Swamp Holly Orange
Named for the color of the stripe on the beltline of this rapid transit car, "SHO" is a tribute to the Chicago Transit Authority’s 6000 series L cars that ran for 40 years throughout Chicago. These are largely considered the classic Chicago L car much as one might consider the recently retired Redbirds, the classic subway cars of New York.
When the CTA was formed with the merger of the Chicago Surface Lines (streetcars) and Chicago Rapid Transit, it was stuck with an aging fleet of rail cars whose newest members were from the mid-20s and a bunch of streetcars that were systematically being replaced by busses. That meant that it had a lot of old wooden cars from the 1890s and a bunch of relatively brand new streetcars that needed to be retired.
Rather than scrap the streetcars, the 6000 series L contain as many parts from them as possible. Trucks, windows, seats, etc. were used in the manufacture of the new rail cars. Built by the St. Louis Car Company from 1950 to 1960, these cars have been an important part of Chicago’s identity that is slowly fading.
These are the cars of my youth. I remember riding them with my family. My father used to make us cross from car to car to find a better seat. Today, it makes me laugh to see the warning signs and guards to prevent people from doing this when I didn’t think much of it while walking through an entire train while speeding through the subway when I was 8 years old.
This painting represents the original color scheme. They repainted them in the ‘60s to match the green and white livery of the 2000 series cars that came on the scene in 1964. Some of them were given a bicentennial Red, White and Blue (and silver & black) paint job in the mid- 70s. The rest were eventually painted in silver, black, red, white and blue to match the newer equipment that used a toned-down variation of the bicentennial look.
As the CTA acquired newer cars, these beauties slowly disappeared between the mid ‘80s and ‘90s. A handful went to Philadelphia for use on their Norristown line as a stopgap measure while they waited for new cars to be delivered. A few went to rail museums and most of them were scrapped. One made it to the Smithsonian Institute.
Ironically, the trucks of some of them were returned to service on streetcars in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As a part of Kenosha’s revitalization after the demise of American Motors (sad story), the city acquired some PCC streetcars that Toronto was retiring. The gauge of the Toronto cars were too wide. Since the 6000 series cars were being retired at the same time, they were again recycled. The Trucks that started out on Chicago’s PCC streetcars are now back on PCC cars in Kenosha.
As for New York’s Redbirds, they’ve recently been replaced by a shipment of trains from Kawasaki. Some of them are now off the coast of Delaware forming an artificial reef for divers.
An era of rapid transit in the United States has come to a close. This painting is a tribute to it.
40"x28" | oil on canvas | 2005