On Monday, September 14, 2015 at 7:42:08 AM UTC-4, Peter T. Daniels wrote:   
      
   > The Chicago "L"s originally had stations two blocks (1/4 mile) apart,   
   > because they were competing with streetcars -- only a very few of those   
   > very short gaps remain, though I don't know when the 4-block distance   
   > became the new normal.   
   >   
   > That may have been the case on the Flushing line, but it wasn't for the   
   > Manhattan subways, which _replaced_ the streetcars (see Doug Most, *The   
   > Race Underground* -- he hates els, though, and gives no information at   
   > all about their introduction).   
      
   The book, Subway Style, has various maps in it.  The old maps show both subway   
   and elevated lines.  The old el lines seemed to have closer station spacing   
   than the newer subway lines.   
      
   I understand that the old el lines weren't that fast, that is, a Lex espress   
   train would beat a Third Ave express train.  That's apparently why that it   
   took the subways--rather than the older el lines--to truly expand the city   
   into the outer areas.   
      
   I wonder if Third Avenue would've developed to the extent that it did if the   
   el remained on it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)