When Daniel Messinger, 11, got approval to attempt a Guinness World Record for fastest time to visit every Chicago “L” station, he spent months thinking about the fastest route to take and studying others who had attempted the challenge before him.
It is not something Messinger’s parents ever thought they would be doing, but it was one of his requests for his birthday in February.
“So, how do you say no to that?” Adam Messinger, Daniel’s father, said. “I will say the one thing he did not plan for was bathroom breaks. That was not in his itinerary.”
The 11-year-old, along with his parents, 10-year-old friend Tamar and her father Yekutiel Aloni, spent the snowy Sunday riding CTA bus and train lines in an attempt to visit all the Chicago “L” stations in under nine hours and 15 minutes. The group started bright and early, catching the first Purple Line train at 6:25 a.m. at Linden Station in Wilmette.
Daniel told the Tribune he had his heart set on completing a Guinness World Record ever since the pandemic. His earlier ideas, which included most paper mazes solved in one hour and how many pens he could put in his mom’s hair, were rejected.
And yet, while Daniel was technically aiming for the world record — taking photos of every train station he stopped at as evidence — he said he was also excited to have the opportunity to do a “speedrun.”
“It’s always so nice when the Kennedy has so much traffic, and then we’re in the Blue Line speeding down the highway median,” Daniel said.
For years, transit enthusiasts have attempted to visit every “L” station in the CTA system — known as the “L” challenge — and have both logged their times on blogs and applied to Guinness World Records to compete for the title.
The origins of the challenge in Chicago are unclear, but previous challengers have told the Tribune that renowned transit rider Adham Fisher made it exciting and gave it prominence. Fisher is popular for attempting various transit journeys, such as riding on 200 London bus routes in 24 hours. He has also attempted the Chicago “L” challenge before.
Challengers have previously said that in addition to bragging rights, part of the appeal is the opportunity to see different parts of the city.
For Daniel’s mom, that was certainly part of the draw.
“I think it’s a good idea, seeing different parts in different neighborhoods. You can live a very sheltered life in Deerfield,” she said.
For Daniel, the idea to do the challenge started from watching other people on YouTube attempt it. He is also a public transit enthusiast who is interested in going into city planning or engineering when he is older.
But like challengers before him, Daniel would soon discover that riding to all the Chicago “L” stations in a little over nine hours is no small feat. Delays have plagued previous challengers from achieving records, and Daniel was no different.
His first hiccup started early at the Howard Station when he had just missed the Yellow Line train and had to wait for about another 20 minutes, Daniel said. He also had to deal with a small delay on the Red Line due to a broken door and a long connection to the Green Line, among other delays throughout the day. Luckily, the long connection to the Green Line gave him plenty of time for a pit stop to drink hot chocolate on the wintry Chicago Sunday.
But while the hiccups may have put Daniel’s attempt at a world record in peril, it did not dampen his mood. If anything, the boy was just happy to be able to ride the trains and learn all the different stations, with artwork at the Green Line Garfield station and an arch at the Cermak-McCormick station catching his eye.
Marina Messinger admitted that she was a little bit nervous about how everything was going to go, but once she saw how much fun her son and his friend were having, those fears melted into the background.
“Even though we won’t achieve the world record, they’re just so excited to see Chicago and ride the trains,” she said. In the end, Daniel’s attempt took 10 hours and 52 minutes.
And they said they got to make some new friends along the way too, including a librarian for CTA’s engineering department.
When he’s not riding CTA lines, Daniel’s mom says, he is always coming up with new ideas and taking on all kinds of creative projects, such as his business Skokie Snow Shovelers, which he runs with a couple of friends.
When asked by his mom if he would do the challenge again, the answer was clear: “Oh definitely,” Daniel said.
