Day 6: In and Around Chicago

Since the Cardinal didn’t leave until 7:45p, I had a little time to look around Chicago and take in the various types of trains that exist in that city. I checked out of my hotel and deposited my bag at Union Station. Then I strolled over towards Lake Michigan and took a look at the Metra Electric and South Shore lines. I wandered around the Roosevelt Road station for a bit (that station is really just a wooden shack with two wooden platforms below) and the I took the Elevated, first the Orange, then the Brown, Red and Purple lines all the way up to Evanston. I decided to take a Metra train from there back to Union Station. Then I spent most of the evening watching the avalanche of rush hour trains in and out of Union Station and Ogilvie Transportation Center. I found a nice spot - a railroad crossing just north of Union Station - from where to watch the parade of trains. Really quite an impressive show that Metra was putting on there.