the #8. Both #7925 and #7926 have a blinking right hand side headlight. #7926 on King Drive had the same not in service sign too. The headlights looks funny but I forget those are LED.

[garmon757]

Yeah my camera takes great pics in the daylight, the higher the sun the better. Once the sun starts setting or it gets darker then they start getting fuzzy.

You don't have image stabilization on your camera???

[ctrabs74]

That doesn't seem relevant here, as the direct toll route would be via the N.Y. Thruway (I-90), which is comparatively flat, since it runs through the Mohawk valley. If they want to avoid tolls, there is always U.S. 20, or they can head further south via I-86.

Construction zones, of course, are always relevant.

And there are a couple of construction zones on the Ohio Turnpike (from my recollection) that might make it difficult for wide loads.

[BusHunter]

You don't have image stabilization on your camera???

Not on the original pic app I had. I'm using an app now that's called Camera Zoom FX. I'm on Android, It does has a stabilization feature but by the time it stabilizes, you have lost the shot unless it's standing still. (takes about 2-3 seconds) So i still take my shots from video as I find sometimes taking pictures turn out fuzzy where with video I have many possible images to pick from.

Looking at the Apple store, I see they have an I Phone 6 for $200, very small hard drive, it's like 8 Gb. I took some pictures with it in the store and they seem clear, but I don't see how it stabilizes. It seems to be automatic. But all phones seem to have a weakness with dark shots. But I notice your phone is less affected by this. Probably cause it's newer tech. My phone is going on 3 years old, 2012 model year. Talking with people I know they seem to like their Samsung galaxy 5 phones. I wonder how it compares with an I phone, but nothing will take better pictures than a digital camera standalone as long as it's not the $10-30 version at Walgreens.

[sw4400]

Not on the original pic app I had. I'm using an app now that's called Camera Zoom FX. I'm on Android, It does has a stabilization feature but by the time it stabilizes, you have lost the shot unless it's standing still. (takes about 2-3 seconds) So i still take my shots from video as I find sometimes taking pictures turn out fuzzy where with video I have many possible images to pick from.

Looking at the Apple store, I see they have an I Phone 6 for $200, very small hard drive, it's like 8 Gb. I took some pictures with it in the store and they seem clear, but I don't see how it stabilizes. It seems to be automatic. But all phones seem to have a weakness with dark shots. But I notice your phone is less affected by this. Probably cause it's newer tech. My phone is going on 3 years old, 2012 model year. Talking with people I know they seem to like their Samsung galaxy 5 phones. I wonder how it compares with an I phone, but nothing will take better pictures than a digital camera standalone as long as it's not the $10-30 version at Walgreens.

I have a Galaxy S4(that's the one I took the pic of 4358 with near Wrigley). I'm impressed with it's camera technology. It's not an S5, but I'm happy with it(the S5 is basically the S4 with a few more bells and whistles... two things that I like about it is it's waterproof and has an Ultra Power Saver Mode where at 10% battery, the phone will work an additional 24 hours).

Maybe if you go with the iPhone 6, you can try microwaving it for a few seconds to charge it....

[BusHunter]

A few #7900 shots:

#7991:

#7981:

#7984:

[Mr.cta85]

It's a gang of New novas about a good 15 or more Buses I saw not too long ago at 77th. I was taking to an operator as I was riding the 79 making my way home and she said 77th suppose to get the artics back at the beginning of the yr. She said the only reason why they took them off 79th street was because it was hard for operators to make those sharp right turns on 83 and damen that's due to the Construction that's going on 79th. They rerouted the buses to turn left on 79th & damen over to 83rd to Western back over to 79th then proceed over the regular route. But please don't shoot the messager I was just sharing with you guys what she said. After all she is a operator out that garage.

[garmon757]

A few #7900 shots:

#7991:

cta 7991 front on 8.PNG cta 7991 rear on 8.PNG

#7981:

cta 7981 front on 2.PNG cta 7981 rear on 2.PNG

#7984:

cta 7984 on 8.PNG

Your camera was acting bipolar yesterday!