New/Old LaSalle

I was going through random pictures on RR Picture Archives and found an interesting shot of LaSalle under construction. I really don't know much about how the track alignment was prior to the current set up... does anyone have any idea how things used to look?

For those who may not know, Metra's current LaSalle St. terminal was built in 1981, and is in its third incarnation. It replaced the station built one block to the north in 1903, which itself was a replacement for the original station built at grade level in 1852, but was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Anyway, the 1903 structure was built by LS&MS (Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, which eventually became part of the NYC system). The Rock Island was actually one of several tenant railroads here, and didn't own the station outright until 1971, when the long-distance trains of the other railroads were either discontinued, or re-routed to Union Station for the start of Amtrak.

At its peak, the second LaSalle St. terminal (1903-1981) had sixteen gates, and a four track ROW from downtown to Englewood, then three tracks between there and Gresham. Not only was the new terminal opened one block south, but only the two original east mains were kept south of the 16th St. crossing with the St. Charles Air line & CNIC (the latter being ex-IC; sometimes referred to as IC's Iowa division). I've seen pictures online of old commuter and long distance equipment on the Rock that were taken at the Roosevelt Rd. overpass; IIRC, some of the photos displayed portions of the ROW just south of the terminal. If I get a chance, I'll post them here, as long as they aren't copyrighted.

But today, with the mainline relocation project complete, and a new east main now in service between 16th and Englewood, most of the Rock Island's former trackage between Chicago and Gresham has either been torn up, or is out of service. While much of the former Rock Island's presence is still present today in the suburbs, it has all but vanished in the city...

I believe the old LaSalle had a ladder track, and in the 1970's, the RI was broke and couldn't afford to maintain it. Scoots were shoved up the ladder track and into the station, and many derailed when shoved thru the ladder track. At that point, the throat of the station was essentially blocked and inoperative until the derailment cleared.