Chicago holds a high possibility of being crowned first place.
Because I have found so many outstanding Montgomery, Dover, SchindlerHaughton, Westinghouse and KONE lifts throughout the city of Chicago, it wouldn’t be sensible for me to write it all under one big blog post, because it would be a big waste of time for me to go into big, elaborate detail on what made each lift stand out.
What I found on YouTube in terms of Chicago lifts
Mitsubishi and Fujitec
These lift filmers have walked around the city of Chicago filming some super nice lifts, and in the process of watching YouTube videos over the past few months, I have found that Chicago, by surprise, has many Mitsubishi and Fujitec lifts, which aren’t typically found in a typical U.S. city besides in California and some parts of Nevada (even Nevada is a big stretch). This has surprised me because normally a Mitsubishi lift would be found on the west coast, not in Illinois. Not to mention, there are lots of Fujitec lifts in the more upscale hotels in Chicago, along with other municipal buildings. My favorite Fujitec lift in Chicago had to be at the Railway Exchange Building, because of its intricate, vintage wooden design, and its surprisingly intelligent reference-tacho point positioning system, meaning that there was extreme intelligent leveling & fast deceleration, meaning the lifts were overall faster. Also, the panel looks very dark, which adds to the old look of the lift. The buttons are a rare form of Innovation Prestige, which is white when illuminated. I have seen a KONE HORNRTDISC in Charlotte have the same fixtures but those fixtures lit up in neon blue when illuminated.OTIS
In terms of OTIS lifts, by far, out of any U.S. city where I have watched videos of their lifts, Chicago has some of the highest rising OTIS Elevonic 411 lifts you can find anywhere in the United States. One example is a 70+ story OTIS Elevonic 411 in a high rise undisclosed residential complex in the higher rising part of Chicago. I have found a lot of videos of unique OTIS Elevonic 411 lifts in Chicago as well, with an OTIS Series 4 lift having Series 2 buttons lighting up in green, along with a lime-green illuminating ACME floor indicator! The only other US city I have found this kind of lift it was in Honolulu (Not even Charlotte has this). I haven’t found many Series 1 lifts, but I have also found some neat, posh generic OTIS lifts (through watching videos) in some of the more upscale shopping malls, like Water Tower Place and others. There’s also a 68 story OTIS Series 2 with a really unique floor indicator which is not found much on OTIS lifts, and the buttons light up in green. This was a very cool video to watch, as the lift had a reference-tacho positioning system which matched Schindler’s intelligence levels. The lift had extremely fast deceleration & very fast leveling, along with being one of America’s most unique OTIS Elevonic 411 lifts. This lift is so awesome because it combines some nostalgic elements of the 1990’s series 1 with some of the other nostalgic elements of the 1990’s series 2, along with adding in the acceleration curve you feel mostly on OTIS Series 4 lifts from the modern-day. This particular lift has ultimately defied my expectations because it takes character, style, and class to a whole new level. It deserves an A+ grade.Schindler
In terms of Schindler lifts, I haven’t seen many within the city, but I have seen quite a few outsides of Chicago. Chicago’s tallest and fastest lift, is, in fact, a Schindler 7000 with EPCO buttons and an ACME floor indicator, and it is so epic because it uses S-curve Schindler acceleration paths & Schindler’s own high rise logic! In addition, there’s a TWO STORY Walgreens downtown which has a full-fledged Schindler 400A MRL. How sick is that!? In addition, there are not one, but TWO very rare forms of Schindler 5500 which are fully MRL! The first one is in the airport (probably the rarest place to find one of America’s rarest Schindler lifts), which is a 5500 which is using the high-rise edition of PORT. The lift has only five landings, yet it is destination dispatch and using the high rise destination dispatch system. Not only that, but its speed is mind-blowing at 110 meters per minute, with intelligent leveling which surpasses that of the 1990’s American high rise Schindler M-Series model (also called 700/EPOCH).The second Schindler lift I found on YouTube in Chicago is actually America’s SECOND RAREST Schindler lift. The lift is located in a carpark, which may not sound special, but it is using the LINEA VETRO indicator that is more often used in Asian and eastern European countries than other places. Upon watching the video, my excitement was initially very high because it was the first find in the United States, but then, as I continued pondering on the thought, I knew more would pop up in the near future. The lift looks and runs very nicely, with Schindler’s signature reference-tacho positioning system, and with extreme intelligent leveling. It travels at a speed of 110 meters per minute, just like the lifts back at the Chicago O-Hare international airport’s rental carpark.
ThyssenKrupp
In terms of ThyssenKrupp lifts, I have found quite a few extremely outstanding ThyssenKrupp lifts. Before getting into the lifts, ThyssenKrupp lifts aren’t my favorite kinds of lifts to film because they take a longer time to level, and they aren’t as interesting as a typical Schindler, OTIS or KONE lift unless the lift is hydraulic or very high speed. While nothing special because of the way they run, the way they looked made me watch further. I don’t usually pay attention to how the lift looks because there may be a potential case where two lifts look nothing alike but run exactly the same way, but this time, I just had to stare at the awesome design of the lift cars. Some of the ThyssenKrupp lifts in the city of Chicago blow away my expectations of what I will find in terms of good lifts. Here are the three winners in terms of ThyssenKrupp projects for Chicago:The first outstanding ThyssenKrupp lift I have seen may look a bit boring and generic, but it definitely didn’t stop me watching the entire video before leaving a comment. To start off with, the lift looked bland, with a NYC-style hotel car interior, and the lift had yellow-illuminating Innovation Universal fixtures, which discouraged me from watching the full video. And, the lift was only 18 landings, which was the shortest of the three ThyssenKrupp lifts I will be writing about in this report. The first thing I noticed when the door closed (watching the video) was that the camera picked up the acceleration of the lift, which made this lift rare from almost every other TK traction lift ever installed in the United States. Lastly, what set this one apart from the other ThyssenKrupp lifts was it’s not only full but insane intelligent leveling. From the time the indicator changed to the top floor landing to the time the door was fully open was less than 4 seconds. Usually, on a standard traction ThyssenKrupp, the time elapsed is sometimes 6 seconds or more. This is by far the rarest ThyssenKrupp lift I have seen.
The second outstanding ThyssenKrupp lift wasn’t outstanding because of its appearance or its uniquely-designed reference-tacho positioning system, but rather, due to its extreme height. This isn’t the TALLEST ThyssenKrupp lift I have seen or been on (FYI, I have never been anywhere west of Cleveland, Ohio), but it was still tall enough for me to be blown away. The lift traveled 72 floors, which is typical for any high rise lift, but this lift did it so quickly that it had me glued to the video for the entire duration before leaving a comment at the end. I enjoyed watching the lift go up and down the building by staring at the quickly changing characters on the floor indicator, especially when the lift traveled through the 13 story gap. To top it all off, the leveling wasn’t bad at all, as it took only two seconds for the lift to correctly align with the landing upon reaching the landing for floor 72. This lift definitely deserves a crown. Even though I am not a big fan of ThyssenKrupp products, I am a happy blogger to say that this will definitely be a lift worth looking at if I am ever brave enough to go on a road trip to the energetic downtown city of Chicago.
The third outstanding ThyssenKrupp lift was in a high-end hotel, also known as the Waldorf-Astoria. This lift isn’t anything special due to the way it runs, but its appearance SCREAMS uniqueness! It is SO UNIQUE in appearance, that you probably won’t find another ThyssenKrupp lift that looks nearly as beautiful as this lift. The lift buttons are an extremely rare and custom form of Innovation Universal, and to top it all off, they are using the tactile-mount brailles, which gives a Renaissance-style look to any lift using it. Not to mention, the building has a strict high rise Italian structure to it, which resembles a typical casino hotel in Las Vegas.
Verdict
Because of this, Chicago now gets the crown, and Chattanooga is dropped down to second place, with Illinois being the first state. The list now goes in this order (first 25 cities):- Chicago
- Chattanooga
- Nashville
- Knoxville
- Gatlinburg
- Charlotte
- Asheville
- Raleigh
- Greensboro
- Atlantic City
- Secaucus
- Elizabeth
- Union Township (KEAN University’s lifts have given me a good impression on Union Township, along with some transit stations that have some really nice hydros)
- Rutherford City
- Edison Township
- Lyndhurst Township
- Woodbridge Township
- Millburn Township
- Freehold Township
- Manalapan Township
- Howell Township
- Morris Township
- Somerville (Yes, Somerville, due to many interesting OTIS and GAL lifts scattered throughout the town) – a recent addition to the new Chicago Chattanooga Ranking System (CCRS)
- Bridgewater Township
- Clinton Township (Will soon extend into Flemington and possibly Raritan Township)
I got the car. Now I wait painfully, yet patiently for the license while preparing for the worst-case scenario during the road test.
As of January 12, I have a brand new 2019 HONDA CR-V, which has been insured and registered with liability and car insurance from HONDA and GEICO. I am waiting for my insurance card, which I may get after I receive my driver’s license either in March, April, October, early November of 2019 or early May of 2020. My full lift filming schedule remains postponed until I get my full-fledged driver’s license, and my car gets the proper registration from HONDA, along with proper license plates. However, here are my probable upcoming lift filming days:- February 8: Berkeley Heights Township (birthday trip). I was originally supposed to go to Atlantic City, but after that August trip, I’m happy that I am NOT going to Atlantic City for my 18 birthday.
- March 9 (If I pass my road test on March 8, which is a very unlikely scenario): Celebration trip to either Bridgewater, Somerville, Clinton, Flemington or stay locally on route 31 in Annandale.
- March 23 (If I pass my road test on March 22): Celebration Trip in Clinton and Lebanon Boro (lift filming event, depending on how much homework I actually have).
- I will only build a spring break lift filming schedule if I PASS my road test (I expect to FAIL) before spring break and have my license in my hand before April 15. Otherwise, I will not film any lifts that weren’t on the agenda.
- June 13 (If not Freehold): First graduation trip to Bridgewater or stay on Route 31 in ANNANDALE and/or Lebanon borough. Lifts may be filmed as far south as Flemington, and possibly even Ewing. I will only go lift filming if it is confirmed by 2:30 PM that I have a legitimate high school diploma in my hand and I have successfully graduated from high school and it is confirmed. My placement at KEAN University will also have to be finalized in order to go lift filming ANYWHERE outside of Annandale, NJ. If I do not graduate on this day (which is the likely scenario), I will pause lift filming for a week to get summer homework done and build a complete lift filming schedule running throughout the summer until August 22nd of 2019. I will plan much bigger for the June 2020 graduation trip if that’s the case (possibly going to Chicago).
- June 15: Possible Freehold or Secaucus trip. If I go to Secaucus, I will try to film some office lifts.
- Any time between July 10 and 14: Possible Atlantic City day-trip, with possible NYC trip to visit my childhood lift.
- Any time between June 16 and September 2: Lift filming schedule resumes in full-swing.
- KEAN University freshman fall semester begins on September 3rd. If possible, the day before, I may head to Secaucus to film a few last-minute lifts.
Also, please bear in mind that my lift filming schedule PAUSES on June 1st and I will actually stay off of YouTube from June 1 to June 13 to get in any last minute final exam preparation. I will continue working harder and harder this year so I can get my grades into the mid to high 90’s so I can comfortably FAIL the final exams if I must fail.
Anyway, I’ll be back on after further notice & see y’all until next time.
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