Chicago Transit Authority 1969 photos

[daveklepper]

I am responding to a request to copy this from the Trains Magazine Passenger Folrum:

First three Lake & Wells, top Wells side of Loop. bottom Northside "L" to Ravenswood, Howard, and Evenston, right Lake to west, left Lake side of the Loop.  For others I leave captions to be added by the readers who are Chicago experts, since my memory is not 100% after 53 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rcdrye]

The Lake/Wells tower (Tower 18, in CTA-speak) was reconfigured to handle the opening of the Lake/Dan Ryan line on Sept 28, 1969.   Before then, the Lake street trains curved from Lake Street to the inner loop track (right to top) crossing the outer track used by Ravenswood trains.  All trains operated counter-clockwise around the loop, Lake on the inside, Ravenswood and Evanston on the outside in rush hours, Lake and Ravenswood on the inner loop during non-rush hours (crossovers north of Randolph/Wells and west of Clark/Lake).  The westbound Lake track shifted from left to right on the structure while moving from left to right in the photo.  The tower was replaced at the same time.

After Lake-Dan Ryan opened L-DR trains used the north and east sides of the loop.  The inside loop ran clockwise, outer loop counter clockwise.  Ravenswood trains used the outer loop all of the time (not just rush hours).  Evanston trains (rush hours only) used the inner loop, curving from bottom to left of the photo, and exiting top to bottom.  There was also a "Loop Shuttle" that ran around and around on the inner track.    In Dave's photo a shuttle is looping on the inner track (top to left) while a Ravenswood train enters the loop.

The other photos are 2000 series P-S cars on the Dan Ryan section.  All 180 of the 2000s were assigned to L-DR, along with new Budd-built 2200s, some of which went to Congress/Douglas-Milwaukee to replace the 2000s formerly assigned there.

After the Kennedy extension of the Congress/Douglas-Milwaukee line opened in 1970 additional 2200 series cars were assigned there, along with 6000 series cars equipped with window guards due to close clearances in the Logan Square subway.

[daveklepper]

THanks!  Were not the P-5s built by Pullman?

[rcdrye]

Yes, the 2000s were built by Pullman-Standard.  They were the first cars on the CTA equipped with factory air conditioning.  Conversion of the outer end of Lake Street from street level running (the line was moved onto the adjacent C&NW elevated ROW) eliminated the need for trolley poles.  Initially 140 of the 2000s were assigned to Lake Street replacing 4000 series Cincinnati cars from 1924.  The remainder of the 2000s were assigned to Congress-Milwaukee after initial service on Douglas-Milwaukee was deemed unacceptable due to vibration on the Douglas line's ex-MET elevated structure.

[rcdrye]

Non-rush hour Ravenswood trains used the outer loop platform at Randolph/Wells.  The crossover to the inner loop was between Randolph/Wells and Madison/Wells on the site of today's Washington/Wells station.  Madison/Wells was where you got off to go to the All-Nation Hobby Shop.

The single curves on the southwest and southeast corners were made two-track with the addition of the Orange (Midway) line and the rebuilding of the Green Line (Lake/South Side) in the 1990s.  Tower 12 at Wabash and Van Buren, the far corner of the Loop, was rebuilt as a double-track wye at the same time.  Those changes allow looping Orange Line trains (inner loop), and detour moves of Green Line trains via the Wells and Van Buren legs.  The outer loop connector in the southeast corner at Tower 18 is not normally used.

[daveklepper]

Reminder that all my photos posted on this website can be shared, but credit ("Dave Klepper photo" is sufficient) is of-course, appreciated.  I like seeing "then-and now" comparisons, and being 8000 miles away, cannot do the "now" myself.