ETR_500;
If you can find the July 2003 issue of TRAINS magazine, there is a foldout of the Chicago area that shows how the various railroads entered Chicago in 1928.
Quoting from John Szwajkart's 3rd Edition of Train Watcher's Guide to Chicago:
"The Nickle Plate Road had only one line into the area, and this came from the East. Actual entry into the area was east of Thomaston(,Indiana). The line went West Northwest toward Valpariso, then ran alongside the PRR Fort Wayne Line to Hobart. Here the two separated and the NKP went through the South side of Gary, across the EJ&E at Van Loon, and into Hammond. After crossing the NYC at Osborn, the line headed for downtown Hammond and Homan Avenue Crossing, IHB, then north to State Line Crossing. There the line entered Illinois and went Northwest through Burnham into Chicago alonside the C&WI. Generally following the C&WI, the line headed North-Northwest past Calumet Yard to Pullman Junction.
Here the road made connections with the C&WI and the BRC. Its mainline continued across these two lines and the CRL(RI), Northwest to the IC mainline. It then followed alongside the IC to just South of Grand Crossing, crossed over the IC, ran along the west side of the tracks toward the NYC and PRR, then went under the two. Once on the North side of the NYC main, the line turned and followed alongside the NYC for a short distance, then joined the NYC."
I was in LaSalle Street station once or twice before Amtrak and the assignment of trains by railroad to specific tracks was not too obvious, but each train was probably spotted on a particular track on a regular basis so employees and regular passengers didn't have to guess where their train was parked.
Long winded, but the Chicago map is a maze. Hope this helps.
Mel Hazen; Jax, FL