View Single Post
  #13  
Old Posted May 3, 2009, 4:16 PM
Robert Pence's Avatar
Robert Pence Robert Pence is offline
Honored Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Posts: 4,309
Excellent photography and a beautiful tour. The neighborhoods are especially beautiful in Spring, and the rebuilt stations are a vast improvement.

I preferred the old names for the CTA lines, as compared with the color-coding system that has become the standard for urban rail transit just about everywhere. Ravenswood has a pleasant sound to it; at least they could have come up with something better than "Brown."

Kimball brings back a memory of a 1980s misadventure. I was headed for a stop on the (now) Red Line very late on a Saturday night, sufficiently impaired that I should not have been out by myself. It was colder than blazes, near Zero Fahrenheit, and I waited at Belmont in a semi-haze from the combined effects of alcohol and bitter-cold air. Finally a train came and I boarded, grateful for a place to sit down in the warmth.

After a couple of stops I realized I had boarded a Ravenswood train, the last train of the night. The late-night bus between Kimball and the Red Line ran infrequently, and I was out in the cold again.

Back at the Red Line I boarded the same car with the conductor. Three teenagers, the only other passengers on that car, began hassling me for money and the conductor made no attempt to intervene. I gave them my pocket change, probably a couple dollars' worth, and a couple of CTA tokens. I was very glad to get back to my friend's apartment. That was the last time I went out and got semi-sh!t-faced alone.
__________________
Getting thrown out of railroad stations since 1979!

Better than ever and always growing: [url=http://www.robertpence.com][b]My Photography Web Site[/b][/url]
Reply With Quote