Once upon a time, the heavy hitters in the business world of Chicago cast off the unwashed veneer of the city and settled in the northern suburbs, places like Winnetka, Lake Forest, Ravinia, Lake Bluff, North Chicago, Zion, etc... However, this came with one problem. Those rich folks still needed a way to get back and forth between the city and their new havens. And they weren't about to just sit in a regular old train car with commoners for the entire ride, oh no! So, they came up with an ingenious solution. Build your own private cars! One group of people commissioned a car in 1929 nicknamed "The Deerpath". This tradition of naming cars continued for a while, but then it ended, at which point the car became simply known as Car 553.
The current car was built in 1949. By 1961, the car had been removed from long-distance service, and was re-purposed to run the commuter route. In 1975, a private outfit bought the cars and proceeded to assume operation over them. Once Metra was formed, the cars remained the property of the private outfit, merely supplying Metra with the transit fares that are paid by the riders on board the car. As for what line it runs on, Car 553 is hooked up to the UP North line, which(in case you've forgotten) runs from Ogilvie Transportation Center to Kenosha. And never fear, you too can reserve your spot on board Car 553. Just be ready to fork over a $900/year membership fee. Oh yeah, that's IN ADDITION TO a monthly Metra ticket. Happy Travels!
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