CTA charter derailment

Chris and Tadman, speaking of brain dead people who work for newspapers, I have a story for you. Approximately twenty five years ago, for a few months I dated someone who used to work as a general assignment reporter for the local newspaper here. Sometime after we broke up and were no longer dating, I saw this woman at the local branch of Barnes & Noble talking with some friends. This woman was complaining about being assigned to cover the Miss Arkansas pageant. She had nothing good to say about the contestants. She said they were all shallow, superficial, empty-headed, brain dead women who were obsessed with makeup and clothes. I jokingly asked why she was complaining about the contestants because I thought she would fit right in with women like that. She got mad and cussed me out so I walked away.

Laurence

hehe, good story - I've dated a few pageant contestants (both runners-up for their respective states - not bad...). One was extremely high maintenance and wouldn't ride the L with me while the other had no problem with public transit. I still talk to the latter...

As for the friends whom she was talking to, the husband was amused by my reply and was trying hard not to laugh while the wife was so stunned that she couldn't think of a response.

Laurence

fauxcelt wrote:I jokingly asked why she was complaining about the contestants because I thought she would fit right in with women like that.

I know people I could say that to and they would laugh along. It appears you found the raw nerve. A lot of humor comes in the underlying relationship. The "husband" knew it was funny, the "wife" was torn between supporting her friend or her husband (she probably laughed later unless she was similarly equipped). Gotta know your audience.

To bring this back to the derailment, I was glad to read that no one was hurt and I am sure it was an interesting experience to be able to walk along the "L" tracks. I think I would have enjoyed doing that. It would be the first time for me.
As for the former newspaper reporter, we all make mistakes when we are young and foolish and she was one of my mistakes. I didn't realize how superficial, shallow, and vain she was when I first met her but I know better now. She does have some good qualities but she seems to be trying to suppress them as if she wants to keep them locked up in prison.
As for the husband and the wife whom she was talking to, they are (or were) long time friends of mine as well as being the reporter's friends also (mutual friends). This couple got divorced a few years ago and I don't know where the husband went off to but the wife is still here and I am still on speaking terms with her.

Laurence

What's any of this got to do with the CTA derailment?

CHTT1, it is my fault and you can blame on me if you want to. Someone made a comment about the idiotic, stupid, and inane comments which sometimes appear in newspaper reports and it struck a nerve with me.
After this brief digression, we will now return to our discussion of the CTA derailment.

Laurence

I hope that this derailment won't be the end of charters on the CTA including 2200 series charters; just in case someone decided to do a final farewell charter to the 2200s.

Well, call it intuition, but I don't think the cars that derailed will be the cars bound for IRM.

CTA 2279-80 were the pair of cars which derailed, and were retired for good following the incident. IRM has its eye on a specific pair of cars and it's not those.

Might the pair be 2201/02?

A little OT, but does IRM have any plans to obtain a set of 2400s as well?

2201-02 have already been retired and are probably off the property by now, in the hands of the scrapper (I've heard it's an outfit in Chicago Heights, and cars have been seen heading that way on low-boy trailers). The cars being retired based on condition - the ones in the worst shape going first. I'm not going to say which cars we're going to get, because it might be a jinx - they weren't the first pair we planned on getting. That was 2285-86, which wound up slapping a chunk of loose platform somewhere and were subsequently retired due to the damage. So we won't let the numbers loose until the cars are loaded on trailers on the way to the museum. I will say that the cars we plan on getting were still seen running around on Wednesday morning.

And yes, the museum does plan to get 2400s as well. The Snowflake Special this past spring raised some (but not all) of the funds needed to purchase a pair. We also did some planning for the future - a few months ago we ordered hardware for our 2000s so we could finally, after 19 years, put poles on the roof (one was installed just recently: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidfulla ... hotostream). In the same order was additional hardware for the roofs of 2200s and 2400s. In stainless of course.

Ahh, yes, I am aware that the 2000s at IRM have a pole now. I was there for the trolley parade and was able to see them operating.

I am glad to see and read that this discussion has returned to its original topic of the derailment. Nor do I mind reading the comments about the Railway Museum.

Laurence