Rail Destination Signs

[Guest ctafan630]

Years ago there were two sets of destination rollers

One set had the destination stops for the Blue, Green and Orange Lines while the second set had the destination stops for the Red, Purple, Brown and Yellow lines. Where do the Pink line stops fit in today?

[Danielsmusic]

Years ago there were two sets of destination rollers

One set had the destination stops for the Blue, Green and Orange Lines while the second set had the destination stops for the Red, Purple, Brown and Yellow lines. Where do the Pink line stops fit in today?

They are in new roller curtains with the Blue, Green and Orange Lines. Think about it: the train cars at the Douglas yard run both Pink and Blue line operations, therefore the Pink sign has to be with the blue. Plus, one time I saw a 4-car set of Pink Line cars turn into a Harlem-bound Green Line because of some issue at Roosevelt, and the operator was able to change the sign from Pink to Green.

[Guest ctafan630]

They are in new roller curtains with the Blue, Green and Orange Lines. Think about it: the train cars at the Douglas yard run both Pink and Blue line operations, therefore the Pink sign has to be with the blue. Plus, one time I saw a 4-car set of Pink Line cars turn into a Harlem-bound Green Line because of some issue at Roosevelt, and the operator was able to change the sign from Pink to Green.

That would make sense having the Pink line destination signs on the same roller as the Blue line.

Was I correct that other roller curtain was for the Red, Purple, Brown and yellow?

[rmadisonwi]

I don't know about old roller curtains, but right now (or, at least, as it was proposed when the Pink Line started) there are three different sets of rollsigns. I don't know offhand which routes were on which signs. I don't think any of the new signs were ever produced, other than the rolls with the Pink Line on it.

There were a few text changes that would have been made. For example, "Harlem/Lake" on the Green Line would have been "Harlem." "East 63rd" would be "Cottage Grove." "95/Dan Ryan" would be "95th." The what-if sign for Ford City on the Orange Line would be removed.

The whole fleet was supposed to be re-equipped with new signs, but that hasn't happened yet. Thus far, only Blue/Pink (and not even all of Blue/Pink, at that) have had the new ones, to my knowledge.

[Busjack]

My impression was that when the Pink Line opened only the 44 or so cars assigned to it got the signs with the Pink Line. There was certainly not the money for a systemwide swap.

[Chicago13]

My impression was that when the Pink Line opened only the 44 or so cars assigned to it got the signs with the Pink Line. There was certainly not the money for a systemwide swap.

Which brings up another interesting angle. The upcoming 5000 series cars are not going to have roll signs at all, but will have LED destination signs like the buses have now. I wonder what that's going to do to the color coding system, which was supposedly designed to help passengers identify which train was running on which line (which I suppose is not a real issue except in the Loop). Unless they're springing for multi-colored LED signs, how is the CTA going to work that color coding other than having platform signage show which color line stops there?

[Danielsmusic]

There were a few text changes that would have been made. For example, "Harlem/Lake" on the Green Line would have been "Harlem." "East 63rd" would be "Cottage Grove." "95/Dan Ryan" would be "95th." The what-if sign for Ford City on the Orange Line would be removed.

Some of the Forest Park 2600s still have the old sign which can change to "95th". I was talking to a long-time worker at Howard, and he said that, at least with the initial signs, one set had "Loop" for the Orange, "Midway", "Ford City", "Howard", "95th", "Forest Park", "Cermak", "O'Hare", "Rosemont", "Halsted", and "Jefferson Park".

The other sign had "Skokie Swift", "Evanston Express", "Loop" for the Purple, "Howard" for the Purple, "Ravenswood", "Kimball", "Belmont", "Loop" for the Brown, "Harlem", "Cottage Grove", "Ashland", and "Loop" for the Green Line.

[Guest ctafan630]

Which brings up another interesting angle. The upcoming 5000 series cars are not going to have roll signs at all, but will have LED destination signs like the buses have now. I wonder what that's going to do to the color coding system, which was supposedly designed to help passengers identify which train was running on which line (which I suppose is not a real issue except in the Loop). Unless they're springing for multi-colored LED signs, how is the CTA going to work that color coding other than having platform signage show which color line stops there?

If the outside LED signs for the new 5000 series work as good as the LED signs on the buses, the CTA better stock up with paper and magic marker to indicate the destination. I know of have seen plenty of handwritten signs on the buses to indicate the route.

[Danielsmusic]

If the outside LED signs for the new 5000 series work as good as the LED signs on the buses, the CTA better stock up with paper and magic marker to indicate the destination. I know of have seen plenty of handwritten signs on the buses to indicate the route.

I would bet that, because CTA has a larger budget for each new L car than they do for each new bus (because the L cars are expected to last longer without rehab than the buses with a rehab), plus the fact that L destination signs need to be seen from further away than the buses, the LED signs will be better. Also, one must consider that the CTA will probably end up wanting colored LEDs, therefore the CTA will be buying nicer LEDs than they do for buses.

[Busjack]

Also, one must consider that the CTA will probably end up wanting colored LEDs, therefore the CTA will be buying nicer LEDs than they do for buses.

Page 6 of the Presentation doesn't support that. We'll know about the prototypes in about a year, and then maybe CTA will figure that out then for the rest of them.

[Danielsmusic]

Page 6 of the Presentation doesn't support that.

Yes, but it's never wrong to dream (especially about something that actually makes sense)

[jcmellencamp78]

I would hope that the CTA would somehow incorporate the Color Coding system with these new Cars. Either get color LEDs or just stick with the Roller Curtains. (I for one like the Roller Curtains...they seem like the would break down LESS than the LEDs and would be easier to fix if they did).

[Guest ctafan630]

When was Jefferson Park added to the roller curtain as destination sign? The Blue Line previously only had Ohare, Rosemont, UIC Halsted, 54/Cermack and Forest Park.

[Chicago13]

When was Jefferson Park added to the roller curtain as destination sign? The Blue Line previously only had Ohare, Rosemont, UIC Halsted, 54/Cermack and Forest Park.

They've had Jeferson Park on the roller curtains ever since the line was extended to Jeff Park from Logan Square in 1970

[trainman8119]

They've had Jeferson Park on the roller curtains ever since the line was extended to Jeff Park from Logan Square in 1970

I never saw it. It was always Congress/Milwaukee, Douglas/Milwaukee, then O'Hare/Congress, O'Hare/Douglas into the days of color coding, at which time, the listings ctafan630 shows kicked in. If Jeff Park was on a destination sign, why do all of the short turns display only the CTA logo and not Jefferson Park when the line is shut down west of Jeff ???

[Busjack]

Have to concur with trainman on that. Destinations (as opposed to route names) didn't appear until the late 1990s. Until then, the sign was Congress/O"Hare (before that Congress/Milwaukee) and Douglas/...

The only relevance is after 1997 or so, whether Jeff Park was added as a "short turn" to the signs such as O'Hare or Forest Park. Never having seen the full sign roll on a Blue Line train, I can't say whether it was always there or added, or even there now.

[jajuan]

Have to concur with trainman on that. Destinations (as opposed to route names) didn't appear until the late 1990s. Until then, the sign was Congress/O"Hare (before that Congress/Milwaukee) and Douglas/...

The only relevance is after 1997 or so, whether Jeff Park was added as a "short turn" to the signs such as O'Hare or Forest Park. Never having seen the full sign roll on a Blue Line train, I can't say whether it was always there or added, or even there now.

Actually 'Jefferson Park' is on the roller sign now. I saw it a couple weeks ago while riding on the Ike with the family for a Sunday afternoon shopping trip when service was interrupted that weekend between Jefferson Park and Cumberland. Like Busjack says though it's a matter of was it always on there after switching to the color code or was recently added when new curtains were made for the addition of the Pink Line.

[Guest ctafan630]

Actually 'Jefferson Park' is on the roller sign now. I saw it a couple weeks ago while riding on the Ike with the family for a Sunday afternoon shopping trip when service was interrupted that weekend between Jefferson Park and Cumberland. Like Busjack says though it's a matter of was it always on there after switching to the color code or was recently added when new curtains were made for the addition of the Pink Line.

I saw it last Sunday for the first time. I would have to think it was recently added after the decide the to make the Pink Line permanent. At some point they would have had to redo the signs on the roller curtains.

[trainman8119]

Definitely something new. I saw them yesterday. Up until then, when stopping short of O'Hare or Rosemont, CTA in a black background was being used. Yesterday, There was Jefferson Park sineage along with a few trains that went by with Green "Harlem" signs displayed (so much for simplistic color coding of the routes).

Going by the yard in Rosemont, you could see "Jefferson Park" in blue, "58th" in green lettering with white background, "Harlem" in green, "not in service" in white and black and of course "O'Hare" and "Rosemont" in blue. Talk about variety !!!!

[BusHunter]

Actually 'Jefferson Park' is on the roller sign now. I saw it a couple weeks ago while riding on the Ike with the family for a Sunday afternoon shopping trip when service was interrupted that weekend between Jefferson Park and Cumberland. Like Busjack says though it's a matter of was it always on there after switching to the color code or was recently added when new curtains were made for the addition of the Pink Line.

I ride the blue line quite a bit and I just noticed the Jeff Pk. roll sign in the last few weeks around the time the Blue line stopped going to 54/Cermak. Before then there was no Jeff pk sign to my knowledge. BTW, slightly off topic but has anyone noticed on the southbound platform at Damen/North that someone painted over the historical A-B skip stop sign that was there. Now it only says A trains stop here. I wonder why they did that? If it was for confusion issues concerning people riding to 54/Cermak by accident, why leave the A station designation?

[Guest ctafan630]

As a side note if the new rail card with the LED signage works out, these special destination signs will be a thing of the past (once the entire fleet is on LED signs). There would be no need to have a Green Harlem sign or a Blue Harlem sign. It should be easy to program station stops into the program for short runs.

It would be nice if signs could also say Express to Clark/Lake if the train is running behind schedule and needs to run express.

[Busjack]

It would be nice if signs could also say Express to Clark/Lake if the train is running behind schedule and needs to run express.

There is a black sign that says Express. Also the light on the inside of the sign box starts flashing, and the flasher clicks very loudly.

However, on the trip I was on when that happened, there was just the operator's announcement that the train was not stopping between Morse and Bryn Mawr, and then the above occurred during that segment. It wasn't like the train left Howard with the Express sign.

BTW, the signs did not reset properly once the train went back to local, and the roller on one sign started going interminably up and down. Hence, I got to see everything on the Red/Brown/Purple/Orange roller as of that time.

When the internal displays go into the L cars, probably then they will have more visual details of the type you suggest.

[Zol87]

They've had Jeferson Park on the roller curtains ever since the line was extended to Jeff Park from Logan Square in 1970

I saw the whole roll yesterday on the Pink Line at Clinton. The conductor was fixing the signs that were stuck on the wrong display. I didn't have my camera but a made a replica when I got home on my laptop.

Some of the Forest Park 2600s still have the old sign which can change to "95th". I was talking to a long-time worker at Howard, and he said that, at least with the initial signs, one set had "Loop" for the Orange, "Midway", "Ford City", "Howard", "95th", "Forest Park", "Cermak", "O'Hare", "Rosemont", "Halsted", and "Jefferson Park".

The other sign had "Skokie Swift", "Evanston Express", "Loop" for the Purple, "Howard" for the Purple, "Ravenswood", "Kimball", "Belmont", "Loop" for the Brown, "Harlem", "Cottage Grove", "Ashland", and "Loop" for the Green Line.

I saw a "Ravenswood" sign at Howard one day on a 2600 Red Line. That bring back memories. I have some questions about the older signs; "Cermak" was 54/Cermak? "Halsted" was which stop? "Ashland" was 63/Ashland? what were the colors for each? Was it white text on the colored background? I'm trying to remember these signs.

[jajuan]

I saw the whole roll yesterday on the Pink Line at Clinton. The conductor was fixing the signs that were stuck on the wrong display. I didn't have my camera but a made a replica when I got home on my laptop.

I saw a "Ravenswood" sign at Howard one day on a 2600 Red Line. That bring back memories. I have some questions about the older signs; "Cermak" was 54/Cermak? "Halsted" was which stop? "Ashland" was 63/Ashland? what were the colors for each? Was it white text on the colored background? I'm trying to remember these signs.

If the 'Halsted' shown on the old roll was on a blue background, it would have referred to the UIC-Halsted stop for the short run trips that ended there leaving O'Hare that the Blue line used to operate back in the '90s during the morning rush periods.

[Northsider]

If the 'Halsted' shown on the old roll was on a blue background, it would have referred to the UIC-Halsted stop for the short run trips that ended there leaving O'Hare that the Blue line used to operate back in the '90s during the morning rush periods.

I take the run to Halsted every morning (get off at Clark though)! I get on at Logan Square and the train is usually pack at 7:48. I wait 2-4 minutes later and a Jeff Park-UIC/Halsted train comes and is virtually empty. So they still operate these short-turned runs.