>The Alley L had a medley sound to it. Writers had fun using the capital “L” as they wrote about the exploits as the courts settled the arguments about who would build an elevated railroad first. Almost 6 years later a five-car, steam powered Alley L train makes its stop at either 47th or 43rd.
The Alley L was the first elevated train in Chicago, opening in 1892 with service running from the loop through the south side of the city—with an important function of shuttling tourists to the World’s Fair the following year.
Initially they ran steam trains on the tracks which, as a current Chicagoan, is hard to believe. In 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority bought the independent, private agencies that were running the trains and consolidated them into the system we know today, with the Alley L functioning as the current southbound branch of the Green Line.
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PParker46says
When I first started taking the Green Line to work there was an old guy who said that when he was a young guy he had known an old guy who rode this kind of train from the Loop out to Austin. Donkey steam engine and each car had a conductor with one of those little stools to set down for passengers to board and depart. IDK where this pic is, but it could have been many places east of the Austin stop.
niftyjack says
>The Alley L had a medley sound to it. Writers had fun using the capital “L” as they wrote about the exploits as the courts settled the arguments about who would build an elevated railroad first. Almost 6 years later a five-car, steam powered Alley L train makes its stop at either 47th or 43rd.
The Alley L was the first elevated train in Chicago, opening in 1892 with service running from the loop through the south side of the city—with an important function of shuttling tourists to the World’s Fair the following year.
Initially they ran steam trains on the tracks which, as a current Chicagoan, is hard to believe. In 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority bought the independent, private agencies that were running the trains and consolidated them into the system we know today, with the Alley L functioning as the current southbound branch of the Green Line.
Based on the given caption, I believe the photo to be taken somewhere around [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8166155,-87.6194528,3a,90y,67.21h,97.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSrCw_a6YsRZ-dhtb6zrSxA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e2), in an area that has faced considerable decay but is back on the upswing.
Image and initial caption sourced from the Facebook Group *Chicago L.*
SilverMars says
Man, that looks so beautiful!
Konradkealey says
Fantastic lookin ?
taahdlher says
reminds me a lot of the train you board at Disney in Florida, by the main gates.
RecklessSand says
Thats Chicago?!? It looks like Kansas-nothing there!
TotesMessenger says
I’m a bot, *bleep*, *bloop*. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
– [/r/chicago] [Saw this on r/Lost_Architecture, thought you’d enjoy it here](https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/bvfnd8/saw_this_on_rlost_architecture_thought_youd_enjoy/)
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PParker46 says
When I first started taking the Green Line to work there was an old guy who said that when he was a young guy he had known an old guy who rode this kind of train from the Loop out to Austin. Donkey steam engine and each car had a conductor with one of those little stools to set down for passengers to board and depart. IDK where this pic is, but it could have been many places east of the Austin stop.