Detoured CTA Red Line, Cermak to Madison (Pt. 1)

Over the weekend of April 28-29, because of construction, the CTA Dan Ryan Red Line was detoured from its normal route through the State Street subway up onto the south side and Loop elevated tracks used by the Orange, Brown, Pink and Green Lines. The Dan Ryan "L" had used these elevated tracks from its opening in 1969 to 1993, during which time it was through-routed with the Lake Street elevated. If you remember when the area around the elevated tracks used to be auto-parts stores (one sold nothing but used taillights!), salvage yards and warehouses, you'll either be shocked or pleasantly surprised. Even though the switch had been announced in the newspapers and on televion for several days before this, trains had to sit in main stations for several minutes at a time while train operators answered questions from confused passengers. At these times, it might not be a bad idea to bring back temporary conductors;-)