Early transportation
A steam-powered engine pulls an elevated train along the Lake Street "L" tracks.
View ArticleWorld War II
WAVES, members of the women's branch of the Naval Reserve, take a ride on Chicago's new subway car that was helping their recruiting drive in October 1943, during World War II.
View ArticleIn the shop
Worker Andy Hodowanic checks on the roof of a train car while Mike Fabian works on a wheel Sept. 15, 1950, at the CTA shops on Oakton Street in Skokie. The facility was destined to be the main repair...
View ArticleElevated train crash
Looking west along the Lake Street elevated tracks from Wells Street on April 16. 1951, after an "L" car derailed. The car scraped a corner of the signal tower before coming to a stop. No one was...
View ArticleNew rail cars
Workmen unload two of four new rail cars at 314 W. 63rd Street in Chicago in 1951. The cars were built in St. Louis.
View ArticleDamaged train
Police Lt. Patrick Condon and Detective Francis Valkenburg view the damaged platform of an elevated train car after a crash at 69th Street and Normal Avenue on Oct. 8, 1952. Five passengers were...
View ArticleConverted Green Hornets
A four-car elevated subway train made up of converted Green Hornet street cars is given a test run at Wilson Avenue on March 11, 1954. The CTA planned to eventually have 250 of the converted cars, at...
View ArticleMetal replaces wood
Old wooden elevated line cars burn June 19, 1957, at the CTA's rapid transit yard in Skokie, where 23 cars were destroyed. Ninety more of the outmoded cars were set to be burned the next week. The...
View ArticleElevated train accident
The view south along CTA elevated tracks shows how a four-car Evanston-bound train, halted by a signal, was struck in the rear by a Howard Street train as it moved north out of the Wilson Avenue...
View ArticleCar No. 1
Chicago's first elevated car is shown in its new storage location in the car barn at 1001 Wrightwood Ave. in 1963. Car No. 1, which was made of wood, traveled the city's rapid transit lines from 1892...
View ArticleAir conditioning
A new air-conditioned CTA train, left, sits at the Wabash Avenue and Madison Street elevated station June 11, 1964, as an older train runs through. The public took free rides on the new train.
View ArticleCrash victim
A victim is carried between the north- and southbound tracks Sept. 13, 1974. A northbound CTA train crashed into the rear of another train just north of the Bryn Mawr station.
View ArticleIdeal ride
Elevated cars reflecting rapid transit experts' ideal ride, shown Jan. 23, 1975, were slated to run on the CTA's Skokie Swift Line.
View ArticleThe Loop
Looking south at the elevated tracks of the CTA system on Wabash Avenue at Lake Street on Sept. 19, 1975.
View ArticleTrain yard
Rail cars at 96th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway are parked Dec. 17, 1979.
View ArticleCTA strike
In the fourth day of the CTA strike, only 23 trains were running citywide on emergency limited service routes on Dec. 20, 1979. Too few seats and too many riders left some brave souls out in the cold.
View ArticlePacked ride
Rapid transit riders who succeeded in getting onto an "L" train during a CTA strike on Dec. 20, 1979, found themselves packed into the cars.
View ArticlePerilous ride
Two riders hang on as they pull out from the Fullerton station Dec. 20, 1979. Overcrowding on the limited service trains because of a strike forced passengers to try ingenious — and perilous — ways of...
View ArticleNew 1981 rail cars
The first two rail cars of an order of 300 new Budd Co. cars for the CTA at the CTA's Skokie shop, 3701 Oakton St., on March 6, 1981.
View ArticleEnd of the line
Looking north from Madison Street with the Market Street "L" and stub, marking the end of the line before it was removed in 1948.
View Article5000 Series
Passengers board at 95th Street on the CTA's 5000 Series rail cars, which began testing with commuters on the Red Line, on April 19, 2010.
View Article5000 Series
Commuters sit face to face in a new 5000 Series "L" car on the Red Line on April 29, 2010.
View ArticleBombardier
Crews work on rail cars June 12, 2012, at the Bombardier Transportation factory in Plattsburgh, N.Y., which manufactures rail cars for the CTA.
View Article5000 Series
Derek Stawikoski, of Bombardier Transportation, performs maintenance on the door of a 5000 Series CTA car at the CTA train repair facility in Forest Park on June 5, 2013.
View ArticleNew 5000 Series
Riders on a CTA "L" Red Line subway train commute in a new 5000 Series car Aug. 1, 2013.
View ArticleRetiring the 2200 series
Rail supervisor Chris Fisher, left, and switchman Edward Fernandez, in train, move a 2200 Series rail car out of the Rosemont garage Aug. 7, 2013. The 44-year-old 2200 Series cars were to make a...
View Article2400 Series
The CTA's 2400 Series "L" cars arrive at the Washington train stop, at Wells Street, in Chicago's Loop on Jan. 21, 2015, during their last run.
View ArticleLast run for the 2400
The Chicago Transit Authority's 2400 Series "L" cars arrive at the Washington train stop, at Wells Street, in Chicago's Loop on Jan. 21, 2015. The 2400 Series, which dates from the mid- to late 1970s,...
View Article5000 Series
A Chicago Transit Authority 5000 Series rail car is trucked out of the Skokie shop and loaded onto a flatbed so it can be transported via a truck Aug. 27, 2015. The last of the CTA's new rail cars was...
View Article7000 Series
The interior of the CSR Sifang America 7000 Series cars. The CTA board voted to approve $1.3 billion for 843 rail cars from the 7000 Series
View Article7000 Series
The exterior of the CSR Sifang America 7000 Series cars. The CTA board voted to approve $1.3 billion for 843 rail cars from the 7000 Series.
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