Get ready for a trip back in time: The CTA is rolling out some of its vintage trains and buses and you can soon get a sense of what Chicago transit passengers experienced nearly 100 years ago.
Your Life. Your Story. Your Portrait. Clearly Unique. | Photography of Travis Dewitz
The rumble of CTA L cars over the Wells Street Bridge is due to resume Monday in time for Purple and Brown Line riders to return to normal rush-hour schedules.
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A web site for CTA bus and transit enthusiasts.
Explore davidwilson1949's 41192 photos on Flickr!
Explore mbernero's 34308 photos on Flickr!
Musings on transit, past, present, and future
Our very first post (January 21st) featured the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee railroad, and it is high time for another look at that storied interurban. Last month was the 60th anniversary of the abandonment of the Shore Line portion of the North Shore Line system, but since we showcased the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin…
Photo: The 2400-series cars in historic livery approach Washington/Wells for two ceremonial farewell trips around the Loop 'L'. On January 21, 2015, we said "Goodbye, old friends!" to our 2400-series railcars after they spent 38 years in service. The tour ran with eight cars from the 2400-series, restored to their original appearance from 1976 and filled with ad placards and maps from the 1970s! The first of this series were introduced in 1976—a year where the nation was celebrating its 200th birthday. It was also the year when “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” won multiple Academy Awards (including Best Picture), when Jimmy Carter was elected President, when Apple Computer Inc. was formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and Captain and Tennille’s “Love Will Keep Us Together” won the Grammy for Record of the Year. These cars were delivered with bold, red-white-and-blue graphics on both the sides and the end of the cars—a nod to the nation’s bicentennial—and were initially introduced into Ravenswood Service (today’s Brown Line) and North-South Route (roughly today’s North Side Red Line and South Side Green Line, via the State Street Subway), and West-Northwest Route (today’s Blue Line). The 200 cars in this series were built by Boeing-Vertol between 1976-1978, with the car’s interior and exterior designs done by industrial design firm Sundberg-Ferar, who also worked on cars for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA, DC Metro), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). One distinguishing feature of these cars that separated them from hundreds of their most recent predecessors is that they went back to sliding doors, which later made it possible to convert them for wheelchair access under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Previous to these cars, starting back in the 1940s, our cars were built with streetcar-like folding “blinker doors” which had sets of four narrow panels that swung inward at stops.) While the last cars of this series ended their service on the Orange and Brown Lines, they were most associated with the Green and Purple Line services from the 1990s until nearly the end of their days in service. Learn more about the cars and event at transitchicago.com/2400farewell
Take a ride back in time on the green and cream CTA buses, trains, trolleys and horses from Chicago's public transportation past.
Bring the 'L' home!! Our CTA wooden trains play on all standard wooden railway systems. One-piece hardwood body and non-toxic child-safe paints. A top gift pick!
Train cars play on all standard wooden railway systems. One-piece hardwood body and non-toxic child-safe paints. Fun for ages 3 and older. Officially licensed by the MTA, Septa and NJ Transit. For CTA trains please visit our sister site at ctagifts.com. WMATA trains can be found at dcmetrostore.com.
A Sun-Times analysis finds the number of violent crimes on L and subway trains and CTA buses has risen to a level not seen since 2011, despite ridership declines during the pandemic.
On an average weekday, more than half a million riders will take CTA trains. You might not think twice about the “L” as you’re getting off to go to work, grab food, or because someone's eating an entire burrito next to you. But a train system that’s over a century old has some interesting facts worth digging into.
CTA designed by Jaakko Markkanen. Connect with them on Dribbble; the global community for designers and creative professionals.
In 1895, rail service was extended as far northwest as Logan Square on the Metropolitan West Side 'L' along what is now part of the O'Hare Branch of the CTA Blue Line. After leaving the California stop, trains stayed elevated the whole way to Logan Square where they reached an elevated terminal on Kedzie just south of the square (at Linden Place). This elevated terminal stayed in service up until 1970, when all trains were rerouted into the new Milwaukee-Kimball subway for service extended as far as Jefferson Park. (The it would then be further extended to O'Hare in the 1980s.)
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