"Blinker" Doors

Just out of curiosity;

The doors on the 5000 thru 2200 series cars are refered to as "quarter" doors or "blinker" doors. I can understand the quarter door name as there are 4 doors to each entryway.

Does anyone know the origin of the "blinker" reference?

The term "quarter" doors -- more correctly, "quarter-point" doors -- actually refers to the placement of the doors on the carbody. That is, they are placed roughly one-quarter of the length from the end of the car. That term applies not only to the cars with blinker doors, but also to the 2400 through 3200 series cars.

As for the origin of the term "blinker" doors, it comes from the way the doors open inward to the sides of the doorway, resembling a blinking eyelid. The name was used to refer to that type of door both on the CTA rapid transit equipment and on PCC streetcars.

Interesting.... Thanks for the info, MikeF.

I've ridden on the Blue Line 2200s and I find blinker doors to be cool as they open and close. I'm curious why they were used instead of sliding doors or even regular folding doors (like on old-look GMC buses). Was there any advantage to the blinker door design?

The blinker doors were first used on Chicago rapid transit equipment on the CRT 5000-series (later the CTA 51-54 series) articulated sets, and they were used, as far as I know, simply because they were part of the PCC design and they were the popular "look" of the day. I believe the same applies to their use on the 6000-series and 1-50 series cars. In the case of the 6000's, there was also the advantage of being able to use door motors salvaged from retired PCC streetcars.

I can't say why they were used on the 2000's and 2200's, except perhaps that the CTA wanted them to appear consistent with the PCC rapid transit cars. Of course, by the time the 2400's were built, handicap accessibility had become an issue, hence the return to sliding doors.

Is there any advantage to the blinker door design? I sure can't think of one. Boarding and alighting is slower because of the narrower passageways, the doors are not accessible to wheelchair users, and the door motors are more complex than those in sliding doors.

Maybe its because I grew up with them, but I like blinker doors. I like the way they sound when they open and close. I also like the partitions between the doors so when you are standing you don't get bounced all over the place.

I'll be really sad when the 2200's are retired.

I grew up with the blinker doors to. I lived near the O'Hare line so i am very familiar to me with the 2200s. I love those cars and the blinker doors they bring back good memories of riding on the 6000s witc I miss to. and I will miss the 2200s very much when they retire them.

I don't think the 22-series will be retired for another decade or so, not sure when, but they should las a few years....

When I rode the L back in '91, I got a 1-50 (49 to be exact) and the Canadien Vickers (Pullman) 2000-series, which had those quad-doors. They were interesting, very similar to the MBTA's Green Line trolleys here in the Boston Area.

OK, I'll bite -- why do you refer to the 2000's as the "Canadien Vickers (Pullman) 2000-series"?

MikeF wrote:Is there any advantage to the blinker door design? I sure can't think of one. Boarding and alighting is slower because of the narrower passageways, the doors are not accessible to wheelchair users, and the door motors are more complex than those in sliding doors.

Blinker doors may be more suitable when there is no space to the sides of the doorway for sliding doors. The front door of buses is a good example.
Blinker doors can be wider, for example many buses have blinker doors for doorways wide enough for wheelchairs.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the 2000's were built in-house by P-S. I checked Krambles' book "CTA at 45" and it makes no mention of Vickers, just Pullman.

Tadman wrote:Yeah I'm pretty sure the 2000's were built in-house by P-S. I checked Krambles' book "CTA at 45" and it makes no mention of Vickers, just Pullman.

Confirming this. One of the guys I work with at IRM worked at the CTA for his whole career, and when the 2000s were built he was in the department that took care of media relations. At that time he took a trip down to the Pullman works on the south side to get photos of the new cars, which were then distributed to local news outlets. As as aside, I've also been told the 2000s wore special mini-pantographs to run under wire at the Pullman plant, which wasn't equipped with third rail.

That would be a wicked cool pic to see, 2000's under wires. Are the 2000's operating at IRM?

I wondered that for years, and after hearing various conflicting things on the internet, finally got a straight answer once I started volunteering out there. Here it is:

Yes, the 2000s have operated at IRM before. I think it was around the year 2000 or so, but they made maybe four mainline trips. Since they don't have trolley poles, they were jumpered to a pair of 6000s (6655-6656). The 2000s pulled the 6000s one way down the mainline, and the 6000s pulled the 2000s the other way. I don't believe these were "public" trips and when one of the 2000s developed a motor fault (likely resulting from deteriorated insulation in one of the motors) it was decided to simply leave them be until they could be put into indoor storage, where weather-related deterioration is a non-issue. The cars themselves have more than half of their indoor storage space paid for (from last year's Snowflake Special and general donations), and if that remaining amount is covered before the next IRM barn goes up, they will be placed in it.

With the arrival of the new 5000 series cars, it looks like the 2200s and 2400s will be retired.

However, at least one set of 2200s will be preserved at IRM.

Robert Paniagua wrote:I don't think the 22-series will be retired for another decade or so, not sure when, but they should las a few years....

When I rode the L back in '91, I got a 1-50 (49 to be exact) and the Canadien Vickers (Pullman) 2000-series, which had those quad-doors. They were interesting, very similar to the MBTA's Green Line trolleys here in the Boston Area.