PKDickman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > How long ago are you talking about? > > Early on in Circle line planning, using Western > was one of the options. > As far as I can tell, even back then, the fix was > in to use Ashland. It still continues with the BRT > plans. > > Up here in my section, we argued hard that a route &g
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Cragin Spring Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This advertising is getting out of hand and very > annoying. If someone is new to this site and sees > all this advertising crap they may have 2nd > thoughts about this site. Except many of them are gibberish, and/or for services in other countries. I don't know where the moderators are on this, b
Forum: General Discussion

Except then you can't report them, and even if the moderators aren't acing on them fast enough, at least there is a record that they were informed.
Forum: General Discussion

WayOutWardell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The decision to build a new Morgan Street station > on the Green Line is baffling - the Halsted stop > was closed in the '90s. It still seems to me that > Halsted is a better transit interchange. Harpo Studios, right there. And when Oprah sells the building, the new owner has ready access. I work
Forum: General Discussion

Jayg Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I've used the contact button on the bottom of the > page to complain of spam. > Maybe they need some volunteers to clean up the > boards. If I knew who to contact, I'd volunteer!
Forum: General Discussion

Richard Stachowski Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Never heard of seond ave in Chicago. Where is it. Not Chicago, Richard. New York. They've been planning to build this route for at least 80 years!
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Yeah, don't reply to these clowns, it just keeps them on Trending Topics. Another thing, never, ever click on their links, as you could be heading for a malware trap. I hang out on a rather sophisticated political site, and they, too, have problems with spammers. They do have a community moderation system, and two Hide Rates will get the comments hidden from most, marking them for removal a
Forum: General Discussion

It was proposed, Richard. A lot like the Second Avenue subway was proposed for years, but never started, until now. There's no mention of it at the L website, so maybe it was considered too expensive to contemplate. I just wondered if anyone else had heard of it.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

It's been a while, and the material will probably be uncovered when we move to the farm, but I was looking at the ChicagoL.org site, and could find nothing about this. I saw it in a reprint The Electric Railway Journal, and have a vague recollection of a mention of express tracks, but even just two tracks for half of the ~24 miles of Western within the City would be really expensive. Still, in
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Well, absent webmaster action, one thing we can do, aside from reporting, is post some new threads. Maybe we should all think of something we'd like to discuss, and post them, if only to crowd the drek out of the Trending Topic list.
Forum: General Discussion

Keep reporting.
Forum: General Discussion

Is there anything that we can do to rid ourselves of these spam posts, especially the ones hawking counterfeit money and documents? And maybe get them off the trending topics list?
Forum: General Discussion

It's always about money. The Englewood line was supposed to be extended to Cicero, as one route to serve Midway Airport. It never went past Ashland. When first built, the Ravenswood (Brown) line ended at Kimball and Lawrence. There was practically nothing there. That's as far as they wanted to spend money. The Jackson Park line was cut back to University. They didn't want to spend the mo
Forum: General Discussion

I'm betting a few old timers at the CTA probably were secretly kicking themselves that the agency hadn't saved those lines, back when the freight tunnel flood occurred. They could have had access to the Loop via some new trackage at Paulina Junction, and been able to move equipment to the Forest Park line via the Lake Transfer main to Harrison and Loomis Junctions. If the alderman had prevailed, a
Forum: General Discussion

the_mogra Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I view the old Humboldt Park line (which I > remember only from seeing partial trackage east of > Western Ave up to about 1963) and the Paulina St > tracks as totally separate matters, at least as > far as making my point in this discussion. > Extending the old Humboldt Park line is an ancient >
Forum: General Discussion

I think that the biggest problem for preserving these structures is money. They can't just sit there, but need a certain level of maintenance. The CTA would be responsible if anything rusted through and fell on someone, and they are still underfunded even now. My question on the Circle Connector would be exactly where it would go, north of Logan Square. Would the CTA have had to acquire more p
Forum: General Discussion

What'll ya have? Pabst Blue Ribbon! Let Hertz put yooooou in the driver's seat, today! It's the big bank, with the little bank inside.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Vern H Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I remember reading somewhere years back that the > city would broadcast an ultrasonic "beep" every so > often for the signals to stay synchronized. Is > this still true? Actually, it's not ultrasonic. You call in to the Load Dispatcher on you radio, and request a time tone for a given cycle leng
Forum: General Discussion

If the building can be put to good use, and still show it's heritage, then that is worth doing. But not every building can be saved. Full disclosure: I hate Salerno Butter Cookies. I was fed too many of them as a child, and developed a distaste. Same thing with Oreos. YMMv.
Forum: General Discussion

the_mogra Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I wonder if the electrified tracks did NOT include > the spur that went east to the river branch and > never did, it was just the western tracks that had > that 'electric diesel' > > In the olden 'Hi-Fi' days when brands like Scott, > Marantz, Jensen, Fischer, Harmon-Kardon etc. were > stil
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I'll bet they switched to diesel locomotives after California was extended from Roscoe to Addison: can't risk people coming near a third rail!
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

It would seem that this site had everything you needed for a power plant: access to a river for both barges and cooling water, plus a nearby railroad connect for equipment, materials, and coal cars. Just one little problem: it was surrounded on three sides by residential neighborhoods. I suspect that was one of many reasons they decommissioned it and tore it down, along with loss of bascule bridge
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I remember that flagpole. I've seen others like it, and figured it was built that way to allow easy maintenance of the pole. It apparently was removed around the same time as the track. Did you see much of the railroad in operation as a kid?
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

I remember the track across California, but that was after the generating station was torn down, and I didn't see any third rail, so I assumed it was out-of-service. The maps show a double track crossing on California, so I suppose one track was removed long before the other. I do remember the viaducts being dismantled, so I would think the tracks had been torn out at the same time.
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Anyone who lived in the vicinity of this line remember it? For those who don't know what I'm talking about, there was a power plant that used to exist at California and Roscoe, that was decommissioned and torn down in 1970. Coal, other materials, and equipment came in from the C&NW Northwest Line at Kimball, crossing a wood trestle, and running on an embankment and over viaducts to the Com Ed
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

The deadman's switch still exists, and parts of the L that are not under Automatic Train Control still have track trips.
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

davey7 Wrote: > > So you're telling us that the current returns from > the el via streetcar tracks? I totally don't buy > that at all. As I understand electric traction the > third rail or overhead wire provide one path and > the tracks in use the other. I don't understand > why they would ever have been linked in the first > place*, let alone currently still lin
Forum: Forgotten Chicago Sightings

the_mogra Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > it's merely putting 2 and 2 together. of course > the CTA didn't exist though the CA&E certainly > did, and once the CTA got its mits on the transit > lines it was curtains for the CA&E. like > clockwork Time and the CA&E's shareholders pulled the curtains on the railroad. Old equipment
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Richard Stachowski Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > From what I see the "L" is still there. I just saw > it when we went to the Conservitory. It's and old > fashion type of depot. Are you talking about the Lake Street L? They moved and rebuilt that station house from the Homan station on that line. We've been talking about the Garfield
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Mr Downtown Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm not disputing that more median space was left > than would be needed for a two-track rapid transit > line: the plans specify 97 feet wide from Central > to Kedzie, 120 feet from California to Paulina, > 150 feet from Paulina to Racine. But what I've > never found (in lots and lots of research
Forum: Questions and Answers (Q&A)