'Rails to Victory' in South Elgin marks 70th anniversary of D-Day

Remember the veterans of America's Greatest Generation as the nation marks the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion with the Fox River Trolley Museum's "Rails to Victory" weekend Saturday and Sunday, June 7-8.

The museum, at 365 S. La Fox St., South Elgin, will transport you back in time to 1944 and a very different wartime world.

Experience a World War II military encampment, view period mock battles on the banks of the Fox River, ride special trains that take you "behind the lines" and re-enact the suspenseful and dramatic cat-and-mouse game between the French Resistance and occupying Nazi troops. There's also a U.S. Home Front baseball game featuring the Rockford Peaches, made famous in the 1992 film "A League of Their Own."

Access to the battles, the baseball game and the encampments is free and open to the public. The "Rails to Victory" Occupied France Trolley Tour rides are $16.50 apiece for all ages, with advance purchase available online at foxtrolley.org or at the museum's Castlemuir ticket office, on Route 31 in South Elgin. Groups of up to 45 can be accommodated on one train.

Special trains will operate at 10:15, 10:45 and 11:15 a.m., and at 2:15, 2:45, 3:15, 6:15, 6:45 and 7:15 p.m. On some trips, the museum's 91-year-old Fox River Line car #304 is expected to operate. Special events tickets are a must; passes and tickets for other museum operations will not be honored.

The not-for-profit Fox River Trolley Museum is dedicated to preserving the history of Chicago's once colorful electric railway industry, operating some equipment that is 112 years old Sundays through November, Saturdays in July and August and on major holidays. For more information, or to charter a train, call (847) 697-4676.