Renumbered Evanston Buses

[trainman8119]

Looking at some old rosters, I was reminded of the first days the CTA took on Evanston route operation. Most of the buses assigned out of North Park for Evanston routes in the early days were renumbered. 3300 Flxibles, some 1000 and 7400 GM's and some of the old 800 GM's. Why did the CTA feel the need to renumber these buses. When the 7400 GM's came to town they were assigned new numbers when they were relatively young in age. Now, any bus out of North Park (or in one case Forest Glen) is subject for use, although, I am sure it will soon become pretty much an Optima town.

[Busjack]

I remember the renumbered buses, and don't know why, except maybe that then Evanston was subsidizing the service and maybe wanted its own identity.

Also, while the runs were out of North Park, the buses [at least the original New Looks] were not originally North Park ones. Evanston Bus Company closed in 1973, and the 7400s were not received until the last part of 1974. I know that 6 and 7 were 1096 and 1097 (you could see where the numbers were peeled off on the inside of the bus), and thus originally assigned to 52nd. 1-4 apparently were 801-804, and thus transferred from Beverly (and were eventually transferred to 69th and numbered back). I don't remember Evanston getting any 7400s (although they might have when the "big green" propanes were phased out), but did get some renumbered 9600s that were assigned upon delivery to North Park (there was also a liquor ad painted on the side).

This was the time when renumbering was popular. The "albino" 9400s-9500s received in 1975 did not have the 9 when used by the RTA, mostly by West Towns (but were numbered 487, for instance). The 9 was added when they were transferred to Forest Glen, and was a bit larger than the other 3 numbers.

[trainman8119]

According to the AOL Hometown page, this is how the Evanston line up looked:

1974: 1-5 renumbered from 800-804, 6-9 from 1096-1099, 21-25 from 1100-1104 and 26-32 from 3300-3306

1978: 26-31 renumbered from 3300-3305, 40-51 from 7400-7411 and 52-58 from 9600-9606.

Now I do remember 9600 being part of a bunch at Forest Glen in the 80's and there is a pic someplace on line of 7400 with the numbers above the bumper vs under the winshield...does this mean that these were numbered back to their orignal ???

[Busjack]

Now I do remember 9600 being part of a bunch at Forest Glen in the 80's and there is a pic someplace on line of 7400 with the numbers above the bumper vs under the winshield...does this mean that these were numbered back to their orignal ???

The picture of 7400 was at busdrawings.com, after it was repainted white and put on Cottage Grove. 800-804 had those numbers when they were at 69th after Evanston.

10 to 20 must have been the big greens.

BTW, for you D901 lovers, the busdrawings.com front page currently has one still working in Winnipeg.

[busfan2847]

The operation of the Evanston services by cta from Sep 1973 through Feb 1986 was kept completely seperate from the main cta services hence the buses used were renumbered into their own series so they could be easily identified and the services were provided by dedicated staff so costs could be accurately measured - and yes Evanston was making up the shortfall!

Services started with 20 buses 1-5 (ex 800-4), 6-9 (1096-1099) and 10-20 (8416-8426). In Nov-73 a 21st bus was needed which was numbered 0 (8476). 0 & 10-20 were replaced in Feb-74 by 21-25 (1100-1104) & 26-31 (3300-3305) - back to 20 buses. 32 (3306) became the 21st bus in Jul-74. In Aug-1976 1-9 & 21-25 were replaced by 33-36 (3422/40/23/06) & 40-51 (7400-7411) making 23 buses. 32-36 were replaced with 52-56 (9600-9604) in Apr-77 & 57-58 (9605-9606) joined in Sep-77 (25 buses). The final changes saw 26-31 replaced by 59-64 (9607-9612) in 1981.

The final Evanston Division fleet consisted of 40-64 (7400-7411 & 9600-9612) until the Division was disbanded in Feb-86 and the buses regained their original numbers.

The only buses that did not return to service with cta, regaining their original fleet numbers, were Flxible FT2P 0 & 10-20 and Flxible F2D6V 26-31.

Alan

[trainman8119]

The operation of the Evanston services by cta from Sep 1973 through Feb 1986 was kept completely seperate from the main cta services hence the buses used were renumbered into their own series so they could be easily identified and the services were provided by dedicated staff so costs could be accurately measured - and yes Evanston was making up the shortfall!

Thanks for the explanation. These buses were in fact housed at North Park, were they not ???? Or did they have another "home" away from the garage ???

[busfan2847]

Thanks for the explanation. These buses were in fact housed at North Park, were they not ???? Or did they have another "home" away from the garage ???

They were housed at Notrth Park