CTA Historic Station Tour

Historic CTA Station Tour

NOV19
2000

The following are images I took on the tour sponsored by IHPA and Chicago-L.org. About 85 or 90 were taken, but these are my favorites.

Oh, I, the photographer, am Tony Coppoletta. You can send me mail at tonycoppoletta@hotmail.com if there are any mistakes or if I fouled on any of the information.

Images noted with an asterisk are personal favorites of mine for various reasons.

Full sized image types: igh Definition / anoramic (800px Wide)

CLICK ON IMAGES TO VIEW THE FULL-SIZE GRAPHIC IN ITS FULL GLORY

Trackage The tour definitely had its share of interesting trackage. Most of it to most people is boring, so I left much of it out of the stack I scanned and focused largely on the focuses of the tour.
	Westbound Douglas from Kedzie* This is the westbound view from the eastbound Kedzie platform. A nice mix of colors here, I noticed that as I sat down on the wood to snap this one.
	Tracks heading west from Western Ave. (street level) Self-explanatory.
	Tracks heading west from California (street level) Also self-explanatory.
	Elevated structure heading toward downtown from Damen/Milwaukee stop (street level) View here some of the oldest elevated tracks in Chicago, the first ever to open with full electric operation. While in need of a paint job, these tracks support thousands of daily commuters between O'Hare, downtown, and the West side.
	Skyline from Paulina track just after leaving Douglas territory* This image shows a nice view of the skyline, with the "Ike" (I-290, The Eisenhower Expy.) below. What I find particularly cool about this one is how the tracks so clearly are heading around the curve (from the Douglas branch) out, down to connect with the Congress main tracks and head into downtown.

Paulina Images These pictures are from while we were on the Paulina non-revenue connector track, former part of The Met.
	East view* Something you rarely get to see while riding the L... A view of the Sears Tower, straight from the west. You can only get this on the Paulina connector.
	Entering from Lake Street Elevated (southward view) This view out a train window shows the Paulina branch while entering its remaining maintained track, coming from the Lake Street Elevated. [cropped image]
	Entering from Lake Street Elevated (northward view)* This one includes a view of the Lake Street Elevated (horizontal trackage), the west track of the Paulina connector (from a train on the east one - not the dilapidation of the other track, since only one is upkept and used). Note in the distance a floating little metal structure. This track didn't used to connect with the Lake, but went over it (stopped at a transfer station up even higher in the air), and continued north to the O'Hare branch. The trestle would disrupt too much stuff or be too expensive to be taken down, so it still remains to this day.
	Heading to Douglas Park from Paulina* This is an interesting view out the side window (thanks, Graham, for letting me hang out the side of the train for a moment) looking south toward what appears to be endless track (to Douglas Park), workers on the tracks moving switches so we can move, the ramp from Congress to Douglas (horizontal track), and a sprig of track structure heading out right from where the photo was taken, which was presumably originally a part of the structure when trains would head north from here, prior to the opening of the subway.

Milwaukee/Damen Stop (O'Hare Branch) Our first stop after boarding our charter train... This stop has always been one of my favorites. You get to view a vintage Metropolitan-West Elevated station in very nice condition, and with the safety of being in Wicker Park if you're not from the neighborhood. While few places scare me in the city at this point (I used to take the Marquette bus from my house near Kostner all the way to the end of the Englewood/Green Line at 63rd/Ashland), it's often inconvenient and a risk to make it out to certain areas. As such, the stop at Milwaukee/North/Damen is always a nice stop to walk through.
	Damen Station House, tour crowd around Keith Letsche* This is a nice panorama of the station house, the tour crowd listening to historic information about it, and some of the structure around it in need of a paint job. You can see Keith Letsche as the point of focus as he describes the significance of this station and its history.
	Damen House, stores on Damen, tour crowd Graham Garfield (Chicago-L.org) explains a bit about the structure's history as tourgoers listen attentively.
	Damen platform (taken from inbound) as tour crowd waits to board approaching charter 2200s After visiting the station house and standing on Damen for a bit, the charter returns to pick us up and head back to the subway, and onto the Paulina connector.
	Damen station structure explained John Craib-Cox here explains some of the detail behind the structure, what makes it so supportive, and how structural elements were also somewhat decorative in a late 1800s utilitarian application of both form and function.
	Damen outbound platform (from the inbound side) with N Damen Ave in the background* A nice view of the outbound platform here, panoramic, showing also Damen stretching further north through Wicker Park, Bucktown, and beyond.

The 2200s - Our cars for an afternoon OK, so nobody but the trip organizers could really claim the cars as being theirs - they had indeed chartered them. And then there's those of us who are really interested (obsessed) in CTA stuff and ride the trains daily - for actual transportation and sometimes for fun, who always feel right at home in a CTA railcar. But for 4 hours on November 19, these 4 2200s felt even more personal.
	Two two-car twenty-two-hundreds nearly meet (Western on Douglas Branch)* For a while the train was split into two. It provided some interesting photo opportunities, including this one with the two separate trains pulling up onto the Western outbound platform.
	Twins at Kedzie (Douglas Branch) Two 2200 cars side-by-side, both facing outbound, both with [appropriate] 54/Cermak signs on display. That's something you don't see every day.
	Twins at California (Douglas Branch)* Two 2200 cars side-by-side, both facing outbound, both with [appropriate] 54/Cermak signs on display. That's REALLY something you don't see twice every day.
	2200 Interior (stopped at Kedzie on Douglas Branch) The inside of one of the four cars.
	"Doors closing." (photo taken while in Congress Subway) These odd (well, by present-day CTA standards) doors open from the center, facing out. Based on that concept, you might even call them "butterfly doors", however "chads", old people who don't read, politcal parties, and snotty Florida State officials are not involved, and there is no controversy (well, unless you've ever tried to get through them with a duffel bag, or someone doesn't follow the "keep right" and/or "let exiting passengers out first" rules). What you see here is the tracks that guide the doors when being opened and closed.

Loop & Lake Street Elevated Only three stops were made here, two of which were brief, and most of us see the Loop elevated quite often. But there's two nice ones from Ashland, one of LaSalle/Van Buren, and one from the rarely-seen-by-the-public inside of the old Madison/Wabash platform-level stationhouse.
	Ashland outbound station house* This is quite a beautifully reworked station, appropriately in green, on the Lake Street Elevated (Green Line west). Notice the shadow from the steeple stretching off the opposite, inbound stationhouse.
	Ashland outbound platform (east half)* More of this beautiful station. I need to visit this one more. It's like Quincy, but far more colorful. Notice the elevator shaft in the background and overhead walkway making this vintage-but-remodeled station ADA compliant.
	LaSalle/Van Buren This image shows the tour group reboarding after a visit inside the outer Loop station house (Ravenswood service only). The view is to the east, with the new (well, it's new compared to all the rest) "Library-State/Van Buren" station in the distance. People were rushing on, and after snapping this I ran onto the train as not to miss it, as a Brown Line train was behind us (a part of the very recently re-instituted Sunday service from Kimball/Lawrence to the Loop).
	Madison/Wabash Station House Those of you who have been using Madison/Wabash in the last 30 years are unaware of this view, as it's now more of a break and mail room for CTA employees. Similar to LaSalle/VanBuren, the vintage pressed-metal wall tiles and ceiling panels are painted in white. This station's endangerment is eminent, however on hiatus - if you can figure out what that means. Keith Letsche is the speaker describing the history and past-usage of this structure.

Western on the Douglas Last time I was on a tour of the rail system here (the only other time - but I'm looking to go on a lot more now), I didn't even get off at Western on the Douglas. Why? I don't know. But now that I finally have once, it's one of my new favorite stations. Granted, there were better days for this station, but it's in good shape for the most part, much of the vintage detailing remains, a few old decorative lamppost remnants still sit absent of their lights on top, and the art deco stationhouse facade is an absolutely wonderful must-see piece of elevated rail history.
	2200 at Western Outbound Platform* An image of our charter sitting on the outbound side of the Western stop. Note the skyline in the background, and
	Photo from the inbound platform, facing west, train approaching You can see both half of our charter on the outbound track, as the rest of us wait for the other half to arrive from the west.
	Skyline and tracks from Western inbound platform A nice view of the skyline and some of our oldest elevated tracks over Pilsen, a now mostly Mexican neighborhood built in the 1880s.
	Picture of Western station from the NW (standing in middle of Western)* See the crowd listen attentively and with great interest as the history of this station was described. You can also see the facade turn to brick on the side of the station house, rather inelegantly.
	Glossy terra cotta facade on Western (Douglas) stop* I absolutely love the front of this station house. It's small, hidden, not all that used, but a historic little art deco gem in the middle of old Chicago.
	Skyline and station sign* This is a nice panorama of the skyline and the "Western" sign on the outbound platform. One of my favorites.

More on the Douglas
	California station house At the California stop, this station house is much like the one at Damen on the O'Hare Branch, and the hideously white-painted-over house at Kedzie, also on this route (a half-mile, or 4 Chicago city blocks, to the west).
	Kedzie station house Much like the one at California on this route, and Damen on the O'Hare branch, this is a round and decorative house around 100 years old. Unfortunately, rather than keeping it nice, it's been painted over with thick white paint. I'm not sure why CTA does this, since plain white paint is an automatic invitation to all graffiti artists and "taggers" alike. And it gets icky - especially in winter.
	Polk We stopped here to split our train in two for some photo ops and the ever-interesting situation of having another train along side you traveling in the same direction and speed as you, on a structure that only has two tracks. OK, so I'm a dork for finding that "cool" or "neat", but if you're interested in anything, and get to experience something highly unorthodox, it's always of interest, so don't pick on me.
	Elevated strucutre heading east from Western on the Douglas There are the infamous "unsafe" tracks on the former Douglas Park route, now the Cermak Branch of the Blue Line at Western Avenue. Notice in the distance brighter orange temporary supplemental supports sticking up, to add extra strength to a weak, rusted steel structure. While currently in disrepair with scattered, awful "slow zones" so trains don't further damage the tracks with excessive vibration and rocking from gliding too quickly and bouncing around on the not-so-straight rails up top, CTA was just granted funds to restore this line to be a fast and efficient part of the system. Hopefully, weekend services will be restored (although it's tough to hope for overnight), and the stations that haven't been demolished and replaced with ugly cheap structures (such as Western, California, and Kedzie) will be refurbished, but not replaced. Although, I'll admit the sketches of replacement stations I've seen are very modern and would probably be really nice looking, it's never good to see history be destroyed.
	Charter rain approaching from east on inbound track coming off of center track to reattach* Long title, but that's what it is. Our last stop on the Douglas before continuing to Racine for departure back to our other homes (as opposed to the all-too-much-fun L), Pulaski, the other half of our train, occupied mostly by our guides and train crew rejoined the one most of us rode on over here from Kedzie. You can see the train switching from the center to the inbound track, even though it was facing outbound.
	Pulaski to the west A lonely, barren, wooden station with a tiny canopy is what exists today as Pulaski on the Douglas. The neighborhood surrounding it has seen much better days. This used to be the end of the line with a massive station and elevated train storage yard. Today it's one of the most uninteresting (and thus highly interesting to me, due to historic contrast) stations in the city.

Steps of the Met The Met had some pretty nice steps I noticed. So I took a picture of 3 vintage staircases. Here they are together for your comparison. I noticed the pattern on the vertical front panels on the steps changed from place to place the most, and had never noticed it until this tour, even though I've used the Milwaukee/Damen stop countless times. The differences are subtle, but it's interesting that they didn't just create one design and use it on all their stations, but modified even some subtle things to give places a unique feel.
	Milwaukee/Damen These steps are the ones leading up from the 1st landing after entering the station and going up the first steps.
	Western/21st This stairwell is on the Cermak Branch (former Douglas Park route) at the Western stop.
	Kedzie/21st Also on the Douglas branch, the Kedzie stop had the vintage steps.

Miscellaneous OK, no category these guys fit into. But still noteworthy.
	"Your attention please..." Graham Garfield of Chicago-L.org making his first announcements over the PA on this trip. (Graham, thought you might like to have this one - this was while we were in the subway heading south after the Damen stop.) [cropped, enhanced image]
	Fare Well* In the distance, the 4 previously chartered cars that were deboarded (well, almost completely) waiting on the center track in the distance, just east of Racine on the Congress main, can be seen before they leave for the Forest Park yard.