Secrets of the Chicago L Part 3
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- Опубликовано: 1 фев 2024
- In this video, we will talk about secrets of the Chicago L.
NYRailfan's Video: • Secrets of the New Yor...
Sources/Further Reading
www.chicago-l.org/operations/...
news.wttw.com/2023/03/09/engl...
www.chicago-l.org/stations/pa...
www.chicago-l.org/stations/ha...
www.chicago-l.org/operations/...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cermak_...
www.chicago-l.org/operations/...
www.vanshnookenraggen.com/_in...
Pictures
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racine_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfiel...)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englewo...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnell...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rya...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/58th_st...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/58th_st...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashland...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/35th/Ar...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashland...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Li...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Par...)
As a lifelong Chicagoan and a CTA employee, you respectfully forgot several stops on the Englewood branch. Loomis, Princeton, Wentworth and State St. You should've also referenced the stops on the Jackson Park branch closed and demolished. 61st, University, Dorchester, the New structure for a terminal at Dorchester and Stony Island. Come back for a part 2 I guess and include the 3 Congress line stations rotting away
The Westchester branch was actually owned by the Chicago Aurora and Elgin railroad. All tracks west of Laramie Avenue were owned by the CA&E and the Chicago Rapid Transit leased the line to Westchester. (The Westchester branch was originally planned as a cut off line for CA&E trains heading to Aurora, IL. The depression killed the extension, there fore the CRT ran the trains instead of CA&E.) West of Oak Park saw little patronage due to the fact those people road the CA&E vs CRT/CTA. Plus that area didnt develop until the 70s, almost 20 years after the cta/cae abandoned the line
69th Street terminal was the southernmost L terminal of the Chicago L. It ended service in 1954, and it was the last extension of the South Side L that opened in 1908. The L structure literally ended at the sidewalk curb on 69th Street!
And don't forget, while descending down the subway portal on the Blue Line (I prefer happier times, Congress / Douglas) just south of Damen Ave, you can see the remains of the L structure support columns (goes with 8:51) of the line which eventually lead to the Mighty Bridge (7:53) and today's Paulina connector. I imagine these were not the original columns but rather part of the temporary structure built to skirt the Dearborn Subway portal.
Did you know that the Yellow Line was developed for eventual widening to four tracks? Going west from Howard, after the tortuous turn, the line descends into a cut. There were beautiful stations at Ridge and Asbury that were designed to add another pair of tracks outside the platforms. After the tracks come to grade level west of the North Shore Channel, you can see extra land beside the tracks for two more tracks. At Dempster Street, there was an old "Insull Spanish" style station house. The main exit to the tracks was at the south end of the building, under a large glass window labeled "TO TRAINS". From that door, you could continue straight up the stairs to the high platforms of the Niles Center "L", today's Yellow Line. Or you could turn to your right and walk around the end of the building to the North Shore Line tracks. And that's the key to understanding why the line was designed to be widened to four tracks. "L" trains would run on the local tracks, North Shore Line trains on the express tracks.
I have seen that bridge countless times and never knew the full story until now... Thanks
Great video! I was in Chicago for the first time last Christmas and only took the L once - thanks for sharing this :)
I yearn for Chicago's transit system coming from St.Louis.
Actually we used to have a robust transit system. The street cars were fine, but the interesting thing is that we had our own commuter service like Chicago's Metra service. I'm going to try and make a map of them all.
Love the insight into how the train lines should have extended further down Cermak, the end though actually enters Berwyn and not Oak Park. It ends at Oak Park street, which is where the Burger King sits at. Although that extended strange road alley way has portions that go all the way to Harlem Ave. Thanks for the history lesson!
hey, really great video! Hope to see more!
I also like your videos. That abandoned metro systems video was awesome!
I echo some of the others. Your pronounciation has improved. One error. The Dearborn Street Subway opened in 1954. A few quirks about it. When it opened the two termini were Logan Square and La Salle Street. It was not until 1957 that the route to what was then called the Congress Expressway was completed. While I understand your use of today's color system to describe the lines, back in the day they had different names and in some case different configurations. South of the Loop today's Green actually conected with what today is the Red to the north. It was called the North-South route. North siders just called it the Howard Line. It went from Howard to 58th and then alternate trains branched to either Jackson Park ("B" trains) or to Englewood ("A" trains). Priot to the construction of the Loomis terminal (1960s) the end station was at Ashland. The western part of the Green was called the Lake Street line. It had the same western terminal at Harlem and went around the Loop at the east end. Today's Blue Line was called the West-Northwest Line with its two branches splitting at Paulina, the Congress Branch and the Douglas Branch. The Congress name was kept even after the expressway was renamed in honor of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1960s.
I must say, way better pronunciations this time around! In the next video, make sure to touch on the decrepitude of the Congress (Eisenhower) Branch of the blue line.
So sad to see the empty blocks in Chicago's South Side... No wonder stations webe being closed and lines were being demolished
If you go to 69th and Wallace, right before u go up the little hill, it is a old beam part where the train used to end at. ( it was there before I left in 2012 ) check it out
Check out my comment above in the comments section about that! 😊
That Parnell station had to be a real uphill climb from street level especially if you were carrying luggage! The platform was adjacent to the overpass which elevated a bit higher than the Halsted platform for clearance of passing freight
The "Little Englewood" station use to serve the Illinois Central railroad too which reminds me of times I've rode that train TO/FROM THAT STATION so it COULDN'T have closed in 1963, I was 1 year old that year.
At 63rd and State there was a similar staion that served the NY Central and Penn Central railroads. Between those two hubs was a hotel called The Roberts 500 Room" built in what I thought was a rather odd location (for a hotel) until I found out years later it was to cater to out of towners who's stops were at those South Chicago hubs. Because of the issues surrounding racial indifferences and civil rights of the 1960s and earlier, Minorities who traveled to and from southern states felt the railroad was the safest way to travel long distance than Greyhound figuring [ "There's strength in numbers" ] and flying was just not a popular option economically for the majority of minorities during those times who didn't own their own automobiles.
Also, The Illinois tollroad entrance and exit were right there at 61st for those coming in from long distances by car/truck not to mention there was a rail freight beltway and an intermodal so it kinda made sense why a hotel would exist where this one did, I believe its since been demolished.
Very interesting. thanks!
Believe it or not, the supports from Harvard are still visible from the street view on 63rd.
More chicago vids!!!???!!!
Noice!
Gotta love the whopping 2TPH, man…
The Illinois Prairie Path was NOT the Westchester Branch remnants. It is the remains of the right of way for the Chicago Great Western Railroad coming in from western Illinois. You need to get your facts straight. There is definite missconnections and wrong information. If you want to talk about the Chicago L system, I would recommend that you LIVE in Chicago…
Slayy
almost half of this stuff in this video almost everybody knows
amog us
I wish that the Englewood 🚉 would reopen for the Metra ↙️ Service & then make a connecting 🛤️ to the 🪨🏝️ District & also reopen the Parnell Ⓜ️ & connect it to the Englewood 🚉