In the mid 1980s my mom would take me into downtown Chicago and usually we would take the L. Often the trips I remember was by the L. Until 1993 the Dan Ryan line would be elevated and routed to the Loop L and west along Lake Street to Harlem/Lake. Today the Dan Ryan line is routed through the State St. subway to the north side!
These pics posted by
davidwilson1949 on flickr takes us back to 1986 and I had no idea that they started to build that eventual connection to the subway near
Cermak/Chinatown that early!
This shot is looking south and you see how different this area looked approximately 24 years ago!
In this shot a southbound train from the loop is about to pull into Cermak/Chinatown. You see the work on the ramps that will in the future take Dan Ryan trains into the State Street subway.
Here's a better shot of the construction this time from the northeast. We're looking at the northbound side of Cermak Chinatown.
A northbound train heading towards the Loop L tracks. You see more of the construction of the route towards the State Street subway.
The train is up towards the connector on 18th Street that will take the train towards what was called the south side mainline tracks. The former Lake-Dan Ryan route would run along the Howard-Englewood-Jackson Park route. By 1993, trains from Englewood & Jackson Park would be routed to Lake Street to become the Green Line.
Those are the 18th Street tracks that takes the train east to the south side mainline. These days those tracks are part of the Orange Line that takes you to Midway Airport. Of course you see no indication of that line yet in these pics. Another unusual sight was this freight train along Metra's Rock Island route.
Look back to the south a Dan Ryan train headed back towards 95th Street.
Looking to the west on Archer and Wentworth was according to David Wilson a yard for passenger trains for the AT&SF Railway, these days however this place is now home to a commercial and residential development.
Man this takes me WAY back!
If you want some more information check out
Chicago-L.org!
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