3200's get digital roll signs

Today while waiting for a brown train, I noticed a Midway train with digital roll signs on #3208 and its mate. The signs look similar but not identical to those on the 5000's.

Isn't "digital roll sign" an oxymoron? Just kidding.......

Same with "roll up your window"...

As much as I appreciate the better visibility of the digital roll signs, I'll miss the cranking noise they make as a cue for express running.

Everyone:

The title of this topic should be "CTA 3200 Series cars with digital destination signs"

That better describes what they actually are...

MACTRAXX

How about "3200's roll signs converted to digital" ?

I won't miss the old signs. They break and are costly to maintain. When they are mis-matched it's an easy way to confuse even normal riders, let alone tourists. I'm in the process of teaching my better half to ride the train and I can't wait til she calls me from who-knows-where because she got on a train with a bad rollsign.

Also, the LED visibility is dazzling. It looks gooooood.

I find them difficult to read from a distance, such as street level looking up to a train on the elevated trackage.

I was fortunate enough to snag some old signs from the IRM table at the Kane County Train Show a few months ago. Included in the collection were destination signs such as "to U of I Halsted only", and "to River Road only (B)", both of which I didn't see much of at that time. Also, I liked fooling around with the manually operated signs on the 6000's as a kid (when no one was looking of course, although a conductor caught me once, who just sighed, changed it back, and shot me a dirty look before moving on. Some years later after I'd moved, and shortly before conductors were eliminated, the same guy saw me on a passing train in the subway and we both got a laugh out of it. I was pleasantly surprised he still recognized me, had grown a beard by that time!),

The coolest thing about the new LED signs is that the destination signs on the sides are visually similar from both inside and outside the car; you don't get the old "backward" display effect that the roll signs gave from the inside. Makes it easier for the drunks, I suppose...

doepack wrote: Some years later after I'd moved, and shortly before conductors were eliminated, the same guy saw me on a passing train in the subway and we both got a laugh out of it. I was pleasantly surprised he still recognized me, had grown a beard by that time!),

Good story. I have that happen on the South Shore about once a year - some old hand remembers me as a kid in the 80's or 90's. Also, when Frosty's Ribs re-opened after a ten year hiatus in Michigan City, Frosty remembered me as the little kid that watched South Shore trains go by from his restaurant.