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.

The Skokie Swift now runs on the weekend!

This should make this goal a shade easier.

I went to a hockey game a few weeks ago and picked up part of the blue line I hadn’t yet been on. Since I missed a train today, I picked up the green line on the west side, which just goes on forever.

What’s left?

The green line south of 35th and the yellow line.

Again progress!

This time I rode to the end of the Brown Line with fellow 43er LisaG. She showed me some cool places on the NW side.

So now all that’s left is:
Yellow Line
Either end of the Green
Forest Park branch of the Blue

It’s in reach.

Haha – a friend and I did this last summer!

I’m sure we’re not he first to do it, but eveyone thought we were crazy when we told them what we were doing.

Ok, so adding the Bronzeville/35th/IIT Green Line stop isn’t all that impressive in the larger scheme, but I’m very pleased. I have discovered that I can save 2 or 3 blocks of walking and about 3 miles of over-crowded trains by taking the Green line from Ogilvie Station to Bronzeville on the Green line when I go to see a Sox game. This is a big deal.

It makes me feel like I am no longer an L n00b. I pwn teh L.

http://www.isubwaymaps.com/download.php#chicago

iSubwayMaps lets you download subway maps from 24 major cities across the globe. They range from New York City, Paris and Berlin to Moscow, Tokyo and Hong Kong. To take advantage of these maps, your iPod will need to support photos, but that shouldn’t be a problem for most recent iPods.

So A couple days ago I went all the way up to howard. Friday I am going all the way with that red line floozie train. All the way to 95th.

The brown line is it going to be under construction for a while beginning tomorrow, and has become slower than walking on foot to each stop. I will find a way around it.

progress so far
Red line- from lawrence to china town stop.
Brown line- from damem around the loop and back to Damen.
Blue line-Jackson to california
Green- nada
purple,orange,and yellow- where do these lines even go to( maybe canada maybe the north pole)