cta47.jpg (54k) 5-50 series car 47 is in Desplaines Yard, looking southeast from Concordia Cemetery on May 6, 1996 with Desplaines Shops in the background. Most of the 5-50s were stored at Rosemont Yard during this time and saw occasional service on the Blue Line. (Photo by James Raymond)
	cta48.jpg (41k) Car 48 leads an Evanston Express train of 5-50s rounding the curve at Lake and Wabash as the train heads into Randolph/Wabash circa 1988. (Photo by James Raymond)
	cta5-50s06.jpg (38k) An Evanston Express train of 5-50s turns east onto Lake Street at Tower 18 to begin its circuit around the Loop, looking north from the overhead transfer bridge at Randolph/Wells in July 1988. The dual station houses are the original Randolph station facilities from 1897; they were closed and demolished in 1995. (Photo by James Raymond)
	cta35d.jpg (109k) CTA® 5-50 series car 35 sits outside the carbarn at the East Troy Electric Railroad museum in the spring of 2000. (Photo by Frank Hicks)
	cta48b.jpg (48k) 5-50 series car 48 was preserved by the Halton County Radial Railway in Milton, Ontario (about 35 miles north west of Toronto) after retirement. The car has temporary "TTC" gauge B 2 trucks. Here, the car is leaving the museum's station and heading out onto the main line. (Photo by Steve Booth)
	cta23.jpg (63k) Car 23, built by the St. Louis Car Company in 1959, is part of a four-car Douglas-Milwaukee "B" train leaving 50th Avenue station heading eastbound in June, 1965. (Photo by Jerry Appleman)
	cta1a.jpg (128k), left cta1b.jpg (134k), left below 1-50 series car 1, one of four high performance test cars, was leased to General Electric in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1974 as a test bed for new equipment, including the chopper control system specified for evaluation on ten 2400-series cars (only 2491-2492 were ever outfitted). As of May 29, 2002, car 1 was still at the GE plant in their yard. Before leaving for the GE plant, CTA® gave the car a fresh exterior paint job. They chose to give it the silver and charcoal scheme created for the 2000s, but with an international orange belt rail; car 24 was previously painted in this livery and these two cars were the only two 1-50s ever so decorated. Over 25 years later, the car is badly faded, with the international orange belt rail nearly white, the red on the Congress-Milwaukee "A" destination sign so faded that the lettering is barely legible, and the lettering completely gone on the Skokie Swift logo on the front door. (The appearance of this logo is itself interesting, since the car had been in storage since 1969 and was never assigned to Skokie service subsequently, and never while in this paint scheme.) Compare to this August 29, 1974 view of car 24 with the same scheme. (Photos by Jim Ward) .
	cta1c.jpg (116k) When the CTA® repainted the exterior of car for GE, the interior was left as-is, so the car's original two-tone green paint scheme from 1959 remains today, albeit in a peeling state. Although GE has removed some equipment and fittings from the car, much of the interior passenger compartment appears to still be intact in this May 29, 2002 view. The 1974 lease to GE was extended in 1975 and 1976 and the car was finally sold to them in '76. (Photo by Jim Ward)
	cta1d.jpg (58k) The motorman's cab is still largely intact, as seen on May 29, 2002, with the large cineston and control stand continuing to provide a formidable presence in the cab. The cab door, however, seems to have been removed. (Photo by Jim Ward)
	cta35night.jpg (43k) A close up shot of the rear of car 35 at the East Troy Railroad Museum in May 2002. (Photos from the Eric Zabelny Collection)