CTA Tattler

CTA map mistakes will cost $75,000 to fix

The Tribune today reports finding three mistakes on the newly printed maps on all rail cars -- and fixing them will cost $75,000.

At least CTA President Frank Kruesi fired the person responsible:

"I cannot even comprehend how this could happen. I just can't have a situation where people are working hard to produce a quality product and it gets messed up by someone doing a sloppy job," Kruesi tells the Trib.

But I have a question: How can you really blame just ONE person?

(Map image from Tribune Web site.)

The celler apologizes!

A 30-ish guy is yapping loudly on his cell phone in a language that is not English.

He makes a call. Then disconnects. Then another. And another. Slightly annoying, though for some reason, not as bad as when it's in English.

I'm sitting across the aisle from him, but my daughter is next to him. She sees an open seat next to me and moves to it. But apparently he thinks she/we are  really pissed about his celling.

So he apologizes! He says he's new to the city and is getting directions.

You are forgiven.

Creosote platform crud gets sticky in heat

During the early-August heat wave, I got this email from a Tattler reader:

"What is up with the tar on the Sheridan Red Line stop? When I first started taking the L the platform was normal wood. Then one day it was just covered in tar, and eventually a lot of it wore off. But when it rains the remaining stuff gets all sticky and gets on your shoes. Plus it smells."

CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney reports: "It is a result of the very hot temperatures last week.  The platforms at some older stations are constructed of wood that has been treated with a preservative called creosote.   During extremely hot weather, such as last week, the creosote can soften and become sticky."

Here's some info on creosote. Bottom line is it's an EPA-approved use on the platform, but you don't want to walk barefoot on it -- especially when it's really hot!

And here's a semi-related observation: Freelance writer Scott Gordon blogged recently about a loose and brittle platform plank he found on the Brown Line Southport platform. Good thing the Brown Line construction project is under way.

Enjoy construction photos to mark Brown Line openings

The Kedzie and Rockwell Brown Line stations were scheduled to reopen at 4:45 am after six months of construction. And two days early, as CTA President Frank Kreusi boasts.

To mark the occasion, I draw your attention to a Flickr photo set by Zesmerelda, who has been documenting Brown Line construction at the Kedzie station since demolition commenced many months ago.

Interesting stuff, to see the progress. And thanks for sharing, Zesmerelda.

Makeup sex? Who needs the Hobo Corner?

I'm catching up on posting some of the Best Tattler Tales submitted here as comments. Gotta love this one, and it's not about the homeless! Thanks to ClockworkDragon for sharing:

So I'm on the Red Line heading southbound a few nights ago, sitting on the seat in the back in front of the Hobo Corner. Sitting in the seats in that compartment are a couple, probably in their early 30s. For about 10 minutes of my ride he's yelling at her in what I would consider a threatening tone. Suddenly the yelling stopped and I hear a loud *THUNK*.

Whipping my head around I see that girl is now on the ground with her back to the emergency door looking up at the guy. My assumption was that he knocked her down off her seat. Now I am by no means a physically strong person. So I decided to move to the next train car when we pulled into Wilson so that I might report it to the driver.

When I entered the next car I peered into the previous one to see if the woman was OK. The man and woman were both standing and walking down the car. As we were about to pull into Sheridan it looked as if they were about to disembark, which would leave no time for any report to the driver to be handled.

However, much to my surprise, they continued to walk past the exit doors and opened the emergency doors to the car I was in. But instead of passing through to my car, they remained in between the cars. After a moment I realized they were removing articles of clothing and they began having sex right between the train cars!!! This went on for a couple stops until we pulled into Belmont. They put their clothing back on and exited the train.

A colorful weekend ride to Sox Park

I saw a few interesting sights Saturday on my way from Morse to the Sox/35th to watch the second game of the weekend sweep/spanking the White Sox put on the Detroit Tigers. And encountered lots of slow zones and the train backing up at Addison to switch tracks.

First, a 30-ish guy with a shaved head boards at Loyola wearing a black T-shirt saying:

SEX is not the answer
Sex is the question
YES is the answer

All-righty then.

Then a petite woman in her early 20s enters at Granville, wearing Sox regalia from head to toe, including a Bobby Jenks jersey over a World Series T-shirt. She was reading Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle." If you hadn't heard, this year is the 100th anniversary of its first printing. Do you think Sox fans are more literate than Cubs fans?

At Bryn Mawr, a 20-something woman (in accompanying photo) sits down with her martial arts stick. (Sorry, I don't know what it's called. Help me out here guys.) Some guy next to her was peppering her with questions about it, and ended up trying to get her to accept Jesus as her personal savior.

After she left, a large man sat next to the same guy, and the Jesus guy starts some inane banter with him. Except Jesus guy had to exit at the next stop in the Loop. So he left him with a three-page treatise about making Jesus your personal savior.

Finally, at Madison, a transvestite in her late-50s boards wearing a lovely white skirt with a White Sox blouse. S/he wears a jaunty White Sox cap on her huge head. The nearby suburban parents pulled their children away from her.

The Sox won 4-3 on four unearned runs after three Tiger errors. Good times.

Help reader find lost wedding ring

I recently got this plea for help from a reader. Maybe someone can help her -- and perhaps help get her husband out of the proverbial doghouse.

Hello,

On Friday Night (Saturday morning) July 21 (22) at about 2:30 am, my husband left his backpack on the CTA Red Line. He got on the train at North/Clybourn and got off the train at Belmont, leaving his backpack behind.

Inside the backpack are the following items: 2 day planners (one for 05/06 and another for 06/07); a black fold-up umbrella; sunglasses; a couple of headshots & resumes (he's an actor); some other assorted papers probably, but most importantly, HIS WEDDING RING.

We have tried contacting CTA lost and found, checked every train station between North Avenue and the end of the line, posted notices on craigslist and the Reader and every other lost and found site we could find, and now it's the 6th day and we have not been able to find it.

Please, please, please ask around. If you or anyone you know was on the Red Line late Friday night (right after bar closing time - the trains were packed and delayed - does this sound familiar?) please contact me. Our first anniversary is just a couple of weeks away and I am completely devastated about this whole thing.

The ring is white gold (looks silver) and is engraved on the inside. Anyone who found anything that even remotely fits this description, please contact me. I'd be happy to describe it in detail and I am ready to offer a seriously generous reward. The ring itself is not worth much financially - it's all about the emotional value of it.

Please pass this around to anyone you know who may have been on the train that night. THANK YOU!

Rita Vreeland Head
773-758-7482 (my cell phone)
rmvreeland@sbcglobal.net

Blue Line "derailment" halts early Saturday service

The Blue Line was shut for about three hours early Saturday after a switching problem left one car "stuck on two tracks in a switching position," said a fire department spokesman. He said it wasn' technically a derailment.

Three of the 139 people on the train were treated for minor injuries.

More here and here.

These reports call it a "five-car train." Huh? Admittedly, I don't ride the Blue Line that much, but I thought all transit lines (except the Skokie Swift perhaps?) ran trains in pairs.

Great CTA news: Brown Line stations done early

After weeks of bad news on the CTA -- from train derailments to continued service slow-downs -- we finally get some good -- no GREAT -- news that the Rockwell and Kedzie stations will reopen next week two days ahead of schedule.

The Trib article notes the next step: "Rockwell and Kedzie were the first stations to be shut. Now that they are reopening, the nearby Kimball station will close for four months and the Francisco station will close for six months. A date for those temporary closings has not been announced."

There also was at bit of bad news -- renovation at Sedgwick And Armitage are running behind, though not necessarily at the fault of the CTA. Apparently, securing permits has been difficult.

Meanwhile (back to the usual bad news), read here for details on the usual weekend slowdowns.

Snore-ville Redenbacher

Susan reports a very strange sight on the Howard Red Line platform:

An obviously homeless man is wearing several layers of very filthy clothing, with a very heavy backpack strapped to his large torso. He is standing close to trash can with a flat top and side openings for disposing garbage.

He is bent over at the waist, with his head fully buried in a half-eaten bag of microwave popcorn. Face down.

He is asleep.