FWiW Wrote:
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>
> If you were at the Chicago and North & Western
> Terminal a tad later than '81; you might have
> caught my lemming like trips from/to Geneva (IL)
> on the West Line.
> The head house was razed/replaced in '84. The
> replacement is definitely NOT commuter friendly,
> despite a "food court". Believe the old Bush train
> shed/suburban concourse remain pretty much intact.
> See here ---> History for more.

Yes, I was at the Chicago & Northwestern Terminal (I have several books which refer to Chicago & Northwestern Station, but Terminal seems like the more logical name) several times after 1981. After my year in Milwaukee, I attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and made several trips to Chicago. One such trip was the 1983 weekend after Thanksgiving when I rode the return trip on a Santa Claus train excursion from Chicago to Janesville on an all C & NW-painted train including F-units.

During the following year, I was in Chicago once to see the old terminal being demolished. After that moved East to begin my career, but still continued to make trips to Chicago.

I'll defer to your opinion on the replacement not being commuter friendly. I don't know about the food court, but last year, during a trip to Chicago, I checked out the Metra Market on the street level below the tracks. I thought this place was awesome and offered a vastly superior experience to the Chicago Union Station food court.