cta2145.jpg (177k) A Congress-Milwaukee "A" train of 2000-series cars, lead by car 2145, stops at Racine on the Congress Line on June 10, 1968. Only 40 of the 180 2000-series cars were assigned to the West-Northwest Route when they arrived in 1964, and it proved short-lived -- in autumn 1969, these 40 joined the other 140 on the Lake-Dan Ryan line. Note the hoop sticking off the side of the train -- this was an "Identra Coil", an electronic device which, when passed in front of a trackside receiver, automatically set the switch at Loomis Junction for the proper route for the train. (Photo from the Scott Greig Collection)
	cta2000s09.jpg (192k) A train of 2000-series cars is running a Lake-Dan Ryan "B" trip on July 15, 1970, near 45th Street on the Dan Ryan. The buildings of the Robert Taylor Homes housing project are in the background. (Photo from the Scott Greig Collection)
	cta2000s10.jpg (148k) Two 2000-series units, resplendent in their mint green and alpine white livery, sit in Harlem Yard awaiting their next trip in 1971. When these cars arrived in the mid-1960s, their aesthetic embodied the idea of what futuristic design looked like. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta2174.jpg (198k) A 2-car Lake-Dan Ryan "A" led by car 2174 is approaching Cermak-Chinatown on August 2, 1974. As early as the 1970s, the CTA  wanted to re-pair the Dan Ryan Line with the Howard Line but had insufficient funds to do so. When ground was broken in 1985 for the connection, this site would become the location of Cermak Junction, where the new subway connection joined the existing Dan Ryan Line. (Photo by Doug Grotjahn, Collection of Joe Testagrose)
	cta2151.jpg (173k) Two West-South trains of platinum-and-charcoal-painted 2000-series cars -- the foreground train led by car 2151 -- meet at the Lake/Wabash curve on the Loop elevated in May 1977. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta2001-2002a (167k) An 8-car train of 2000-series cars approaches Wellington while heading northbound on the North-South Route in July 1982. By this time, the 2000s were in platinum mist/silver and charcoal, and some were being repainted with red, white and blue ends and belt rails to emulate the then-new Spirit of Chicago paint scheme. But in the early 1980s, CTA restored the first set of 2000s, cars 2001-2002 seen here leading the train, to its original mint green and alpine white color scheme. Unfortunately, graffiti took it's toll on them and they were repainted into then-standard 2000-variant Spirit of Chicago paint scheme some years later. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta2163.jpg (222k) Car 2163 leads a 6-car southbound Evanston Express train of all Spirit of Chicago-painted 2000-series cars, momentarily stopped on the incline down from the Chicago Avenue bridge on the Evanston branch coming into Howard, in 1986. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta2172-2171.jpg (209k) Car 2172 leads an inbound Evanston Express train, followed by its mate, 2171, passing over Wacker Drive in 1990. This view provides a good side view of the Spirit of Chicago livery, as it was adapted to the 2000-series cars. Note the M.A.N. articulated bus under the train on Wacker, operating on a downtown express route. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta1892-1992c.jpg (256k) Commemorative "L" centennial cars 1892-1992 lead a southbound Evanston Express train crossing over Illinois Street on the Ravenswood-Loop Connector in September 1992. For the 100th anniversary of the first "L" line, a 2000-series pair was renumbered and repainted in an adaptation of the original South Side Rapid Transit livery. (Photo by Lou Gerard)