cta2250d.jpg (210k) Car 2250 provides a head-on view as it leads the eight-car train of 2200-series cars snaking out of Desplaines Yard into Forest Park station to begin its last in-service trip on the "L" on August 8, 2013. The 2200s had not been run in solid consists since the 1990s, when CTA directed that all trains must have at least one non-2200 unit to assure all trains could accommodate wheelchairs. CTA made a special exception for the ceremonial last trip of the 2200s, since the train was an extra, inserted between regularly-scheduled accessible trains. The Congress-Milwaukee "A" destination signs are not only appropriate to the period the cars entered service, but are the historic equivalent of the route the cars were operating on for their last trip. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta2328b.jpg (238k) The all-2200-series train running for the series' ceremonial last trip on the CTA is berthed in the platform at Forest Park on August 8, 2013. awaiting its departure to O'Hare -- the last in-service trip the cars would take on the "L". For the last trip, car 2328 trailed the eight-car consist. Customers and railfans, seen taking photos and boarding the train, were invited to join in on the CTA tradition of saying "Goodbye, Old Friends" -- that sentiment has been used on the onboard signage for the last trips of the 4000-series (in 1973) and 6000-series (in 1992) cars as well. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta2328c.jpg (240k) Car 2328 is on one end -- the rear end, for the trip that's about to depart Forest Park for O'Hare -- of the solid eight-car train of 2200-series cars that is running for the series' ceremonial final trip in passenger service on August 8, 2013. For the occasion, the cars' exteriors were "restored" to an appearance closer to their early years. Although changes like the hopper windows added during mid-life overhaul were not undone, decals that were added to the cars later in their service lives were removed, the "Air conditioned" decal (added a few years after the cars entered service) and ACI stripe on the side doors for automatically setting certain interlocking lineups (not visible because the doors are open) were added back, as were period destination sign graphics (applied as decals rather than actual roller curtains). (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta2350c.jpg (149k) -- left top cta2350d.jpg (167k) -- left below Interior decoration of all eight cars used in the ceremonial last trip of the 2200-series railcars included period maps over the doors. Seen here inside car 2350, the backlit panel over each door had an accurate reproduction of a period map -- a system map on one side, and a route map of the Blue Line (then called the West-Northwest Route) on the other -- along with a placard welcoming riders aboard the last trip, designed in a style consist with CTA graphics when the 2200s entered service. Note that both maps not only reflect the A/B skip-stop service used at the time, but the differences in routings on the system map and that the Milwaukee branch on the West-Northwest Route ends at Jefferson Park, the terminal of the Kennedy Extension the 2200s entered service on. (Photos by Tony Coppoletta)
	cta2340b.jpg (175k) Reproduction period advertisements and maps from the 2200-series cars' early years in service adorn car 2340 and the other seven cars used in the ceremonial last train run of the series, seen on August 8, 2013. The ad to the left of the doors promotes the #40 O'Harexpress bus service, a special CTA express bus route that served O'Hare Airport from the Kennedy Extension terminal at Jefferson Park until the line was extended to the airport in 1984. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta2328d.jpg (221k) Car 2328 stands at the head end of the eight-car train used for the official last trip of the 2200-series railcars, next to Rosemont Shop on August 8, 2013. The train has completed its two trips as part of the ceremonial "goodbye" event -- a round trip between Rosemont and Jefferson Park and a full round trip between O'Hare and Forest Park -- and has now returned from O'Hare to the yard, laying up after carrying their last paying passengers. After 44 years of service, the cars stand proud in the afternoon sun, under the steel CTA logo contemporaneous with the cars' modern design, ready to head into retirement. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta2238a.jpg (271k) Although most of the 2200-series cars that were retired in 2012-13 when the series was removed from service were sold to a scrapper, some went to other buyers. Car 2230 was sold to Joe Cacciatore of Catchmo Media and moved from CTA property on November 7, 2013. Four days later, the car was spotted sitting in a parking lot in Pilsen on Chicago's Lower West Side. The car's front springs and chains have been removed. (Photo by Brian Kaempen)
	cta2238b.jpg (240k) Car 2238 was relocated from Skokie Shops to a parking lot in Pilsen after being purchased by a private buyer. Seen on November 11, 2013, the car has been hit by graffiti vandals after leaving CTA. (Photo by Brian Kaempen)
	cta2238c.jpg (229k) The #2 (rear) end of 2200-series car 2238 is seen on November 11, 2013 as the car sits in a parking lot in Pilsen after being sold by CTA to a private individual, Joe Cacciatore of Catchmo Media. Because the cars were semi-permanently assembled in married pairs, a rarely seen detail of the cars design is that the corrugated fluting the adorned the cars' sides was carried through to the panels under the windows on the back. (Photo by Brian Kaempen)
	cta2298.jpg (225k) Car 2298 sits in Linden Yard on April 28, 2012, stored after being removed from service in late 2011 and awaiting scrapping. Once the retirement of the 2200s was in full swing, there were often so many cars awaiting removal from CTA property that some had to be stored in other yards off the Blue Line with empty space. The 2297-98 unit was sent to the scrapper three months later, at the end of July 2012. (Photo by Tony Coppoletta)