Kevin Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 New program just announced. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 1 hour ago, Kevin said: New program just announced. CTA once had a heritage fleet at the Wrightwood barn (where the dog park now is off the L at Wrightwood), but sent the units listed in Lind's book to IRM. From the link in the tweet, they say there is enough from ctagifts to start over. I'm sure BH will be happy to suggest his favorite leaking Nova. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 Yeah, they need to save these vehicles. I'm sure they could organize charters and rotate equipment and get some of these buses out for tours. People would pay money for this, maybe it would help to keep the vehicles going. Like myself, what I wouldn't give for a ride again on #301. This is part of the company's history, the city's history and may even prove to be a tourist attraction if handled correctly. Look what Kenosha has done. They really need a museum similar to what the MTA does. The MTA has special days that the vintage trains go out and this makes them special. We're special and unique also so why not us? Three cheers anyway to saving the vehicles and not scrapping them. In a perfect world maybe they could team with IRM and get some vintage #6000's back on CTA even if it was on loan. Then they would really have something special here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 11 minutes ago, BusHunter said: I'm sure they could organize charters and rotate equipment and get some of these buses out for tours. 2400s, sure, but I wonder if the 4000s and some of the buses are still in shape. 11 minutes ago, BusHunter said: Look what Kenosha has done. That isn't authentic, but some rehabbed Toronto PCC cars. If anything would be iconic, it would be the 6000 series rapid transit cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 Well they were good enough to get to APTA when they came to Skokie Shops. That looks like the pictures from that because they had placards in front of every vehicle they could possibly represent. Now I don't know if they were towed there. I hope not. At least being indoors helps them some from rusting away. As far as your second point, a replica is better than nothing. IRM did bring #6000's for the filming of Ali so it could happen with the right connections/cash. Really though it's the volunteers that keep the old fleet going. I'm sure there are enough people out there to make it happen. Just think if something like that were possible, the film companies would be drooling over that opportunity because that is important in a period film. I'm sure it would boost tourism too because it be a situation like look what we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 Sadly, the fleet that I have most memories of in my childhood is absent and will never be a part of this group since all of them are now scrapped..... -Flyer D901A(9800-9974, 1600-1624.... only one that at least was whole body-wise was 1606 from CHBM, but that is no doubt scrapped as the engine was purposely seized by CTA personnel at the time) -M.A.N Americana(4000-4361) Another fleet that is all gone from existence except maybe a rotted out one sitting under a "L" structure somewhere on the south side. NP had 4200 as a Yard Goat years ago, but no doubt it's been dragged off for scrapping So, nothing really there for nostalgia from my childhood..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 Speaking of nostalgia, the slide show on the ATU 241 site has a lot of it, although I would not so classify the NABIs. 5655 was the first kind of bus I saw in Chicago (55 instead of 49, but standard 69 barn fleet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 Question. If it were possible to save a #6000's fresh moves bus or even possible to retain the #6000 bus that was a mechanical prototype I took pictures on at the rodeo (forgot the bus number) and paint up a mock CTA spec, would they attempt it. There is a TMC also somewhere. I thought someone in the Crest Hill bus museum community had one of the Peoria bus' ex CTA. So their might be a few buses floating around. They really need to go in partnership with IRM because they have alot of vintage buses as well. Even wow pieces like the Queen Mary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 1 hour ago, sw4400 said: Sadly, the fleet that I have most memories of in my childhood is absent and will never be a part of this group since all of them are now scrapped..... -Flyer D901A(9800-9974, 1600-1624.... only one that at least was whole body-wise was 1606 from CHBM, but that is no doubt scrapped as the engine was purposely seized by CTA personnel at the time) -M.A.N Americana(4000-4361) Another fleet that is all gone from existence except maybe a rotted out one sitting under a "L" structure somewhere on the south side. NP had 4200 as a Yard Goat years ago, but no doubt it's been dragged off for scrapping So, nothing really there for nostalgia from my childhood..... You beat me to the punch in pointing out that it's unfortunate that they couldn't do this before the Flyer D901As and the M.A.N. Americanas got scrapped. The only TA that I'm aware of that kept an Americana as part of its heritage fleet is King County Metro. But it's about time though that someone at CTA finally got smart enough to finally think of holding on to pieces of the agency's history as other city's transit agencies do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 3, 2016 Report Share Posted June 3, 2016 6 minutes ago, jajuan said: You beat me to the punch in pointing out that it's unfortunate that they couldn't do this before the Flyer D901As and the M.A.N. Americanas got scrapped. In the 901As' case, they probably rusted too badly. 4 hours ago, BusHunter said: Really though it's the volunteers that keep the old fleet going. Essentially, IRM survives on donations, admission charges and volunteers, and CHBM didn't because it didn't have enough of them. To make this work, ctagifts and charters have to be adequate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted June 4, 2016 Report Share Posted June 4, 2016 9 hours ago, Busjack said: In the 901As' case, they probably rusted too badly... Maybe CTA's, but they could've been restored if they could've gotten donations for maybe 1606(they could've restored the body and found a rebuilt/rehabbed Detroit Diesel 6V71 or 6V92TA with a ZF or Allison Transmission, I'm sure). The Canadian Transit Authority used their D901A's longer than the CTA in climates harsher than here(and many of their 1984 models were to be part of the 2nd order of shells that CTA cancelled which would've no doubt been the 4000-Series before it was given to M.A.N). While I can't find the exact date of retirment of the series, I know they were used longer than 2002 in Manitoba. Here's some nostalgia.... a ex-CTA shell turned into a Canadian Transit Authority bus. This one is preserved by the MTHA, and is still operational today at the age of 32!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 4, 2016 Report Share Posted June 4, 2016 7 hours ago, sw4400 said: While I can't find the exact date of retirment of the series, I know they were used longer than 2002 in Manitoba. Winnipeg may have kept them going (maybe that's because it was Flyer's home town) but Toronto has no use for them because of rust issues, and went to rebuilding New Looks over preserving Flyers. However, Toronto seems to have had a bad streak around then with Orion IIIs (Ikarus articulated bus) and CNG Orion VIs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted June 6, 2016 Report Share Posted June 6, 2016 http://www.transitchicago.com/heritagefleet/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann Posted June 6, 2016 Report Share Posted June 6, 2016 At least this confirms that the CTA will be committed to preserving this fleet, which is cool. I recall seeing 8499 and 301 on display by Logan Square during a festival back in 2007 or 2008. I'm only disappointed that they didn't bother to preserve some of the PCC cars (6000s or 1-50 series) yet they preserved the 2400s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted June 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2016 @chicagopcclcar Your post was merged into this existing topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 8 hours ago, dann said: At least this confirms that the CTA will be committed to preserving this fleet, which is cool. I recall seeing 8499 and 301 on display by Logan Square during a festival back in 2007 or 2008. I'm only disappointed that they didn't bother to preserve some of the PCC cars (6000s or 1-50 series) yet they preserved the 2400s? Well they are preserved. It's just at IRM. Unfortunately it's hard to bring back the nostagia of the "L" in a cornfield. That's why they need a partnership with them. Maybe IRM could loan them out to CTA and CTA could do repairs on them. There are really fine examples in the museums like #6101-02 or even 1948 #5000's. I'm surprised CTA let those go as they seemed to put alot of money into them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 2 hours ago, BusHunter said: Well they are preserved. It's just at IRM. Unfortunately it's hard to bring back the nostagia of the "L" in a cornfield. That's why they need a partnership with them. Maybe IRM could loan them out to CTA and CTA could do repairs on them. There are really fine examples in the museums like #6101-02 or even 1948 #5000's. I'm surprised CTA let those go as they seemed to put alot of money into them. What I meant was that I wanted to see the CTA keep 1 or 2 of the PCCs as their own; I'm also surprised that they didn't for the same reason you mentioned plus they've been so ubiquitous with the CTA since the CTA was formed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicagopcclcar Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 7 hours ago, dann said: What I meant was that I wanted to see the CTA keep 1 or 2 of the PCCs as their own; I'm also surprised that they didn't for the same reason you mentioned plus they've been so ubiquitous with the CTA since the CTA was formed. Through out its history the CTA has had many managements that all had different ideas about historical items. Remember, the CTA is also a political body and its chief business is running a transit system....its not a museum. There is a example were a Hollywood film maker paid for the expenses in bringing three PCC 6000 series back to the Chicago "L" to be used to film the movie "Ali". I videoed the many of the retraining of crews and the actual shooting. The cars were also used for charters while they were on CTA rails. The video is in a YouTube, about 41:00 in...... DH as misbnsf 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThirdRailVision Posted June 7, 2016 Report Share Posted June 7, 2016 It has been said that CTA is holding on to #2273-74 as a possible addition to the Heritage Fleet, which would be nice. There was a brief discussion about this on the "Chicago L" Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/120452714691417/permalink/1026015070801839/?comment_id=1027502543986425&comment_tracking={"tn"%3A"R"} (The last few comments at the bottom) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTRSP1900-CTA3200 Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 On June 7, 2016 at 0:48 PM, ThirdRailVision said: It has been said that CTA is holding on to #2273-74 as a possible addition to the Heritage Fleet, which would be nice... That would be nice, even if they don't have any 2000s to fully complete the High Performance Family collection (I was never really interested in the 2000s though ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethebusman Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 Considering that 301, 3706 and 8499 are currently sitting outside at South Shops among the scrap piles, somebody had top either decide to keep them or get rid of them. Of the three 8499 is in by far the worst shape, with brake issues. Other seem relatively intact and complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 8, 2016 Report Share Posted June 8, 2016 5 hours ago, MTRSP1900-CTA3200 said: That would be nice, even if they don't have any 2000s to fully complete the High Performance Family collection It basically gets down to whether CTA or IRM should be doing this, as. for instance IRM has several 2000s and 2200s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BusHunter Posted June 9, 2016 Report Share Posted June 9, 2016 9 hours ago, MTRSP1900-CTA3200 said: That would be nice, even if they don't have any 2000s to fully complete the High Performance Family collection (I was never really interested in the 2000s though ). Well there is #1892-#1992 (former #2007-08) but pcclcars says that they are too messed up to fix. I was out at IRM and they didn't look that bad to me. Spend some money on a restore project and they could probably bring them back. I'm surprised there are no grants for this. This really is part of american history. Really though to make this work they need a museum, somewhere to protect the vehicles from damage from weather, vandals etc. I was fascinated with my first trip to Skokie Shops, they really could be charging money to have public tours there even if it is on a Sunday. That would be a nice spot for a museum addition. It would also make a nice package deal. It's also the spot you would want to be to loan out vehicles or receive them for special events. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sw4400 Posted June 9, 2016 Report Share Posted June 9, 2016 2 hours ago, BusHunter said: Well there is #1892-#1992 (former #2007-08) but pcclcars says that they are too messed up to fix. I was out at IRM and they didn't look that bad to me. Spend some money on a restore project and they could probably bring them back. I'm surprised there are no grants for this. This really is part of american history. Really though to make this work they need a museum, somewhere to protect the vehicles from damage from weather, vandals etc. I was fascinated with my first trip to Skokie Shops, they really could be charging money to have public tours there even if it is on a Sunday. That would be a nice spot for a museum addition. It would also make a nice package deal. It's also the spot you would want to be to loan out vehicles or receive them for special events. They don't look the best.... these were taken by me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 9, 2016 Report Share Posted June 9, 2016 17 minutes ago, sw4400 said: They don't look the best.... these weretaken by me. I never thought that the SSRT paint job was that convincing. However, the issue is always mechanicals than paint. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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