Ride to all stops of all the Chicago "L" lines

I wanted to figure out a way to help the other 50 people who have this goal of riding to all the CTA stations. First I downloaded the image at http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/rail/rail.html and marked off the stations. Which is kinda nice to see it visually on a map. But it’s kind of a pain to count all the X’s by hand. So I made a list of all the stations. Feel free to copy this list and use it on your entries. (I had to put a period after every station to prevent the cross-throughs from getting all wonky).

I’ve gone to 75 of the CTA’s 142 stations. That means there are a whopping 67 to go! I couldn’t believe that I only have 52% done!

Blue: O’Hare Airport Terminal .
Blue: Rosemont .
Blue: Cumberland .
Blue: Harlem .
Blue: Jefferson Park .
Blue: Montrose .
Blue: Irving Park .
Blue: Addison .
Blue: Belmont .
Blue: Logan Square .
Blue: California .
Blue: Western .
Blue: Damen .
Blue: Division .
Blue: Chicago .
Blue: Grand .
Blue: Clark & Lake .
Blue: Washington .
Blue: Monroe .
Blue: Jackson .
Blue: LaSalle .
Blue: Clinton .
Blue: UIC-Halsted .
Blue: Racine .
Blue: Medical Center .
Blue: Western .
Blue: Kedzie-Homan .
Blue: Pulaski .
Blue: Cicero .
Blue: Austin .
Blue: Oak Park .
Blue: Harlem .
Blue: Forest Park .

Blue, Pink: Polk .
Blue, Pink: 18th .
Blue, Pink: Hoyne .
Blue, Pink: Western .
Blue, Pink: California .
Blue, Pink: Kedzie .
Blue, Pink: Central Park .
Blue, Pink: Pulaski .
Blue, Pink: Kildare .
Blue, Pink: Cicero .
Blue, Pink: 54th/Cermak .

Brown: Kimball .
Brown: Kedzie .
Brown: Francisco .
Brown: Rockwell .
Brown: Western .
Brown: Damen .
Brown: Montrose .
Brown: Irving Park .
Brown: Addision .
Brown: Paulina .
Brown: Southport .
Brown, Purple, Red: Belmont .
Brown, Purple: Wellington .
Brown, Purple: Diversey .
Brown, Purple, Red: Fullerton .
Brown, Purple: Armitage .
Brown, Purple: Sedgwick .
Brown, Purple: Chicago .
Brown, Purple: Merchandise Mart .
Brown, Green, Orange, Purple, Pink: Adams .
Brown, Green, Orange, Purple, Pink: Madison .
Brown, Green, Orange, Purple, Pink: Randolph .
Brown, Green, Orange, Purple, Pink: State & Lake .
Brown, Green, Orange, Purple, Pink: Clark & Lake .
Brown, Orange, Purple, Pink: Washington & Wells .
Brown, Orange, Purple, Pink: Quincy .
Brown, Orange, Purple, Pink: LaSalle/Van Buren .
Brown, Orange, Purple, Pink: Library .

Green: Harlem/Lake .
Green: Oak Park .
Green: Ridgeland .
Green: Austin .
Green: Central .
Green: Laramie .
Green: Cicero .
Green: Pulaski .
Green: Conservatory-Central Park Dr. .
Green: Kedzie .
Green: California .
Green, Pink: Ashland .
Green, Pink: Clinton .

Green: 35th-Bronzeville .
Green: Indiana .
Green: 43rd .
Green: 47th .
Green: 51st .
Green: Garfield .

Green: King Drive .
Green: East 63rd/Cottage Grove .

Green: Halsted .
Green: Ashland/63rd .

Orange: Halsted .
Orange: Ashland .
Orange: Archer .
Orange: Western .
Orange: Kedzie .
Orange: Pulaski .
Orange: Midway Terminal .

Purple: Linden .
Purple: Central .
Purple: Noyes .
Purple: Foster .
Purple: Davis .
Purple: Dempster .
Purple: Main Street .
Purple: South Blvd. .
Purple, Red, Yellow: Howard .

Red: Jarvis .
Red: Morse .
Red: Loyola .
Red: Granville .
Red: Thorndale .
Red: Bryn Mawr .
Red: Berwyn .
Red: Argyle .
Red: Lawrence .
Red: Wilson .
Red: Sheridan .
Red: Addison .
Red: North & Clybourn .
Red: Clark & Division .
Red: Chicago .
Red: Grand .
Red: Washington .
Red: Monroe .
Red: Jackson .
Red: Harrison .
Red, Green, Orange: Roosevelt/Wabash .
Red: Cermak-Chinatown .
Red: Sox-35th .
Red: 47th .
Red: Garfield .
Red: 63rd .
Red: 69th .
Red: 79th .
Red: 87th .
Red: 95th-Dan Ryan .

Yellow: Skokie .

Even though I know the CTA doesn’t like this, it would be fun to videotape each of the lines from end to end. e.g. Get on the red line howard, press up a video camera against a window, and shoot from Howard all the way down to 95th.

Sound boring? Yeah, kinda. But it would be neat to have a record of this. We all assume there there is plenty of archival record of the CTA, but I don’t think there really is. It’s all over the place shot by different people. The CTA should record this once a year, just for historical purposes.

I’ve been doing a little recording with my super tiny, discreet $20 Vistaquest VZ1005. It’s kinda neat to watch the ride from a crappy little camera. It’s rather entrancing, actually. (Check out “CTA Train Reflection“).

The thing is that this camera only shoots like 25 seconds at a time. I’m about to pull the trigger on another camera that shoots longer video. Will I actually be brave enough to videotape a ride down to 95th? Perhaps.

That’s right. Every stop. Even the scary ones. There are 188 CTA stops. I’ve been to 54 stops. Maybe I should make a nice little list that’s easy to check off where I’ve been.