Today in Chicago History: ‘Tomorrow’s transit car is here today’

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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Jan. 23, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 65 degrees (1909)
  • Low temperature: Minus 18 degrees (1963)
  • Precipitation: 0.89 inches (1999)
  • Snowfall: 4.4 inches (1939)

1975: The State-of-the-Art Car (SOAC), produced by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Urban Mass Transportation Administration and Boeing Veritol, arrived in Chicago for a two-week demonstration.

The stainless steel two-car system (one designed for 200 passengers and the other for 300) featured a plush interior design, carpeting and air conditioning (which probably wasn’t an impressive feature given it was here during the winter). The system, however, was too wide and too long to run on most Chicago Transit Authority lines, so it could only operate on the Skokie Swift (today’s Yellow Line). Engineers designed a retracting platform and other modifications to showcase SOAC’s capabilities.

Two “L” cars, which designers thought embodied the epitome of the dream railcar, is shown here on Jan. 23, 1975. They ran for two weeks on the CTA’s Skokie Swift Line. They only ran on the Skokie Line because they were too wide and too long for the subway and other “L” routes. (Arthur Walker/Chicago Tribune)

Though the mock-up was comfortable, it never took off. Despite demonstrations in New York, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Chicago, SOAC was never adopted.

The two demonstration vehicles now are housed at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.

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