MRChiCity Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 This year 20 years ago was when the last high floor buses appeared known as the Flxible Metro-E, if it was not for the 2010 budget cuts I would say that these buses would have lasted another two years. What do you think? I remember seeing the Flxible on the 77 Belmont allot. Forest Gleen and Chicago had these buses which other garages had them? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChicagoNova Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 8 hours ago, MRChiCity said: This year 20 years ago was when the last high floor buses appeared known as the Flxible Metro-E, if it was not for the 2010 budget cuts I would say that these buses would have lasted another two years. What do you think? I remember seeing the Flxible on the 77 Belmont allot. Forest Gleen and Chicago had these buses which other garages had them? Thanks Kedzie, 74th, & 103rd. 77th primarily had them as they were first delivered to 77th in the Spring of 1995. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 5 minutes ago, ChicagoNova said: Kedzie, 74th, & 103rd. 77th primarily had them as they were first delivered to 77th in the Spring of 1995. Kedzie had them basically from 1995 to 2001, when then were swapped to FG. 77th lost most (but not all) in about 2001 when it got the Novas, when the others went to C and 74. The only original garages were 77, K, and 74, At one time 74 was pretty much all 6000s, while other garages were getting NFs (74 only got about 30 in the 1730s), but there was a swap to even things out with 103 and I believe C. NP had a few loaned from 74 in 2001 to make sure it had enough buses with preheaters; otherwise it used rehabbed 4400s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 3 hours ago, Busjack said: Kedzie had them basically from 1995 to 2001, when then were swapped to FG. 77th lost most (but not all) in about 2001 when it got the Novas, when the others went to C and 74. The only original garages were 77, K, and 74, At one time 74 was pretty much all 6000s, while other garages were getting NFs (74 only got about 30 in the 1730s), but there was a swap to even things out with 103 and I believe C. NP had a few loaned from 74 in 2001 to make sure it had enough buses with preheaters; otherwise it used rehabbed 4400s. This is correct. 77th had 6000 through about 6109 or so, K 6110 through maybe 6229 or so and 74th had the rest through 6329. 77th lost all of its 6000s but got 103rd's 5300s instead (103rd got 5300s from elsewhere after that). Kedzie swapped its 6000s with FG's 5300s, but Kedzie also received 6000 - 6040 from 77th. For a short season, 103rd did receive 6070 through about 6093. Then the 6000s were relegated to only FG and 74th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Powertrains & notes(6000-Series) 6000-6304 were equipped with a Detroit Series-50 engine 6305-6329 were equipped with a Cummins C8.3 engine Those not being scrapped got a rehab where the Flip Dot signs in front were switched out to LED. The side remained Flip Dot though, as well as the rear(which hardly worked). The Series-50 diesel engine had an issue with drive belts squealing... maybe a design flaw??? One time, #6175 had a constant squeal from first accelerating the bus from a stop until the bus was stopped. It was eventually repaired/replaced months later(probably the motor stopped working when the belts finally snapped). The Cummins C8.3 engines had squeals with their drive belts too, especially when reaching a certain speed/gear. And even on deceleration, you could hear the squeal of the belts as the bus slowed down in that speed range/gear. Would the buses have been in service if the 2010 cuts had not taken place? They might've been in service for probably another 2-3 years before retirement. I don't think the CTA would've kept them around until 2014-2015, as that would've been encroaching on the length of time the TMC's were in service(18-19 years). While the buses I've seen on FG and 74th routes were pretty good, I know they were no doubt getting tired and the breakdown rate was no doubt high for them. I've seen a few issues with them towards the end..... Transmission failures: A few I noticed like this..... one on #78 after letting off a disabled passenger had an issue getting his bus moving again, blocking Montrose at the time, too. He tried re-deploying & stowing the ramp and putting the bus back in gear, but all it would do is rev up. Eventually, he got it to move again, but I'm sure he put a call into the garage about this later and probably told any disabled people requiring the lift that it was broken, so as not to disable the bus for good on the road. Another was on #80.... #6125 I believe. After letting off/picking up passengers, to get the bus to move again, the operator would have to put the bus in "N" and back to "D" again. Belt squeals: ***See Above*** I don't recall being on a Flxible 6000-Series that died, but have seen one or two dead ones(I remember #6066 dead at Addison & Lincoln/Ravenswood right next to the stop EB there). Apparently there was no fixing it there on the spot, as a wrecker hauled it away. Motor was totally quiet, so I guess the bus engine quit running and the operator could not get the bus started again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 16 minutes ago, sw4400 said: I don't recall being on a Flxible 6000-Series that died As best as we could tell, comparing rosters and the like, 74th got 30 1000s because 30 Flxs were out of service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.