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CTA says goodbye to 1970s rail cars

Some CTA rail cars from the 1970s will be taking one final lap Wednesday before they are officially retired.

The CTA is hosting a final ride for eight of its 2400-series rail cars that were introduced in 1976 and pulled from service in October because they were replaced with newer cars. The eight-car train will travel in the Loop and on the Brown, Red and Green lines.

The cars will be decked out with original decals and advertising cards from 1970s.

The 200 cars in the 2400-series were built by Boeing-Vertol between 1976-1978 and featured red, white and blue decals to honor the country’s 200th birthday in 1976, according to the CTA. The decals were later removed so they would look like the rest of the CTA rail fleet.

Chicago transit historian Greg Borzo, who wrote “The Chicago ‘L’,” said he moved to Chicago in 1976 just as the 2400-series cars began operation on the “L.”

“People liked the patriotic color scheme. There was a cool factor too because [the cars] were built by Boeing,” said Borzo, referring to the Chicago-based aerospace company. “It was aircraft-quality workmanship on a lowly ‘L’ car.”

The cars were last on the Orange Line. The transit agency keeps two dozen of the cars for track maintenance work.

In 2013, the CTA held a similar event to retire the 2200-series of cars with accordion folding doors that operated on the Blue Line.

Three series of cars run on CTA tracks: the 2600-series built in the 1980s that operate on the Blue Line; the 3200-series built in the 1990s that operate on the Orange and Brown lines; and the 5000-series cars with the aisle-facing seats built more than five years ago that operate on the Green, Pink, Yellow, Red and Purple lines.

The CTA is expecting to receive the last of the 5000-series cars, about 100 cars, this year to complete its total order of 714 cars. Meanwhile, the agency is soliciting bids for its next generation of rail cars, the 7000-series, which could be delivered in 2018 and replace the 2600-series cars on the Blue Line.

The CTA said the 2400-series train will say “2400” on the Train Tracker for its Wednesday run. The CTA schedule follows.

>> Loop: The train will pick up passengers at about 10:20 a.m. at the Washington/Wells stop on the Brown Line side of the tracks and make two trips around the Loop before returning riders to the Washington/Wells stop at about 10:50am. There will be no intermediate stops for the Loop trip.

>> Brown Line: The train will make one round trip between the Kimball station and the Loop, making all stops. The train is scheduled to leave the Kimball stop at 11:55 a.m., arrive at the Clark/Lake Loop stop at 12:40 p.m., and return to the Kimball stop at 1:17 p.m.

>> Red and Green lines: The train will make one trip from the Howard stop on the Red, Purple and Yellow lines to the Ashland/63rd Green Line stop via elevated tracks. The train is scheduled to depart the Howard stop at 2:25 p.m., the Clark/Lake stop at 3:08 p.m., the Roosevelt stop on the Red, Orange and Green lines at 3:15 p.m. and arrive at the Ashland/63rd stop at 3:40 p.m.

The train will then make one final trip starting at the Green Line’s Ashland/63rd stop switching at one point to the Red Line subway tracks before ending at the Howard stop. The train is scheduled to depart the Ashland/63rd stop at 3:50 p.m., the Clark/Division Red Line stop at 4:25 p.m., and arrive at the Howard stop at 5 p.m.