[Audio of 4000 Series Train Arriving at Station – courtesy of “Adventures With Mike”]
When you think of the CTA, you’re probably going to think of that trademarked silvery train car or the plastic seats, but this isn’t how it’s always been. Throughout the organization’s decades-long history, the buses and L trains have gone through quite a few makeovers.
Usually, when train cars are retired, they’re sold for scrap or given out to museums, but for the past ten years, the CTA has been on a mission to bring this piece of Chicago history back to the public with their Heritage Fleet, consisting of three retired buses and 17 railcars.
Graham Garfield is a general manager in the CTA’s infrastructure division, as well as manager of the Heritage Fleet program.
SOPHIA CASA: Can you tell me about how this program sort of started? What was the genesis for it?
GRAHAM GARFIELD: I mean, in some ways, you can really kind of almost take it back to the 1970s when the oldest cars we have in the fleet, which are our 1923 4000 series cars, were preserved by CTA. And CTA kept those cars, you know, obviously since then, since we still have them now, and sort of brought them out periodically, but there wasn’t really a formal program, you know, for their maintenance and preservation and so forth.
But in the 70s and in the 90s, we had done these things where we sort of have a publicized last trip, you know, in service of these cars. So in 2013, we did a farewell trip for the 2200s, where we put them back to their original appearance and had vintage ads and maps on the trains on this one consist of cars. And that had huge turnout and got a lot of, you know, recognition in the press.
The next year, we did the same for the 2400 series when the last of them were going again, got a great reaction. And then during that time, we also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Yellow Line, and we brought out the 4000s, the oldest cars to get. So after sort of this series of events, I think there was a recognition that there was a public interest in our history and in, you know, enjoying these historic vehicles that we still had.
And so CTA decided to formally create a program. And so that’s how the Heritage Fleet program sort of came to be. And so that was in 2016.
CASA: Can you tell me a little bit about the process of sort of getting these trains back and also the process of getting them back on the rails?
GARFIELD: Yeah, so the majority of the rail cars and buses, we also have three buses that are in the Heritage Fleet. Most of them never left the property. You know, on the rail side, there were some what we recognize as like gaps in the collection.
And so for those, then the only option is to see if you can get something back. And so we set about just seeing if these particular cars, which are the 6000 series from the 1950s, we were interested in bringing back. If there were any museums that had them that were not really interested in keeping them.
And we actually found two museums that had 6000 series cars that were not running them and really didn’t have plans to restore them and use them. And so they were willing to part with them.
Now, how we moved them, we didn’t move them by rail. That’s actually pretty uncommon these days. So they’re actually moved by truck. There are special truck trailers that are made for transporting rail cars.
CASA: How often does this fleet actually go out?
GARFIELD: So, I mean, it varies. I mean, there’s not a schedule, but I mean, on average, I would say it probably goes out, you know, maybe a half a dozen or more times a year. They get used for other things, too. I mean, sometimes they might be rented by like a movie or TV production company. We try to have, you know, events for the public at least, you know, two, three times a year.
CASA: And sort of speaking of the public, you know, a lot of this, the maintenance of the Heritage Fleet is done by the volunteer work of employees, of rail experts. So can you tell me about the role of volunteers in all of this and how this sort of became possible in efforts through the public?
GARFIELD: A lot of the, you know, basic work of maintaining the cars are done by volunteers. They’re mostly, you know, current employees who do it on their off time or retirees who, you know, did these sorts of jobs, you know, when they worked for CTA, you know, really have such a love for the equipment and for CTA and what they did that they’re actually willing as, you know, retirees to come back in their spare time and work on the cars.
CASA: So it’s been 10 years since the program has started. So how have you seen it grow, change, adapt?
GARFIELD:Yeah, I mean, I think that the program, it’s grown both in terms of the fleet, so the number of cars we have has grown, but I think it’s also grown, you know, just in terms of its visibility and the public awareness of it and, you know, sort of being embraced, I think, by our riders and by the public and certainly by the CTA. Kind of second to the holiday train is, you know, one of the things CTA does to really try to give back, you know, to the public and to our riders.
And so, you know, we get now questions of, you know, when are they coming out again? When can I ride? And, you know, I think that’s a great thing because it means people are aware of it and they’re enjoying it and they want it more.
The Heritage fleet will make its return this spring.
For WNUR News, I’m Sophia Casa.
[Audio of 4000 Series Train Arriving at Station – courtesy of “Terry”]