Scenic Schumacher (former Dover/TK) Traction Elevators @ Pioneer Parking Facility, Rockford, IL

After about 8 years (I don't know how it's been that long; I was still in high school), I finally revisited another set of elevators here in Rockford that I've filmed several times, the ones at the Pioneer garage (Peter used to call it the Coronado Theater garage, so I'm still used to calling it that).

Chris (Prospect Elevators) informed me that these elevators had been modernized (I'm guessing they were modernized sometime between 2022 and 2023), so I've been wanting to ride them again. Since I came up here to check on the progress of the mod at the Wyman South garage and didn't see much today, I made the trip worthwhile with these.

As stated in my previous takes of these elevators, one of them was a Dover and one was a ThyssenKrupp. They both had Impulse fixtures and were very similar to each other but were installed separately in different decades (90's and early 2000's, respectively) and placed on the same controller. These elevators were incredibly unique and fun to ride, but they were beginning to age, and they weren't running the greatest. I remember the Dover being significantly slower than the ThyssenKrupp. I guess the city felt the need to get these modernized.

Fast forward to 2025, these are now incredibly nice and modern Schumacher elevators. Minus the windows, which I swear have not been cleaned since I was last here, these elevators are just absolutely superb. They look, sound, and feel safe and solid. They are well lit with new interior lighting, and they are the smoothest traction elevators I've ever ridden. I love the choice of fixtures and the blue color for the indicators and buttons (whatever buttons these are, I think I've decided they're my favorite modern elevator button). I also like that they now perfectly match each other inside and out.

I notice that they did away with the exterior indicators/lanterns on all the floors besides 1 and slapped metal plates over them, which probably saved some money. They switched to internal car lanterns, adding a new lantern to the ThyssenKrupp which it never had and slapping a new lantern in the Dover in the place where its original lantern was installed, removed, and slapped over with metal itself. The cabs are still original, and the windows, which probably could just been removed and replaced with fresh glass, are disgusting and badly scratched.

Although I miss the incredibly unique and somewhat rare elevators that these were, Schumacher did an excellent job on them, and I give this modernization a solid 8/10.