Early transportation
A steam-powered engine pulls an elevated train along the Lake Street "L" tracks.
View ArticleWorld War II
WAVES, members of the women's branch of the Naval Reserve, take a ride on Chicago's new subway car that was helping their recruiting drive in October 1943, during World War II.
View ArticleIn the shop
Worker Andy Hodowanic checks on the roof of a train car while Mike Fabian works on a wheel Sept. 15, 1950, at the CTA shops on Oakton Street in Skokie. The facility was destined to be the main repair...
View ArticleElevated train crash
Looking west along the Lake Street elevated tracks from Wells Street on April 16. 1951, after an "L" car derailed. The car scraped a corner of the signal tower before coming to a stop. No one was...
View ArticleNew rail cars
Workmen unload two of four new rail cars at 314 W. 63rd Street in Chicago in 1951. The cars were built in St. Louis.
View ArticleDamaged train
Police Lt. Patrick Condon and Detective Francis Valkenburg view the damaged platform of an elevated train car after a crash at 69th Street and Normal Avenue on Oct. 8, 1952. Five passengers were...
View ArticleConverted Green Hornets
A four-car elevated subway train made up of converted Green Hornet street cars is given a test run at Wilson Avenue on March 11, 1954. The CTA planned to eventually have 250 of the converted cars, at...
View ArticleMetal replaces wood
Old wooden elevated line cars burn June 19, 1957, at the CTA's rapid transit yard in Skokie, where 23 cars were destroyed. Ninety more of the outmoded cars were set to be burned the next week. The...
View ArticleElevated train accident
The view south along CTA elevated tracks shows how a four-car Evanston-bound train, halted by a signal, was struck in the rear by a Howard Street train as it moved north out of the Wilson Avenue...
View ArticleCar No. 1
Chicago's first elevated car is shown in its new storage location in the car barn at 1001 Wrightwood Ave. in 1963. Car No. 1, which was made of wood, traveled the city's rapid transit lines from 1892...
View ArticleAir conditioning
A new air-conditioned CTA train, left, sits at the Wabash Avenue and Madison Street elevated station June 11, 1964, as an older train runs through. The public took free rides on the new train.
View ArticleCrash victim
A victim is carried between the north- and southbound tracks Sept. 13, 1974. A northbound CTA train crashed into the rear of another train just north of the Bryn Mawr station.
View ArticleIdeal ride
Elevated cars reflecting rapid transit experts' ideal ride, shown Jan. 23, 1975, were slated to run on the CTA's Skokie Swift Line.
View ArticleThe Loop
Looking south at the elevated tracks of the CTA system on Wabash Avenue at Lake Street on Sept. 19, 1975.
View ArticleTrain yard
Rail cars at 96th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway are parked Dec. 17, 1979.
View ArticleCTA strike
In the fourth day of the CTA strike, only 23 trains were running citywide on emergency limited service routes on Dec. 20, 1979. Too few seats and too many riders left some brave souls out in the cold.
View ArticlePacked ride
Rapid transit riders who succeeded in getting onto an "L" train during a CTA strike on Dec. 20, 1979, found themselves packed into the cars.
View ArticlePerilous ride
Two riders hang on as they pull out from the Fullerton station Dec. 20, 1979. Overcrowding on the limited service trains because of a strike forced passengers to try ingenious — and perilous — ways of...
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