CTA Locomotives

byte wrote:There is a group of 2400-series "work motors" which can be seen on the Green and Purple lines, and are are distinguished by having red-and-white "candy cane" striping on the sides and A-ends of each car. These cars have heavier gauge wiring and are typically used to haul around flat cars (in between two pairs of work motors) carrying MOW equipment. When they're not being used in work service, they operate as regular revenue cars.

Ahhh...I did not know that about the candy stripes.

The reason I questioned ownership is the 3446x2577 version of that photo show a K/R logo and number and similar numbers on the cars. Anybody know the story there? I thought the CTA used S-xx numbers on the mow equipment and "regular" 4 axle flat cars built to the loading gauge.

I think it may be contractor-owned, I've never heard of CTA owning that unit. It wasn't at lower 63rd on the charter this year, and usually CTA logos are prominent even on work equipment.

I glossed over the K/R logo, it must be owned by Kiewit-Reyes then, who does a lot of large-scale work on the CTA. It's possible it was purchased by them specifically for use on this project.

I was going to post a link to this page a long time ago but I never did:
http://www.dhke.com/rrot/

The locomotives are GE 25 ton or 35 ton models, probably 25 ton because of the lower hood. I noticed the couplers and mountings have been removed from the engines and the carts are connected with drawbars. And the engines look well maintained and equipped which makes me doubt that they were purchased just for the CTA projects. Maybe KR does some other heavier railroad work? They don't really say much about being a railroad contractor on their website.
It looks like the contractors built some temporary sidings to store the MOW equipment, and CTA took precautions to keep the construction pretty well separated from passenger operations, so maybe they didn't really have to worry about whether it was a CTA or contractor employee running the locomotive. Was the work being done inside the subway itself or along the Congress expressway?

Those are exactly the type of locomotives I heard that CTA had on the property - although it is unclear if they are CTA's or the contractor's. There are 2 locomotives pictured - KR 57-9431 and KR 57-9352.

Any idea if they are still around?

KR 57-9431 (25 ton) has been stripped of its decals and is sitting at LocoDocs in Mazon, IL.
I drove by today, googled the number, and found this post.

http://www.locodocs.com/Store.html
The GP7 was not on site, but the 80 ton formerly lettered US-TVA built in December of '51 (class b-b-160/160-4GE747 460HP #31321 ) and the other was stripped of all marking, except 299 05 stamped in the deck plate.

From 2010 ...

JLJ061 wrote:Here is a pic I took back in February of the steeple-cab in Michigan City:

http://jlj061.rrpicturearchives.net/sho ... id=1949724" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not sure when it moved, but it is now just west of Sheridan in the privately owned yard where a lot of old catenary supports and wired are stored. I saw it there this afternoon and went past the old location to verify that it was gone.