CTA 75th Anniversary

On October 1, 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority was formed, taking over operations for city buses, streetcars, and rapid transit lines. Today marks the 75th anniversary, and to mark that occasion, they ran several old railcars and buses in the Loop today.

First, I got to Daley Plaza around 8:45am so I could get a ticket on the first train. Not only did I get a ticket, I also scored a 75th anniversary pin and two awesome posters. The main boarding location was Clark/Lake, and the first railcar to arrive was a 4000 series train:

CTA 4272 at Clark/Lake
CTA 4272 at Clark/Lake

Then came the train I was booked on, a 6000 series:

CTA 6711 approaching Clark/Lake
CTA 6712, approaching Clark/Lake

I then got to take a ride around the Loop in that car:

CTA 6712 interior
Interior of CTA 6712

After that, I was able to ride on a 2400 series train:

CTA 2455 arriving at Clark/Lake
CTA 2455 arriving at Clark/Lake

I took that train around the Loop as well. The 2400 series felt a lot more familiar, not being all that different (at least from a passenger point of view) from the 2600 and 3200 series we still use today.

CTA 2489 interior
CTA 2489 interior

After returning to Clark/Lake a second time, I photographed trains from the other platform:

CTA 4271 at Clark/Lake
CTA 4271 at Clark/Lake
CTA 6711 at Clark/Lake
CTA 6711 at Clark/Lake

I then finally was able to catch a ride on the 4000 series train:

CTA 4000 series interior
CTA 4000 series interior

I then returned to Clark/Lake yet again and photographed the 2400 series train and the 4000 series train together:

CTA 4271 and 2490 at Clark/Lake
2400 series and 4000 series trains together at Clark/Lake

Then I headed over to Quincy to photograph the historic trains in the context of the one station that has retained its historic appearance.

CTA 2490 at Quincy
CTA 2490 at Quincy
CTA 4271 at Quincy
CTA 4271 at Quincy
CTA 6711 at Quincy
CTA 6711 at Quincy

Then, I rounded out the day taking an old bus, GMC 301, around downtown from Daley Plaza:

CTA bus 301 at Washington/Clark
CTA 301 at Daley Plaza

They also had bus 3706 on static display in Daley Plaza:

CTA bus 3706 at Daley Plaza
CTA 3706 in Daley Plaza

All in all cool to see. It’s a reminder of everything that it took to get us to where we are now. We are now awaiting the 7000 series L cars which will result in the retirement of the 2600 and 3200 series, and I guess that means the next time they do an event like this those will be part of their heritage fleet. Here’s to another 75 years of the CTA.