A real 'L' ride in Chicago... Looks like Cities: Skylines!
- Thread starter jcitron
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Wow - public transport in Chicago is strange... the train spends so much of its time travelling at reduced speed and the platforms are mostly empty.
I guess the city builder's spent their time overindulging with the three lane motorway tool.
I guess the city builder's spent their time overindulging with the three lane motorway tool.
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I'm surprised as well how old the train tracks in the middle of the city are. Looks like wood to me, but correct me if I'm wrong.
The Chicago EL is 115 years old and it's being rebuiblt, slowly to increase speeds where they can. There's another link from the same user explaining that. Pretty cool riding on the 115 year old system though. 
Boston ripped theirs down between 1973 and 1985, which I remember taking a ride on from end-to-end not too long before that. I think I was about 7 or 8 which means it was around 1968-69 timeframe.
I agree they spent a lot of time using the road tool in Chicago and yeah, the trains seem to be going too slow. I estimate about 40 mph tops, which I think should be faster out in the countryside. In the city on the old EL it might be half that or slower.
It's quite cool how the city appears from the distance. This made me think of Cities: Skylines when I first saw the video.
Boston ripped theirs down between 1973 and 1985, which I remember taking a ride on from end-to-end not too long before that. I think I was about 7 or 8 which means it was around 1968-69 timeframe.I agree they spent a lot of time using the road tool in Chicago and yeah, the trains seem to be going too slow. I estimate about 40 mph tops, which I think should be faster out in the countryside. In the city on the old EL it might be half that or slower.
It's quite cool how the city appears from the distance. This made me think of Cities: Skylines when I first saw the video.
that would be awesome in this game....waiting for the elevated el............you know its going to happen.....
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You have to remember that the El in the city centre is placed above the street-grid and the stations are close together, similar to the Paris metro. That is one of the reasons for the very tight curves through there. The woodwork you can see is for walking and as a roof; the actual track, as shown, is on steel supports. Interesting that, apart from junctions, there do not seem to be any visual signals, even though the train does stop a couple of times.
It is interesting to use Google Maps and Streetview in the centre to see the effect that it has on the road system. Not all the system is elevated, as some of the modern lines are beneath street level, and I suspect deep enough not to need to follow the street grid. That is different to the system in the NYC metro in Manhattan which replaced an elevated system, though there are still some of those in Brooklyn and away from the city centre. Again, the early London tubes (District and Circle) and the Paris metro lines were built below street lines.
It is interesting to use Google Maps and Streetview in the centre to see the effect that it has on the road system. Not all the system is elevated, as some of the modern lines are beneath street level, and I suspect deep enough not to need to follow the street grid. That is different to the system in the NYC metro in Manhattan which replaced an elevated system, though there are still some of those in Brooklyn and away from the city centre. Again, the early London tubes (District and Circle) and the Paris metro lines were built below street lines.
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I have followed the system too on Google Maps and in Bing Bird's eye view. The Chicago L system they called, whether it's underground or not, is fairly new except for the old elevated section. In other videos you go into the subway portion which is quite clean and so new compared to New York, London, or Boston.
The Boston system, the Green line trolley (tram) line follows the streets very tightly even though it is underground for a big portion of the line. The curve between Boylston Street and Tremont Street, lead up to the famous Park Street station, is one of the tightest on any metro system in the world. This requires specially constructed trams and when Breda built the latest models, they had to be retrofitted due to jumping the tracks on the curves. This is one of the reasons why Boston's trams are so short compared to the long Flexos seen in many other metro systems. Boston's system is also the 2nd oldest, with London being the first.
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And people complain about there not being enough people and cars in C:SL, see at 16.21, seems about like in-game ;-)
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I signed up for these forums just to thank the OP for that video. Been watching them non-stop.
Well, CS is based on Midwestern architecture. That's why every map looks the same and there's only modern buildings.
We need elevated tracks on pillars over streets and stations especially for that, I can't imagine the fabulous Chicago inspired maps .. This made me really eagerly ..
still watchin' these videos and want to suggest professional videos for my hometown.
This made me really eagerly ..still watchin' these videos and want to suggest professional videos for my hometown.
Cities Skylines needs elevated rail as well as trams:
...and proper commuter rail like the one I take every day to work (notice the mix of bigger stations and smaller platforms almost in the middle of nowhere)
...and also waterbuses
I would gladly pay the price of the full game for those additions
...and proper commuter rail like the one I take every day to work (notice the mix of bigger stations and smaller platforms almost in the middle of nowhere)
...and also waterbuses
I would gladly pay the price of the full game for those additions
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It's underestimated how influential the public transport is for a realistic townscape and the proper function of a town.
(That's a little bit political, but public transport is as important as the energy- or water- infrastructure, without a big town would die; so it is important to plan with)
(That's a little bit political, but public transport is as important as the energy- or water- infrastructure, without a big town would die; so it is important to plan with)
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Chicago also has the Metra, which is a standard commuter line that services the suburbs and overlaps the L. It would be cool to have diesel trains though!
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You are welcome!
Being a railroad fan, model railroader, and city fanatic, I love these cab-view rides. I'm glad you enjoy them as well.
I feel the same. Thank you for post these. Very interesting rides.
For more tram rides, look for videos by esbek2
Here's on of his/her videos.
I enjoy these rides as well as they are right on the street and you can see the people, traffic and all the crazy stuff that goes on.