Great Hall - Chicago Union Station (1 IMG)

[BaltACD]

CShaveRR

Balt, I think All-Nation disappeared around 1980.  It was getting pretty threadbare for years by then.  Of course, the block it was on has a completely diferent character now.  (And yes, I was in all of those stations, though I arrived maybe a year too late to see the old concourse at the Union Station.)

From 58 to 63 it couldn't be beat for model railroading.

[Deggesty]

CShaveRR

Norris, we're going to have to get you out of seclusion and into some of the "Good Lands"!

Balt, I think All-Nation disappeared around 1980.  It was getting pretty threadbare for years by then.  Of course, the block it was on has a completely diferent character now.  (And yes, I was in all of those stations, though I arrived maybe a year too late to see the old concourse at the Union Station.)

Johnny, I saw a Metra report saying that the Great Hall and the "breezeway" were closed today for some special function.  Do you suppose they were referring to the passage under Canal Street?

 

Carl, if the passage under Canal Street is called a "breezeway," the caller apparently does not know that breezes are expected in a breezeway. I never noticed the slightest hint of a breeze when I walked under Canal Street

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

I usually exit and enter CUS from the Clinton Street side and I'm familiar with the set-up for most special functions.  Generally, the waiting room and the passages from Clinton to the waiting room are closed off for functions.  The section under Canal Street is taken up by ticket windows (Metra & Amtrak) and the baggage area.

[CShaveRR]

Perhaps in the days of the open concourse there were more breezes.  I remember how dingy things used to be.

[zugmann]

That shot reminds me a lot of 30th St. in Philly. 

[wanswheel]

I was there in August 1960. It was 96 degrees outdoors, but the concourse felt merely not uncomfortably warm. I don’t remember if the windows were open. If they were openable.

[BaltACD]

wanswheel

 

Looking at the Arrival Board, doesn't look like the Exposition Flyer or Empire Builder were anywhere near the advertised.  And I am guessing that the North Coast Limited is nearly 12 hours late.

[phkmn2000]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/photo/vintage/ct-vintage-union-station-photos-20150908-photogallery.html

Vintage pictures from the Chicago Tribune.

[CopCarSS]

Thank you all for the kind comments and the discussion about the station and its history! It's been an enlightening and enjoyable thread for me!

[Deggesty]

phkmn2000

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/photo/vintage/ct-vintage-union-station-photos-20150908-photogallery.html

Vintage pictures from the Chicago Tribune.

 

Thanks for the picture of the station used by my mother, her parents, and her brothers in 1907 when they were coming from Japan  (my grandparents were missionaries, and were beginning a year of furlough). They had come to Vancouver on the Empress of China, came down to Seattle, took the Oriental Limted (in a tourist car with kitchen facilities) to St. Paul, transferred there, and came on to Chicago before continuing to the South.