The "L" Train at Wabash Ave. & Van Buren St. Postcard published by V. O. Hammon Publishing Co., Chicago. During the morning hours on June 6, 1892, just 12 people boarded the first elevated train to run in Chicago, departing from the 39 th Street station en route to the Congress Street stop. The first train, which left at 7 a.m., had four wooden cars that were pulled by a steam locomotive. The 14-minute trip cost a nickel and was twice as fast as riding a cable car. There were no brass band performances, ribbon cuttings or other celebrations for the new line, according to an article published on the following day in the Chicago Daily Tribune . However, more passengers started taking the train on the afternoon of its inaugural day, some probably out of curiosity. Other people watched the trains from below. “Servants, cooks and chambermaids left their work to watch from back porches the fast-flying trains as they went by,” the article states. Other people were