ISABELLA STOP (southbound stop only)

A CRT photo from the collection of George Campbell. Bottom corner of photo says- "C.R.T. no. 10 Isabella Station EV Div.   View N.E.  6-7-28.

Mr Campbell also states he believes this station never had a northbound stop. He also remembers a semaphore passengers would turn when they wanted  to board a train. If the motorman saw the semaphore arm he would stop at the station; otherwise he wouldn't stop.

And from Graham Garfield and his CTA site (http://www.nsn.org/graham/index.html)-

Calvary was an unusual station in many respects and had the distinction of being one of the "L"'s only flag stops! (The only other was Isabella, southbound .) Inside the station, riders were given the following instructions on three painted signs:

TO STOP TRAIN

PULL AND HOLD SIGNAL ON PLATFORM UNTIL MOTORMAN

ANSWERS BY BLAST OF WHISTLE

Waiting passengers altered the motorman of an approaching train by pulling on a rope connected to a semaphore. Riders on trains who wished to alight simply told the crewman in their car. Calvary had some of the lowest ridership on the system, amounting to only 50,000 in its early years. Large-scale development of apartment buildings in south Evanston in the 1920s brought new riders, doubling usage to 100,000 boardings per year. (By the same token, the other flag stop, Isabella, went from a mere 14,000 boardings to 108,955 in the same time span.)

Thanks for the info Graham!


  Click on the Electroliner Bear to go back to the STATIONS page