Old Metra schedules online...

An archived list of Metra's internet history, and that of many other web pages can be found at the link below...

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

To access the Metra archives, type in Metra's URL in the box below "The wayback machine", then click "take me back". You'll then see all of Metra's archived web pages for the last nine years, and of particular interest to me is how some of the schedules have evolved over that time, while others (such as the Rock) haven't changed at all. Pretty cool, check it out...

Thats pretty awesome, nice catch. Considering the first site Metra published was in 1996, the Rock's current schedule was already in effect.. so there would be no changes to the schedule at all.... I guess Metra thinks there is no need to give the Rock an update 11 years later. The RI schedule that I really want to take a look at is the one in use prior to 1995, since the only change to the 1996 schedule was the addition of the 2:55 express.

And speaking of old schedules, I was hoping the archive site would help me figure exactly when all those extra trains were added to the Burlington. But according to the archives, the earliest schedule available for that route is in effect on 6/1/97, and except for minor tweakage at times over the years, the schedule hasn't changed a whole lot since; service had already been beefed up to today's standards by that time. It's funny, because I've got a Burlington schedule from 1986, when Route 59 first opened, and at that time, there were approx. 60-65 daily trains. A theory I've heard is that it occurred when the "M's" replaced the "E's" on that route, circa 1992, which is plausible I suppose, but again, that's just a guess...

If that's true, I wonder if the MED schedule will get an overhaul when the entire railcar fleet consists of H2s. Those things look pretty damn fast, and I think they accelerate faster than the Ford Escort I used to drive...

byte wrote:If that's true, I wonder if the MED schedule will get an overhaul when the entire railcar fleet consists of H2s...

Probably not. While the new H2's have quicker acceleration, I don't see Metra increasing the 65mph max speed on that line; which would only apply to the main line rush hour expresses anyway. Besides, timekeeping on ME seems to be pretty good for the most part...

doepack wrote:It's funny, because I've got a Burlington schedule from 1986, when Route 59 first opened...

Correction: Route 59 actually opened three years later, in 1989. Might explain why it wasn't on my 1986 schedule as I had originally thought...