This just in: CTA will commemorate 50 years of Yellow Line (Skokie Swift) service by running the two1920s-era historic cars on the line this Saturday, April 26th.

It will be held at the Skokie-Dempster station starting at around 11:00 am and running until about 2:00 pm or so. The CTA’s two historic cars 4271-4272 will be operating every 25 minutes.

The cars will follow normal service cars as a second section. They will run to Howard, turn around in the track #5 pocket without unloading or loading at Howard, and run back out to Skokie. It’s not yet known whether the cars will stop at Oakton-Skokie, but it’s very possible. You won’t be able to get off or on at Howard Street.

Regular CTA rail fares apply, but your monthly pass will work, too.

The top speed on these cars is about 45 mph, but they will probably reach 55 going downhill. It has been several years since the general public has been able to ride these cars, which are now over 90 years old.

CTA will hand out two different buttons, one with current CTA logo and one with the old 1964-vintage “Metropolitan Transit” CTA logo.

We will post further information as it becomes available.

-The Editor

Update: here is the CTA press release about the event.