As I understand it CNW and RI commute services were taken into RTA and the stock got repainted at some point… then RTA became Metra…
Does anyone know/recall what sort of timescale the latter change had please? Did trains get changed as blocks or were cars and locos done as-and-when? Did trains run with a mix of schemes… either all jumbled up or, maybe an RTA loco shoving a Metra set?
Thanks
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Hi - RTA takeover of the suburban operations (especially the Rock and Milwaukee, which were in rough shape) dated to 1974. RTA did lease one C&NW trainset (an F plus St. Louie coaches and a P-S cab car) to work on the Rock for a while and they also leased the Amtrak (ex-C&NW) long-distance bi-level coaches for use on the Rock. When the RTA received the first of their new F40PHs (numbered from 100 up) a lot of these went into service on the Rock, replacing the Es and Fs and running with Rock bi-levels and other cars, until the orders of RTA cars started coming in. Units from that first group of F40s also went in service on the ex-GM&O and Milwaukee lines. Remember that the Milwaukee had the benefit of having recently received the 15 F40Cs from the on-line Transit Districts, so at least part of their fleet was in very good shape. Off the top of my head, I don’t think any units from that first RTA order went on the ex-C&NW lines; I believe units from the 2nd order were the first to go into service on the ex-C&NW lines.
Painting of the ex-C&NW cars was done on a per-car basis, so there was definitely mixing of colors within a consist for a while. Also, RTA changed its base color on the painted cars at one point, so there was also a period where these could be found mixed in a single train. Other than the Rock P-S-built gallery cars all the other gallery cars were stainless (unpainted) cars, so the differences would be down to “does this car have a RTA nameboard?”, etc.
The transition from RTA commuter rail operations to Metra happened in 1984. RTA-painted F40s continued to work well into the Metra era, as did RTA repaints of ex-C&NW E-units.
Hope that helps!
Art
I know that when I lived in suburban Chicago, I saw some of the RTA colored coaches on the Crystal Lake line in the 2005 & 06 era. I worked in an office on the Elgin line & never personally saw the RTA scheme on any of their consists. I think it was also sometime in 06 I saw the first MP36’s running on the Elgin line. You could tell it was them from a deeper & cleaner sound, they didn’t have quite the engine/generator/exhaust noise the F40’s have. Maybe they are insulated &/or use a very effective muffler system. On my HO Metra ‘set’ I chose to leave some of the RTA cars alone & not repaint all of them silver.
I remember seeing both C&NW yellow and green units and RTA blue/orange/brown units on the Northwest Line through Des Plaines until at least 1981. (Crandell Cab E9s were common, including one that had a memorial plate to its designer.) I won’t dispute artpeterson’s 1984 time frame for the transition to Metra, but I seem to remember that the RTA scheme didn’t last very long on the F40PH’s, and I thought the transition began earlier than 1984. (But then again, my memory isn’t what it used to be either.) By the time the RTA cars were being repainted to Metra, the C&NW colors had been long gone.
The cars on the Northwest Line were usually smoothside bi-levels painted for C&NW or RTA. I seem to remember the RTA locomotives were repainted quickly, but RTA paint on the cars lasted until the stainless steel cars began to replace them. Occasionally, corrugated stainless steel bi-levels similar to those in use on the lines operated by BN, showed up.
I don’t recall ever seeing a Crandall cab in anything but C&NW yellow and green.
I actually rather liked the RTA locomotive scheme… And the sound of those five-chime airhorns… The days of my youth…
Hi - a bit more info on the transition. The ex-C&NW locos (and I’m guessing, the cars, as well) got orange lettering on brown stickers applied to the lower carbody side that showed the RTA as the owner. I shot a close-up of one of these on a 400-series F in the yard at Des Plaines, when that was still used to store four lay-ups overnight. Also, the ex-RI painted side (PS-built) gallery cars were transferred to the ex-C&NW lines, but I can’t say what year this happened. These cars were in the RTA/Metra 7880-series. I believe all had received RTA paint well before this transfer was made. At some point, those ex-RI cars were rebuilt with side windows that matched those used on the ex-C&NW cars, to simplify the store room stocking requirements.
The Metra silver and blue scheme on the painted side gallery cars came along more recently, as the cab cars and some intermediate coaches went through overhaul at the KYD shop. I recall seeing painted-side cars in this scheme on the North Central Line when it opened, so that would have been September of 1996. Up to that point Metra had used the basic RTA scheme, but with Metra logos near the vestibule doors. Of course, many cars retained the gray body with brown and orange stripes up to retirement. Hope this helps. Art
[tup][tup][tup] Thanks very much fior the brilliant help [^][^][^] It gives me exactly what I’m after and more.
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