This section is organized to present views
starting at Adams/Wabash, near the southeast turn on the Loop,
then proceeding in a generally counter-clockwise fashion around the elevated structure and its four streets back,
returning to this station. Then the section looks at some
scenes heading generally southbound from here, and ends up with
several views of the two subway lines serving center city.
After the three stations northbound above Wabash, the Loop structure
turns due west over Lake. After two further stops, there is a truly
wonderful junction above Lake and Wells, the subject of several pages in this section.
The southbound stretch above Wells comes after that. Wells is parallel to Wabash,
and five blocks west of it. And the fourth street
the elevated tracks passes over is Van Buren, which takes the rails back to
Wabash.
The train in this view is heading to
Madison/Wabash. Two lines, during normal running, head north
on that nearer track: the Green
Line goes along half the Loop before continuing out to Harlem/Lake, and the Brown Line
is on the third leg of its full Loop journey here before it heads north and
out to Kimball. (At some very
off-peak hours of the week the Brown Line is a truncated shuttle serving only the North Side.)
The clockwise inner track normally sees service for four or three lines, depending
on the time of day and day of the week. The Purple Line runs an
express from Wilmette during
peak weekday hours. The Green Line travels to two different
branches on the South Side. The Orange Line is on its fourth
Loop segment before it leaves downtown for Midway Airport. And
the Pink Line is on its second Loop segment before returning toward 54th/Cermak
in Cicero.
During a station reconstruction project to the north that will last
a couple of years, the Purple Line is temporarily circulating the
loop in a counter-clockwise pattern. |
