Flickr-01284
Chicago, Illinois, looking north in the public alley located east of and parallel to N. Sheffield Avenue. Photo made with a Nikon Z7.
This view of the underside of the CTA - Chicago Transit Authority "L" steel structure seems simple enough, but it actually has a somewhat complicated history. In 1896 the Northwestern Elevated Railroad Company began construction of a new rapid transit route that extended north from near the intersection of N. Wells Street and W. Lake Street in downtown Chicago to W. Wilson Avenue near N. Broadway. It was completed in 1899 and began regular service in 1900. The line was double track on a steel structure to N. Franklin Street and W. Chicago Avenue and thereafter constructed as four tracks on a steel structure. Almost all portions of the line north of W. Chicago Avenue were constructed over alleys and through neighborhoods already built up with low rise residential buildings rather than over dedicated street rights-of-ways found elsewhere in Chicago (downtown, the Lake Street "L" and 63rd Street on the South Side come to mind). So when the four track line reached W. Willow Street, as with previous construction south of this location, the only clear path north to accommodate the four track width was through the back yards of residential properties that face onto N. Bissell Street. The owners of these properties were under the threat of imminent domain to sell the west portions of their properties to the transit company. At that time the four track steel structure was not built over the adjacent alley shown in my photo. In 1936 the now operator of the elevated lines, Chicago Rapid Transit, applied for and received a grant from the Federal Government to build a new subway transit line under and through downtown Chicago. It was popularly known as the State Street Subway. Construction of the subway line began in 1938 and was completed in 1943. The north portal of the subway was located just north of W. Willow Street. The resulting ramp to get the two track subway line up to street grade and further up to align with two center tracks of the four track steel structure required no small amount of track reconstruction between W. Willow Street and W. Armitage Avenue. What appears in my photo is one half (two tracks) of the original Northwestern steel structure. Apparently the structure was cut in half, with the resulting west half two track portion shown here moved one track width to the west (left) and reinstalled. As can be seen on the right side of the photo is the west concrete retaining wall that supports the subway ramp. The resulting space under the relocated steel structure was paved over and incorporated into the existing alley on the left in the photo. Sometime after 1963 (not sure exactly when) the two outer tracks of what resulted in six parallel tracks being operated simultaneously in this location were removed from service, but the streel structure was left in place. So in my photo only the right track is currently active. It allows Brown Line and Purple Line "L" trains to continue south on the original Northwestern route to downtown Chicago. Red Line trains use the subway route.
Flickr-01284
Chicago, Illinois, looking north in the public alley located east of and parallel to N. Sheffield Avenue. Photo made with a Nikon Z7.
This view of the underside of the CTA - Chicago Transit Authority "L" steel structure seems simple enough, but it actually has a somewhat complicated history. In 1896 the Northwestern Elevated Railroad Company began construction of a new rapid transit route that extended north from near the intersection of N. Wells Street and W. Lake Street in downtown Chicago to W. Wilson Avenue near N. Broadway. It was completed in 1899 and began regular service in 1900. The line was double track on a steel structure to N. Franklin Street and W. Chicago Avenue and thereafter constructed as four tracks on a steel structure. Almost all portions of the line north of W. Chicago Avenue were constructed over alleys and through neighborhoods already built up with low rise residential buildings rather than over dedicated street rights-of-ways found elsewhere in Chicago (downtown, the Lake Street "L" and 63rd Street on the South Side come to mind). So when the four track line reached W. Willow Street, as with previous construction south of this location, the only clear path north to accommodate the four track width was through the back yards of residential properties that face onto N. Bissell Street. The owners of these properties were under the threat of imminent domain to sell the west portions of their properties to the transit company. At that time the four track steel structure was not built over the adjacent alley shown in my photo. In 1936 the now operator of the elevated lines, Chicago Rapid Transit, applied for and received a grant from the Federal Government to build a new subway transit line under and through downtown Chicago. It was popularly known as the State Street Subway. Construction of the subway line began in 1938 and was completed in 1943. The north portal of the subway was located just north of W. Willow Street. The resulting ramp to get the two track subway line up to street grade and further up to align with two center tracks of the four track steel structure required no small amount of track reconstruction between W. Willow Street and W. Armitage Avenue. What appears in my photo is one half (two tracks) of the original Northwestern steel structure. Apparently the structure was cut in half, with the resulting west half two track portion shown here moved one track width to the west (left) and reinstalled. As can be seen on the right side of the photo is the west concrete retaining wall that supports the subway ramp. The resulting space under the relocated steel structure was paved over and incorporated into the existing alley on the left in the photo. Sometime after 1963 (not sure exactly when) the two outer tracks of what resulted in six parallel tracks being operated simultaneously in this location were removed from service, but the streel structure was left in place. So in my photo only the right track is currently active. It allows Brown Line and Purple Line "L" trains to continue south on the original Northwestern route to downtown Chicago. Red Line trains use the subway route.