Dark Chicago       The City    Landmarks & Lore    Landmarks    Commerce & Vice      Union Station

"Trains come in. Trains go out. Not all of ‘em are real. Not all of ‘em stay on the tracks."

Location: West Loop, just off Canal Street
Established: 1925 — built atop the remains of the original 1881 terminal, with foundations that go deeper than any map shows
Access: Public transport hub, always open — though certain platforms seem... less traveled
Connected Factions: CPD Arcane Division (Track 27 surveillance), Southside Sinners (couriers), White Page Society (Veil mapping initiative)

Description - Exterior

Massive limestone columns tower over Canal Street, holding up a temple of time and transit. The station’s facade is grand, grimy, and enduring—just like Chicago itself. Hundreds pass through each hour, but none stop to wonder why pigeons never perch on the rooftop clock.

Description - Interior

The Great Hall echoes with voices past and present. Travelers cross marble floors under a barrel-vaulted ceiling, unaware that every footstep overlays a hundred others from years gone. Hallways extend farther than they should. Track numbers flicker between digits no one called. The lower levels—especially near old Track 27—don’t feel like they’re part of the same world.

Public Face

A proud intercity rail hub: Amtrak trains, businessmen in fedoras, uniformed porters, and families rushing for the next departure. Clean, historic, and vital to the city’s beating heart.

What's Really Going On

The Veil clings to Union Station like steam off the rails. It’s not haunted—it’s inhabited. Time bends here. People disappear between announcements. Some passengers arrive at platforms that no longer exist. Track 27 was officially closed after a “fatal scheduling accident” in 1948. No one will say more. The Third Conductor still walks that track some nights, and he always punches tickets.

Notables

Porter Henry “Hush” Harper – Knows every hidden room and has a key for doors that aren’t on the blueprints
Detective Raul Vasquez (CPD Arcane Division) – Keeps unofficial surveillance on the back tunnels
Oona the Blind Singer – Performs weekly in the Great Hall. Locals say she can sing someone’s future, if you tip silver
The Third Conductor – A Veil entity. Uniformed. Eyeless. Still working the late shift

Rumors & Hooks:

• Track 13 always shows trains leaving—but never arriving. Some swear the clock runs backward when it’s occupied.
• A man boarded the 6:02 to Aurora in 1950. He stepped off last week, unchanged and confused.
• A sealed luggage locker has started ticking. No key fits it. No number is assigned to it.
• The station’s old floor plans show a “Sub-Level C” below the boiler room. CPD claims it never existed.
• A group of jazz musicians vanished on the way to Memphis in ’39. Their music still plays from a locked room on stormy nights.
• There’s a train only seen in reflections. It always runs late. It always has your name on the manifest.
• A nervous archivist begs the crew to find a lost Pullman manifest that shows a passenger who shouldn’t exist—yet.
• Someone’s using the station for ghost transport. The crew is hired to intercept the cargo and decide whether to send it back—or let it finish its journey.
• The Third Conductor makes eye contact with Sean. But he doesn’t have eyes.