Skokie Shops

Skokie Shops

Company type	Maintenance facility
Industry	Rail transport maintenance
Founded	1926
Headquarters	Skokie , United States
Area served	Chicago "L" network
Owner	Chicago Transit Authority
Number of employees	350 (2003)

Skokie Shops functions as a major heavy maintenance hub for the Chicago "L" network, managed by the Chicago Transit Authority and situated in Skokie, Illinois. This facility is responsible for thorough inspections, servicing, and refurbishing of the CTA's railcar inventory.

Established in 1926 along the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad's Skokie Valley Route, the shops initially supported the fleet of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and continued operations under the CTA following the termination of "L" service to Skokie in 1948. The site is linked to the "L" via the Yellow Line, which commenced service in 1964.

Services

As the CTA's central heavy maintenance location for revenue-generating "L" trains, Skokie Shops employs expert tradespeople such as electricians, carpenters, machinists, and blacksmiths.

The facility undertakes collision damage repairs and mid-life refurbishments, utilizing specialized equipment designed for tasks like removing, inspecting, pressing, and truing train wheels.

Moreover, the preparation and decoration of the CTA Holiday Train take place at Skokie Shops. This project includes assembling a custom-made sleigh for Santa Claus mounted on a flatcar, a process that spans approximately three months with collaboration from Skokie personnel and CTA volunteers.

History

Constructed in the mid-1920s through collaboration between the Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT) and the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad (CNS&M), both partially under the control of entrepreneur Samuel Insull, who also consolidated Chicago's "L" system and invested heavily in regional utilities and real estate.

In 1925, CRT initiated local passenger service on CNS&M's Skokie Valley Route, operating between Dempster Street station and Howard Street station, with seven stops along the way. Shortly thereafter, Skokie Shops were established to maintain CRT’s fleet alongside other "L" facilities. CNS&M utilized this route as a high-speed bypass for its Chicago-Milwaukee interurban service and initially relied on these shops for maintenance.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) assumed control of the "L" system from CRT in 1947. Although local service on the Skokie Valley Route ceased in 1948, CTA retained track rights to access the shops. During the early 1950s, maintenance operations were increasingly centralized at Skokie with skilled workers redeployed from other yards. Following CNS&M's discontinuation of service in 1963 and abandonment of its lines, CTA purchased a portion of track to preserve access to this facility.

Passenger operations resumed on the Skokie Valley Route in April 1964 under a federally funded pilot named the Skokie Swift, offering nonstop service between Dempster Street and Howard Street. The staff at Skokie Shops engineered an automatic pantograph control system to replace manual trolley poles, facilitating one-person operation on this route. This successful demonstration led to permanent integration into the "L" network; during a system reorganization in the 1990s, it was renamed the Yellow Line.

In the late 1990s, extensive renovations were carried out at Skokie Shops as part of comprehensive upgrades to the Skokie Swift service, including demolition of outdated structures. By 2003, roughly 350 employees were based at this location.

Between May and October 2015, an embankment failure near a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District site caused damage to Yellow Line tracks, halting passenger service while leaving Skokie Shops fully operational. During this interval, inspections of new 5000-series railcars and overhaul work on 3200-series cars continued uninterrupted. Railcars were transported by truck from Skokie to Lower 63rd Yard—the only other CTA facility capable of transferring railcars onto trucks—to sustain maintenance activities.