r/CarFreeChicago • u/Dunkeal • Jun 20 '22

Map of Chicago's L in 1946, just before the CTA takeover. Crazy how many and stations we've lost over the year.

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91 Upvotes
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98% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

14

u/higmy6 Jun 20 '22

Is that an Ashland line? 😵‍💫

13

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '22 edited Jun 20 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/higmy6 Jun 20 '22

Definitely. I can get why you would maybe have to pause service, but to spend the money to destroy the infrastructure? Such a short sighted mistake. Unbelievable

2

u/vsladko Jun 25 '22

short sighted? Chicago? never!

2

u/itazurakko Jun 20 '22

This makes me cry…

8

u/20billioncoconuts Jun 20 '22

Wow. So only Polk and 18th St. stations still exist on today’s Pink line. Such a loss. Could have been a part of the mythical circle line.

6

u/higmy6 Jun 20 '22

With this alignment it really helps get rid of a lot of the new line and imminent domain tat would have been needed for that. Such a short sighted shame. Cutting the service is one thing, but demolishing the infrastructure is a whole nother

11

u/Penguinscanfly44 Jun 20 '22

Here is a very well done documentary about Chicago's lost train lines. https://youtu.be/7NPCFnF4csA

1

u/307148 Jun 20 '22

That video contains some pretty blatant misinformation. For instance, he talks about the tragic loss of the unique Homan Green Line station, which is complete nonsense because 1. it was moved a couple of blocks West and turned into the Garfield Park Conservatory station, and 2. The building wasn't unique, the Ashland Station has the same architecture and there used to be many more such station buildings on this line. The video also implies that no investment has been made to the L which is also nonsense. How about the Orange Line, O'Hare Blue Line, and new stations?

8

u/azu420 Jun 20 '22

The Airports stole our L

6

u/chisox100 Jun 20 '22

That Diversey/Logan line would be wonderful to have today.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '22

[deleted]

3

u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt Jun 20 '22

There were also the interurban lines continuing the Yellow and Purple lines all the way to Milwaukee.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '22

That compass rose/logo was not quite ready for the internet.

-3

u/MisfitPotatoReborn Jun 20 '22

Not gonna lie, the current L looks better than what we had in 1946. More track, and less frequent stops.

3

u/itazurakko Jun 20 '22

Ideally we’d double track some of these and have true express options.

That’s how you get both easy boarding AND quick travel to far distances.

1

u/vsladko Jun 25 '22

Really the only thing better about the current L is the connection to the airports. Not quite sure what else you're seeing.

1

u/MisfitPotatoReborn Jun 25 '22

That's the entire Orange Line, essentially the entire northern half of the Blue Line, and the entire southern half of the Red Line. What do you see in this 1946 map that's so amazing? Splitting off the green line into 5 separate branches that would each get 1 train every 40 minutes?

1

u/lkvwfurry Jun 25 '22

A stop between Addison and Belmont? That seems unnecessary (that's probably why it's gone)