Riding the El

On June 11, before I visited the Art Institute, I strolled around Chicago in search of adventure. My first stop was the Pink Line, the elevated mass transit route that circles the Loop. (The Loop is so called because the elevated tracks circle the center of the city.) This is on my list of Things To Do in Chicagoland.

I started at the Clinton station, just east of the Chicago River. The ticket cost me $2.25. I bought it from a vending machine and immediately stuck it into a slot in the turnstile. I waited for perhaps five minutes before the next train happened along. (Hold your cursor over the photos if you’d like a bit more information.)

In all the times I’ve been to Chicago and during the three years I lived downtown, I don’t think I’ve ever taken the El around the loop before. I know I’ve ridden on elevated trains on the north side of town, but not here. I decided to sit on the inside of the loop.

My route took me east above Lake Street, south above Wabash, west above Van Buren and north above Wells before heading back west across the river above Lake Street again. I took the shot below as the train pulled up to the station on State and Lake. That’s the marquee for the Chicago Theater on State Street. I took another shot down State Street from the other side of the Loop. You can see the Chicago Theater marquee in the distance.

On February 4, 1977, while I was a student, two El trains collided and one of them fell off the tracks at the corner of Lake and Wabash. Two cars landed on the street below and another two were dangling from the platform. Eleven people were killed and 180 were injured. I remember going downtown a day or two later. The entire area was blocked off. The two cars on the street had been cleared away, but I saw one still hanging precipitously. The shot on the left shows my train going around that very corner. It didn’t fall off, although for a second or two, the cars had a distinct list.

It was raining when I arrived downtown and it continued raining until 3:00 or so. I walked across the river and headed east. During the day, I took several photos of El trains on the Loop tracks.

And one last shot from my ride on the El. This is Chicago, after all.

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