| Regional Transportation Authority F40PH 142 at about Armitage Avenue in Chicago, Illinois on August 21, 1986, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. The first two cars (numbers 533 and 555) behind the power belong to Commuter Associates Inc., built as Chicago & North Western Railway lounge cars #7901 and #7902 in 1949 by the American Car and Foundry Company. In 1961, these cars were removed from long distance passenger service, renumbered 553 and 555, and rebuilt to operate in commuter service out of Chicago. On November 30, 1975, cars 553 and 555 were acquired by Commuter Associates Inc. and continued to see service on the C&NW, operated by the commuter rail branch of the Regional Transportation Authority (which was reorganized into Metra in 1984). In the 1990s, the first female members purchased seats on the car. Car 553 still wears the color scheme of the pre-Metra Regional Transportation Authority's passenger equipment. |