CTA Red Line 5 Month Shutdown(Begins May 19th)

I went on a drive a little while ago to see what's going on with the Dan Ryan branch now that it's been shut down for 15 hours. Work is already underway; it appeared that some electrical work was being done between 87th and 95th, and other work of an undetermined nature was being done between 35th and Cermak/Chinatown. In both of these areas, they were using rail vehicles so it appears the track infrastructure is still intact.

I also drove past the 98th street yard via the Bishop Ford. Unsurprisingly, snow removal equipment is still there, but what caught my eye is that there is also a six-car set of 2400s. These were not work motors with red/white striping - one number I caught of the six was 2487.

According to this post the trainset is to be used as test train. Reconstruction will begin at the bottom and work its way up.

http://forum.chicagobus.org/topic/2811- ... entry46444

byte wrote:I went on a drive a little while ago to see what's going on with the Dan Ryan branch now that it's been shut down for 15 hours. Work is already underway; it appeared that some electrical work was being done between 87th and 95th, and other work of an undetermined nature was being done between 35th and Cermak/Chinatown. In both of these areas, they were using rail vehicles so it appears the track infrastructure is still intact.

I also drove past the 98th street yard via the Bishop Ford. Unsurprisingly, snow removal equipment is still there, but what caught my eye is that there is also a six-car set of 2400s. These were not work motors with red/white striping - one number I caught of the six was 2487.

Yes, the tracks weren't removed, but you can bet the power is turned off. They had a flat car that they were loading the signals on...man, one of those would sure look good in my back yard. More cars were transferred to Howard yard than to Ashland yard. The maintenance shop at the east end of Ashland yard is open for business again. Other Red line shop work will be done at Howard, of course, and at Linden at the end of the Purple line.

Yes the abandoned and exiled 2400s will be the test train when the new trackwork is in and power restored. Since the contractor is working from south to north, the yard section and 95th should be finished first. The CTA is easily able to do without those six cars. We hope they watch over them carefully lest the graffiti criminals discover them. I also brought over the pictures I posted there. The snow equipment is diesel powered. That part of the yard is actually in the median of the Bishop Ford Freeway (I-94).

Chicagopcclcars wrote:Since the contractor is working from south to north, the yard section and 95th should be finished first.

If I recall correctly, there is a substation at 95th St that powers the yard and the track north. Where is the next substation north?
It makes sense to me to start in the south and work north with the power being supplied from 95th.

As far a the suggestion to "phase in" restoration of service had the construction run north to south (posted on the linked forum) - that would be a mess. A consistent closure until October with consistent temporary plans is much better than changing the plan every couple of months.

justalurker66 wrote:

Chicagopcclcars wrote:Since the contractor is working from south to north, the yard section and 95th should be finished first.

If I recall correctly, there is a substation at 95th St that powers the yard and the track north. Where is the next substation north?
It makes sense to me to start in the south and work north with the power being supplied from 95th.

As far a the suggestion to "phase in" restoration of service had the construction run north to south (posted on the linked forum) - that would be a mess. A consistent closure until October with consistent temporary plans is much better than changing the plan every couple of months.

I'm guessing the next substation is at 79th and S. Perry Ave.

As for the suggestion, railfans are known for making suggestions for reasons that have little real substance.

DH

I’m curious if anyone from IRM has contacted the CTA about getting those old signals? It looks like they are just going into a dumpster on wheels headed for the scrapper, and if that is that case…That would be a terrible shame. I think that could be a great fundraiser for IRM to auction these pieces off, I would put one in my yard!

Chuck

They might be planning to reinstall them after the track work is done. They are only what, seven years old. They have to be removed because the rehab is complete down to the sub ground level.

David H.

IRM gets lots of old CTA stuff as it is, and a variety of things (mostly signs) are available on www.irm.org. Although people like us on this forum would be interested in things like old wayside signals, the overall market for those things is actually pretty small.

Example: IRM has been working with the Monticello Railway Museum over the past couple months on scrapping articulated car #53 (the parts from which will be set aside for lots of ongoing electric car projects currently happening at IRM). One item removed from that car was the interior bullseye lighting fixtures, which most of us agreed, would look pretty neat mounted in a house, etc. We (IRM) had a box full of these for sale ($25 each) at a recent museum event, but only sold one of them. There might be a few people really interested in a given item, but if there's only a few, then it may not be worth the trouble of setting up a sales mechanism, stockpile and allocate volunteer resources for that effort when they would better used in other areas.

CTA posted some photos on their Facebook page of track removal efforts.

Wait they're scrapping 53? Was it in rough shape?

Tadman wrote:Wait they're scrapping 53? Was it in rough shape?

Car 53 is (soon to be was) in pretty rough shape: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidfulla ... 562618313/

Monticello isn't exactly scrapping it; rather the car is basically IRM's to do what we want with it, and given our own needs and priorities, we are gradually scrapping it. The car is still intact to the naked eye, but pretty much all the jewelry is gone (sorry internet lurkers, we've already removed the controllers), as is much of the underbody equipment as well as the bow trolleys.

Mechanically the car might be able to be made to run again (it hasn't since 1985), but the interior and body would need a bigger rehab than we could economically justify, especially since IRM already has car 52, which is stored indoors, in better shape, and has operated at the museum before. As I understand it, Monticello initially acquired car 53 so that it could be quickly made into a walk-through display in the earlier years of the museum. Now that Monticello has built up an impressive collection of restored "mainline" rolling stock (their emphasis as a museum), car 53 is no longer needed. Parts from car 53 will be used on a variety of different "L" cars at IRM - car 52, 6000s, 1-50s, 2000s, and even 2200s/2400s. Monticello deserves a lot of credit for seeing to it that parts from this car are getting repurposed rather than it being sent off as a whole to a scrapper who will melt every bit of it down.

byte wrote:IRM gets lots of old CTA stuff as it is, and a variety of things (mostly signs) are available on http://www.irm.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Although people like us on this forum would be interested in things like old wayside signals, the overall market for those things is actually pretty small.

Example: IRM has been working with the Monticello Railway Museum over the past couple months on scrapping articulated car #53 (the parts from which will be set aside for lots of ongoing electric car projects currently happening at IRM). One item removed from that car was the interior bullseye lighting fixtures, which most of us agreed, would look pretty neat mounted in a house, etc. We (IRM) had a box full of these for sale ($25 each) at a recent museum event, but only sold one of them. There might be a few people really interested in a given item, but if there's only a few, then it may not be worth the trouble of setting up a sales mechanism, stockpile and allocate volunteer resources for that effort when they would better used in other areas.

I'll be coming up in a couple of weeks, I'll be bringing my checkbook and a big box!

Chuck

Update - they're working feverishly! I drove the entire length of the Ryan today and it looks like the SB main is totally torn up. There are piles of ties everywhere and a few locations have a railcar-sized pile of dirt, indicating they've dug way below the surface for some reason.

They are digging up the drainage system too. Although if it is tied into the expressway drains, they're nothing to brag about.

DH

Tadman wrote:Update - they're working feverishly! I drove the entire length of the Ryan today and it looks like the SB main is totally torn up. There are piles of ties everywhere and a few locations have a railcar-sized pile of dirt, indicating they've dug way below the surface for some reason.

Good to know they aren't messing around. Because I'm already getting tired of my daughter complaining about using shuttle buses to visit her boyfriend, who lives on the far south side of the city...