The "L" : The Development of Chicago's Rapid Transit System, 1888-1932 [Hardcover]

Bruce G. Moffat (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Central Electric Railfans Assn; 1ST edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0915348306
• ISBN-13: 978-0915348305
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #948,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive book on the origins of the Chicago 'L', September 27, 2011

By 

jefFnurk "jefFnurk" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The "L" : The Development of Chicago's Rapid Transit System, 1888-1932 (Hardcover)

I have been a fan of Chicago's 'L' system since I was a little kid in the 70's and used to go with my mother to pick my father up at the Lake Street (Green Line) Harlem 'L' station. I have read pretty much any book ever written on the 'L' system and frequent the Chicago-L dot org website, so while I'm far from an expert I do know my 'L' history pretty well, and let me just say this book makes me feel like that same little kid in the 70's, both in fascination and what I actually really know about 'L' history.

After reading and being thoroughly impressed with Bruce Moffat's other major book,
The Chicago tunnel story (the history of Chicago's freight tunnel system, which most of you probably only know or remember from the flooding incident back in the 90's), and being amazed at the sheer amount of detail in the information and photos and maps that the book contained, I was hoping for another similarly definitive type of book on Chicago's 'L' system by Bruce, and this book does not disappoint in the least.

Covering the first 40-some odd years about the development and creation of Chicago's Urban Transit 'L' system, this book has it all. If you can find any want or need for information after reading this book, you would likely have to dig deeper and look places even Bruce Moffat didn't, which I don't think is possible. You'll find dozens (if not hundreds) of photos never seen or published where before or since and in depth text about the players and corporations and timelines that led to the creation of Chicago's first 4 'L' lines (and more). The two bonus large size reproduction maps, as well as the fold out maps in the book itself are amazing and worth the price of the book by themselves.

At 305 pages, this is probably a lot more than the very casual 'L' fan is looking for, but if you want THE definitive book on the origins and creation of Chicago's 'L', look no further. If I have any disappointment about this, it would be that the book only covers the period up until 1932. While it's amazing just how much of the 'L' was built by that time, I would LOVE to see another volume of the series that covers further history of building and development of the 'L', specifically the subways (which didn't open until after WWII), the stages that brought all of the original 'L' lines (companies) under the umbrella of the CTA, and the CTA build projects like the O'Hare extension, the Congress/Dan Ryan builds, the Midway/Orange line, the Red Line / Green Line / Brown Line reconstruction projects, and the conversion of the Douglas Park line to the Pink Line. But, I do not consider that any "fault" of this book, it covers in great detail the time period it is supposed to, and does it exceptionally well.