Chicago "L" fans, here are some photos

Nice photos!  Thanks for posting

that CTA EL Train with the white roofs are very hard to find...and are Rare...as well as very expensive..if you can even find them

@trainnerd posted:

that CTA EL Train with the white roofs are very hard to find...and are Rare...as well as very expensive..if you can even find them

Patrick, do you have an idea where the location of that "L" curve is in the photo that I took?

that big building in the back ground of that picture is the Merchandise Mart..Downtown Chicago. It could be the Lake Street EL

Thanks Patrick.  I looked it up.  A lot has changed in 30 years (as well it should anywhere over that length of time)

Public Domain Image from Google Maps

Wells Street...that is the Merchandise Mart in the picture. I was born and grew up on the south side of Chicago. When I was younger...lol...I worked downtown on Wacker Drive....many years ago. I am 71 years old now

Not bad photographic work for that camera! Thanks for sharing them with us.

The first three photos appear to be on what is now called the "Red Line" but was long known as "Howard Service" from downtown (where it is the State Street Subway) up to Dempster on the North Side. The last two pictures are of the northward turn across the Chicago River on the "Brown Line" that used to be called "Ravenswood Service" from the Loop downtown northwest up to Kimbal and Lawrence Avenues. Lake Street Service is a straight shot downtown to the Loop, but the Ravenswood Service joined the Howard Service where four tracks ran north until the Ravenwood split off and zigzagged a bit as it headed to Lawrence Avenue. The Merchandise Mart, once famous as "the world's biggest building" in 1930 when it was built because it held nearly 4 million square feet of floor space, was once the headquarters of the Chicago Transit Authority. Your friend lived close to the "Pink Line," formerly known as "Douglas Service." Sportsman's Park was a race track that was not far from the Cicero station on the Douglas Service Line.

When I was in college I worked summers as a ticket agent on those CTA lines. I remember rush hour downtown collecting over $6,000 in $0.25 fares in a mere 3 hours--and about a third of the customers used transers I punched, so they didn't contribute at all to that monetary total! While in grad school and when I was teaching in Chicago I spent summers driving CTA buses from trolleys to propane-powered to diesels.

Thanks Tokelly.

I'm partial to New York trains because I lived there, but I love any form of transit/commuter trains, here and abroad.  Now I just need to learn 3D printing so that I can create my own replica set of the new Miami Metrorail cars. Fully intend to procure select Chicago "L" stock in the future for use on my layout.

Speaking of which, I currently have an Kato HO Metra Set so Chicago is already represented in my house, just not in the photos above.  I understand that there is also a O Gauge Metra Set that was released a few years back that is rarer than hens teeth.

You're welcome, Kevin. MTH made a number of nice versions of the 6000 series in the original cream/mercury green colors, the white and dark green, and the silver bicentennial versions. Even thought I model in S scale, I bought the cream/mercury version and added figures and LEDs so that it would light up on display. Those are the cars that I first rode when going to high school and "operated" by pressing a hidden button above the doors when in the terminal so that I could bring in cash bags to the cashier at the end of the day. I fully understand your love of transit trains. It brings back a flood of wonderful memories. (The Union Illinois Train Museum has an entire CTA station I worked as well as a number of of buses I drove. It's a bit disconcerting to realize my past now lies in a museum!)

Terry O'Kelly

Here’s the “L” with another Chicago landmark, Wrigley Field.

Here is the Lake Street L from the roof of the Virgin Hotel looking west. As Tokelly noted, a straight shot.

Amfleet

If you ever go back to Berwyn check out Berwyn Toys and Trains , a forum sponsor.

I got some  very helpful tips when just getting started with O gauge . Ahhh Sweet Home Chicago.

Love the photos! I will have to dig up some CTA photos I have taken in the past.