2400's putting in a World Series appearance...

One round trip from Howard to 95th & back again all weekend, scroll down for details...

BSB:

The CTA has for some reason named car series by the first group of one hundred. For example the 1976-77 vintage Boeing 2400 series have numbers in the 2400 and 2500s.

The following 2600 series Budd cars dating from the early-mid 1980s are numbered 2601-3200 (600 cars originally) and are as of now the oldest fleet currently in service.

The next group - the 3200 series dating from the 90s - begins at exactly #3201.

Addison Station - adjacent to Wrigley Field - makes the CTA Howard-Dan Ryan Red Line one of the best ways to get to the ballpark. Parking has always been
tough around Wrigley Field and its location in a residential neighborhood along with its limited road access away from major highways and expressways.

In case you are unaware since line reroutes that occurred in 1993 both of Chicago's baseball parks are on the same rail route - US Cellular Field-home of the White Sox - is located at the Sox-35th Street station on the Dan Ryan segment of the Red Line S of Downtown Chicago. Addison is on the North Side along the Howard route. This is where Chicago has the undisputed advantage with both of New York's ballparks on different NYC Subway routes requiring a transfer in Manhattan...

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Doepack: Thanks for this CTA link showing the 2400 series cars single round trip. I would like to know why the CTA opted for one Red Line round trip instead of two or maybe more - giving those interested more opportunity to take a ride or observe this train in special service...

Back in 2015 during the World Series as a comparison NYC Transit placed a train of vintage IRT cars on the #7 Flushing Line to Citi Field making a number of round trips between Midtown Manhattan and Flushing Main Street for fans and rail enthusiasts alike on game days - a good move by the MTA then...

On a related matter I really like the restoration of the Boeing cars to their original mid 70s Bicentennial color scheme remembering them well when they were new. The section explaining the CTA Bicentennial color scheme at http://www.chicago-l.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; is not only very interesting - it shows what cars in the fleet were named along with some fascinating variations of the scheme that were used during and after 1976.

One of my personal favorites were the color scheme and the "I Will - the Spirit of Chicago" concept used on the 2600 series fleet primarily - I was disappointed to see this discontinued - but I realize that it is easier for the CTA keeping these cars plain - making it simple to apply wrap advertising and clean in case of graffiti being good examples.

In closing I do miss these earlier CTA car color schemes - but it is easier to keep stainless steel cars plain - just as the Budd 2200 series cars had for their entire
service lives spanning around 40 years. The 2200s always looked fine to me...
MACTRAXX

Maybe I'm crazy, but I just cannot get excited about the 2400's as a "heritage train". Just a few years ago, they were all over the system, and I rode them to work many days. The doors had problems, the AC sucked, and it was less than awesome to ride to work while getting sweaty in my suit. Good bye and good riddance for me. Despite the groaning over the 5000's seating, I love riding them. They're clean and quiet and super reliable. As a commuter, I really don't like surprises.

Concerning what MACTRAXX said about both the Cubs and White Sox stadiums being on the same line, I was curious if there was ever an "L" World Series (like the "subway series" in NYC). There was only ever one Cubs/White Sox series, in 1906, unfortunately the Dan Ryan line didn't exist back then. The White Sox won that one by the way. And they played at West Side Park, not sure where that was in relation to the L lines that existed back then.

Jon

West Side Park was at Polk and Wolcott, in what's now the UIC Medical School campus, a couple of blocks west of the Pink Line's Polk station, then on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated's Douglas Park line. Travelers from Wrigley to West Side in 1906 would change at Clark/Lake from an inbound Northwestern Elevated train on the outer Loop to a westbound Douglas Park train on the inner Loop. In the other direction, change at LaSalle/Van Buren.