Ravenswood A

Ravenswood A, originally uploaded by William 74.

This is the end unit of a pair of former Chicago Transit Authority 6000 series railcars. Once a common sight on the city's famous elevated tracks, this one's at the Fox River Trolley Museum in Elgin, Illinois. It's presented in the CTA's classic cream, orange, and green livery. I've always liked it, even though I'm not old enough to have seen them in action-it always reminds me of The Bob Newhart Show, which features one prominently in the opening credits.

This one's got a destination board for the Ravenswood line, which we now know as the Brown Line. I always liked taking the Brown Line north to Kimball-it goes through some cool neighborhoods on it's way, and sometimes I would even jump on it at Belmont just for the views as it split from the Red Line tracks and headed towards the Merchandise Mart.

This train is also an A train. For many years the CTA ran what they called "Skip Stop" service. Certain stations would be designated A or B stops (sometimes both), and during rush hour A or B trains would only stop at their respective stations. Instituted in 1948, this system lasted on some lines-including the Ravenswood-well into the 1990's.