Englewood L Chicago CTA

Published 2008-06-24
In the 90s before the colors

All Comments (21)
  • @tedj1957
    Great video, Loved seeing all the history with the Harvard and Wentworth stations which have been demolished and the Racine station which has been abandoned.
  • @msibnsf
    @Jaye49 All CTA "L" lines had many more stations in the past then the number they have today. Many of the "L" lines were built before 1899 and they competed with the streetcar lines. The streetcars stopped at every block and the "L"s stopped every second block. The Englewood branch when finished in 1907 had these stations: Loomis, Racine, Halsted, Parnell, Harvard, Princeton/61st, Wentworth, and State. DH
  • @msibnsf
    The slow zones were due to weak steel structure in most places out on the Englewood branch. Not all the rehab work got completed even during the Greenline shutdown. DH
  • @charlestonchewy
    As a kid growing up in the 80s, I can remember coming to Chicago from Waukegan to see my grandmother who lived on 64th and Langley at the time. My siblings and I would fall asleep during the long trip. You can always tell you're in Chicago from listening to the loud el trains coming down 63rd street. They were so loud, you can hear them from a long distance. It's not the same anymore after the CTA had shorten the terminal from University to Cottage Grove. Since then the noise have reduced.
  • @EthanShaw525
    great video. lol the funny thing is this is about the same speed this train moves today
  • I wonder why the CTA had to close all those stations on the Englewood branch!
  • @granskare
    nice :) I rode the el in the 40s when I was a kid...cost me 4 cents...expensive :)
  • @ChicagoJoe57
    Wow - this was prior to the automated voice system announcing the stops. I remember that conductor on the Lake "el". He had a distinct voice: "Your on a Loop bound B train, next stop is Ashland."
  • @rch1jr
    Did u see that old green and white bus at 1:53? I remember those when I was a child
  • @RennyGd
    Hey, I liked the el trains when I lived in Chicago. They had character, like the city. So what if there a little slow. Whats your hurry antway.
  • @msibnsf
    The Englewood "L" never went any farther south then west 63rd Place. The Normal Park branch left the main line at Stewart JCT and went south as afar as 69th ST. I don't know what you are referring to when you say "Englewood Area 73th(sic) South Morgan." D. Harrison
  • @jbobbster
    It was closed because it was too close to Garfield Station. I believe there was a 3 block interval between the 2 stations. As a result, it didn't survive the Green Line rehab project, despite the fact that the station had been renovated just 10 years earlier. I believe it remained standing through early last year because the CTA was required to keep the station intact and in operable condition due to the use of federal monies in its renovation until the grant investment had amortized.
  • @granskare
    now this sounds like a Chicago guy giving the announcements :) I used to ride the el when I was a kid in the 1940s,,,4 cents for all day, including transfer....hershey chocolate...the real thing, not like today, was a penny...:)
  • @uptowndc
    Perhaps its just me, but shouldn't elevated subways/railways have guard rails?
  • @odarellmc
    yep my granny used to stay in that high rise on yale (its the tall dark building next to the xpress way in the film) , i used to get off at harvard all the time..
  • @isaachaaze3
    how similar is the cta and the mta in ny?...I know the mta is larger but for anyone who's rid in both how do they compare?...and to add to that how does NY and CHI compare to each other?
  • @RobertPaniagua
    This EL was very much similar (or even identical to MBTA's Washington Street Orange Line EL in Boston, only difference here in Chicago was that the trains ran alot faster that the MBTA Orange Line EL, which was restricted to 50 km/h
  • @isaachaaze3
    I did hear something similar about Chi on some show...It has a city grid with barely anything to fill it in...I have a feeling that in a couple of years that they're going to try and fill it in and compete with NY again...there's only one NY, but I would like to see somewhere else built like NY, but with it's own feel to it.
  • @MrDwb721
    Wow, lived right there at the tracks at 5910 Michigan, which you can clearly see at 1:18 on the video to the right.