Work Car Gallery 7


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Work Car Gallery 7
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Work Car Gallery 10 | Work Car Gallery 11

ctaS-309b.jpg (233k)
Flatcar S-309, rebuilt by CTA in 1953 from CSL flat motor W-223 (itself originally built in 1908 for the Chicago City Railways as C-30), is preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum, seen on April 30, 2002. (Photo by Frank Hicks)

ctaS-339.jpg (61k)
Work motor S-339, built by American Car & Foundry in 1907 as Northwestern Elevated trailer 1276 (later motorized and renumbered to 1814 in 1950), was converted for work service in 1958. It's seen here at the Lower 63rd Street yard in March, 1965. (Photo by Jerry Appleman)

crtS-210.jpg (81k)
The Metropolitan Division derrick S-210 is shown in this August 1924 view at the Laramie Yards. It and the S-201 (a 1902 conversion from passenger car 761) handled the lifting assignments on the system, along with the northside's S-100 and Lake Street's S-300 derricks. The S-210 was rendered surplus by the arrival of the Industrial Hoist crane (numbered S-216) in 1926 and it was scrapped before 1928. Assignment of the cars by line or division really didn't matter, except on paper. Most all of the derricks and cranes could be found working at the Kenton Avenue material yard on the Douglas Park Branch in this era, just as the derricks and cranes in the CTA era tended to congregate around the Lower 63rd Street material storage and handling yard. (Photo from the Jeff Obarek collection)

ctaS-104b.jpg (81k)
Both ends of the Baldwin-Westinghouse steeplecabs are shown in this mid-50's view at Howard Yard. Closest to the camera is S-104's #2 end, while in the distance the bell-equipped #1 end of the S-105 can be seen. There are a couple of ways to date this view. It predates the early 60s rebuilding of the locomotives, at which time built-in headlights and markers replaced the portable units. In addition, take a look at the cars in the Howard Yard off to the left of this view: those 6200s look pretty clean, and there's the corner of a Baldie still in orange and brown. (Photo from the Jeff Obarek collection)

ctaS-318.jpg (50k)
Seen here is the second wood car to bear service car number S-318, after the first was retired in early 1955. It is unclear when this car, which originally bore the road number 3142, was converted; it is listed as 1954, but it was probably not given the number S-318 II until shortly after S-318 I's retirement. S-318 (along with S-319) were snow plow cars assigned to the Lake Street route. It is seen here in May 1964 parked in Hamlin Yard, awaiting the next harsh Chicago winter. Note the unusual blade configuration on the plow to accommodate the third rail. S-318 was retired in January 1966. (Photo by Jerry Appleman)

ctaS-605.jpg (121k)
As has become typical for the Santa Express train, interspersed in the middle of the six passenger cars is a flat car, in this case S-605. With its side sills painted in red and white candy cane stripes, the car carries Santa's sleigh (and does all the motive work for Santa's five reindeer!), "tin" soldiers, snowmen, a gingerbread house, and other decorations, as seen at 95th/Dan Ryan from Lafayette Avenue across the expressway on December 9, 2001. (Photo by Mike Farrell)

ctaS-338.jpg (75k)
In January 1958, work motor S-338 was created by adapting wood motor 1813, itself converted to a motor from 1907-vintage ACF-built trailer 1274 in 1950. The car served in work service for just over ten years and is seen just a couple years shy of decommissioning in Lower 63rd Yard in July 1966. (Photo by Jerry Appleman)

ctaS-105.jpg (160k)
S-105, one of CTA's two is of Baldwin-Westinghouse freight motors, is in its pocket track at Howard Yard in June 1968, where it and sister S-104 generally rested during the day. Most freight runs were done at night and during off-peak times when they would not interrupt passenger traffic. Thus, the locomotives had a lot of down time. By this point, the unit has been retrofit with sealed-beam headlights and marker lights. (Photo by Leon Kay)

ctaS-358c.jpg (135k)
Work motor S-358, formerly Plushie 4000 car 4430, is in Lower 63rd Yard between runs in June 1968. The car was converted to a work motor two and a half years before in December 1965 and in winter was often equipped with a plow to act as a snowfighter. (Photo by Leon Kay) =

ctaS-605-HolidayTrain03a.jpg (166k)
On a layover at Linden on November 23, 2003, the S-605 is decorated as customary for Holiday Train service, with its side sills painted in red and white candy cane stripes, Santa's sleigh, "tin" soldiers, snowmen, a gingerbread house, and other decorations. Note the crewman crouching inside the gingerbread house on the left. The small wooden building houses various equipment. (Photo by Graham Garfield)

   

(Thanks to Art Peterson for writing the fourth, fifth, and sixth captions!)