Passenger Trains > Chicago loop curve radius - view from below

I'm working on a bookshelf layout where I'm pushing the limits of tight curves with CTA "L" car models. Walking in the loop this evening, a train passed overhead at one of the corners, and I was surprised that at a certain point at least half the width of the card was overhanging the structure. I waited for the next train, a pink line train with the new 5000 series car, and caught some photos. I think my model curves are even tighter, but wow, this is a turn!

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Nice pics. How do you hold the camera steady when those wheels overhead are squeeling so, so, loud?

It's been some years since I used to be a regular in the Loop, but I'll guess this was taken from the northwest corner of Wabash and Van Buren, looking NE to what used to be the FMC building.

Was Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal's car behind or in front of the L train?

Well, the standard radius for streetcar curves in Chicago was 90 feet. The "L" may be a bit more generous than that, but likely in the 125-150 ft radius range.

North Shore Line, CA&E and older Chicago Rapid Transit equipment can all handle a 90-foot radius curve with relative ease. The "S" curve in the streetcar loop at Illinois Railway Museum is made of two 90-foot curves and all this equipment goes through with no restrictions.

Hoping Dave Harrison sees this post, he knows everything there is to know about the "L" and can provide an exact answer to your question.

NZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/12 20:27 by NebraskaZephyr.

Bandito Wrote:
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> Nice pics. How do you hold the camera steady when
> those wheels overhead are squeeling so, so, loud?

In this case I had a tripod. I think you are right about the location; I was a block east of the Harold Washington library.

And us Blues Brothers fans ask, "Just how often do those trains go by here, anyway?"

So often, you won't even notice.

NebraskaZephyr Wrote:
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> Well, the standard radius for streetcar curves in
> Chicago was 90 feet. The "L" may be a bit more
> generous than that, but likely in the 125-150 ft
> radius range.
>
> North Shore Line, CA&E and older Chicago Rapid
> Transit equipment can all handle a 90-foot radius
> curve with relative ease. The "S" curve in the
> streetcar loop at Illinois Railway Museum is made
> of two 90-foot curves and all this equipment goes
> through with no restrictions.
>

Somewhere I read that the CTA has to order cars that are shorter than other rapid transit/subway cars because of the radius of the curves. This would, according to what I read, prevent them from pooling an order with another agency to get the economic benefit of the larger order. Is there any truth to this?

I've also heard that CTA cars are lighter than some "light rail" units used in other cities, even though CTA rapid transit is considered to be "heavy rail."

CTA cars are 48'6". PATH and NYCT IRT cars are 51'6", the PATH car having a 3' shorter truck base. (They cannot run on each other's system due to height and width differences and belt rail, also buff strength). But CA&E and CNS&M cars were about 54'. They had narrowed near the ends and very curvy end of car profile.

colehour Wrote:
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> Somewhere I read that the CTA has to order cars
> that are shorter than other rapid transit/subway
> cars because of the radius of the curves. This
> would, according to what I read, prevent them from
> pooling an order with another agency to get the
> economic benefit of the larger order. Is there any
> truth to this?

Yes but there are other factors including the dynamic envelope which is the clearance required for cars in motion. The older legacy systems were built independently of each other long before anyone gave serious thought to standardization.

At least any CTA car can run on any CTA line--compare this with Boston, where there are three different types of rapid transit cars, plus the "light rail" cars on the Green Line.

Thanks for the replies to my question about the CTA cars. I'm always learning something on TO!