u/CriticismImaginary89

Here's a brief rundown of the unusual spottings often posted here; the Brownage and Douglas Blues.

Today's Brownage trains are a case of Kimball not having enough space to store the trains need for service thus borrowing from Midway BUT the original arrangement was between Brown and Purple. If you're old enough you've probably heard the name "Ravenston". This started in the 80's but for opposite reasons; Evanston was busier but Howard/Linden didn't have the space so they borrowed from the Brown Line/Ravenswood (which was no where near the heavy hitting line it is today and was actually one of the weaker links and had the oldest equipment before the 3200s arrived!). After leaving Kimball these trains became Evanston Express trains at the Mart. Service cuts put these runs into hibernation until the 2000s but with the roles reversed. After the closing of Limits Garage (Wrightwood and Clark) Lakeview redeveloped and Brown Line demand skyrocketed so the Ravenston trains came back but this time these came from Howard, ran lite to Belmont and started service as Brown Lines into the loop. After a round trip or two on the way out of the Loop they turned back into Purple Lines at the Mart and went north. Now mind you Brown Line was expanded to 8 car capacity while the Purple wasn't so quietly between 2009-2012 these were slowly phases out and the first Brownages started being sighted by transit fans or people that randomly happened to be on the right train. They weren't officially on schedule until the decrowding plan. The Blue Line from Douglas isn't as long of a history. 54th was built for twice the capacity it uses so it has the space and is the only line that can effortlessly connect with the blue line. With the high rate of attrition for the line's 2600s a plan was made to move 3200s from Brown and orange to the Blue Line along with a few 5000s that would run the busier parts of the line since they can't go on the Forest Park side. To simplify training and fleet consolidation they chose to operate these 5000s from 54th (who is already qualified on 5000s and not have to store parts at Rosemont yard).

Someone asked about the #6 and 14.... Here's a more detailed of that plus how we ended up with the current LSD system 😁

Here's a run down of the situation.... We started with various forms of Jeffery service (some stay on the street all the way downtown!) then after a crap load of consolidation over the years we basically ended up with 6 Jeffery Express which operated Local to the Green Line during non daytime hours. Metra electric used to run a LOOOOT more frequently (we're talking 'L' levels service). Some cuts led to that line getting severe cuts thus a mass exodus of everyone moving to the #6. Thus led to the creation of the #14 South Lake Shore Express. At this time the #1 which went to 83rd was cut back to 63rd/Stony Island while the #27 (essentially a #27 but to Cottage Green instead of 69th) assumed the routing north of 83rd. Jeffery was so overwhelmed along with the shortcut the #14 provided becoming so popular it led to the 2003 changes another commenter mentioned. The goal was to relieve crowding on the express buses thus on the south side we had the creation of 26 South shore and 28 Stony Island express to stop everyone from going to Jeffery. 14 became full time to handle Jeffery since #6 became the primary express for Hyde Park thus keeping Jeffery's crowds off of the #6 and leaving room for Hyde Park riders. #2 was extended from Ohio/Michigan to Navy Pier along with the Southern loop created (former terminal was simply 51St/Cottage). 3L was renamed X3 thus the rebranding of the "limiteds" as "X" buses. 27 was combined with #71 essentially extending 71 south of 73rd/exchange and sending south shore riders to the red line vs green line. Up north 143 created an new zone (Stockton to handle 151 overload) and 144 was basically a 146 that ran express Irving to Delaware vs Belmont. 145 was switched to express from Irving as well but after some flack that was rescinded and 148 did the job instead in the peak leading to some odd operations (peak 145 did not operate on Wilson when 148 did). 134 was created and 135/136 was rerouted to run express to Wacker/Columbus vs LaSalle/North Ave. Back to the south side there was some back and forth about the 28. Originally the 2003 changes had it going downtown full time but disagreements about routing led to an eventual split 28 and X28 with X28 operating downtown rush only and 28 full time 47th to 103rd. Fast forward to the decrowding plan of 2012 CTA cut 145 and 144 while rerouting 148 to foster (essentially saying Wilson didn't need express service) while on the south X28 was folded in 28. Biggest changes with that was hours become strictly rush vs X28 being 1:30-8:30. And that's that. Southwest pre Orange Line also has a vast express history but you guys probably already know the deal with that already

News outlets are confirming that for routes are being added to the 10 min of better network and those would be 8, 74 , 85 and (big surprise I thought it was gonna be 62 instead) 35. 57 to Jefferson Park has been greenlit as well but the orange Line owl service is being pushed back a bit. No word on the 54/54B, 88/92 or 55A/N/62H merger yet.