DON'T SLEEP IN THE SUBWAY.

Some time ago, Going Underground reported on a record-setting effort by a visitor to Chicago who rode the entire Chicago L in nine hours, 36 minutes, 33 seconds.  There's an online community, competing for bragging rights to covering all rail lines of a city's rapid transit system in the fastest possible time.  The London record is 16 hours, 29 minutes, 13 seconds, but that does not include the Docklands Light Railway and the Overground, as the Underground does not run owl cars, and a rider will not be able to include those parts of the network and complete all lines before curfew.

In New York City, the record is something less than 24 hours, and completing it in a record time requires careful planning so as to be able to take advantage of the owl cars that do operate.  Years ago, a contestant on "To Tell The Truth" claimed to have ridden the entire system on one fare.

That's not feasible in Chicago, because of the placement of paid-fare areas at Dempster Street on the Skokie service and at Linden in Wilmette.  There is, however, a new Chicago record.  Nine hours, eight minutes.  Set by Chicagoans.  It's possible that the Briton who recorded the 9:36:33 would have done the entire system in a faster time had he not been fooled by the bus-to-train transfer somewhere on one of the expressway median lines.  Local knowledge is useful.

In that same article comes the felicitous description of the Northwestern Elevated main line as a "miniature train highway."  Too bad there were no Electroliners or sailors' specials going by at great speeds on the outer tracks.