Quick trip to Denver to ride their system and take 6 back to Chicago

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On the home stretch into Chicago. We will arrive about 40 minutes late. Over all a great trip.

I spent 5½ hours making a circle trip on the RTD rail system -- made some stops and took in the new Southeast 2.3 mile extension -- around the time that you were arriving in Chicago. It was a quiet afternoon due to the weather forecasts and no major afternoon Sunday bread and circus events. Come back again (and testing is getting started on the N-Line, so there'll be more to see, including the longest rail bridge in Colorado).

With more time there's the option of riding CHI > RAT > DEN and seeing more of the Front Range and Raton Pass.
 
The platform check-in, for as many as 160-180 passengers, is a result of real estate redevelopment gone wild. The good news is that it is a compromise over the city's original dream of no tracks at all. At below freezing temperatures passengers sometimes are allowed to line up indoors. As a single passenger not expecting to see any scenery till the Missouri River, I usually take the end of the coach line by waiting indoors. For Train 5, there is a scenery incentive for getting a good spot in the coach line.
Willbridge, you made a great observation. Before Denver Union Station was redeveloped the check-in was done at a desk inside the station. The redevelopment of the station and the relocation of the seating area seems to have made inside check-in difficult. Your comment on real estate development is spot on. The amount of housing and retail space stuffed next to the Union Station tracks is amazing. What people pay for that housing is also amazing.
 
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