Take a ride into the past as Fox River Trolley Museum begins 52nd season Mother's Day
It's time to pack a picnic lunch, enjoy the great outdoors - and take a ride into the past at the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin.
The museum begins its 2017 operating season on Mother's Day, May 14. Moms, stepmoms, grandmothers and even great-grandmothers ride free and get a free treat with a paid $2 child's fare, on opening day only.
It's the 52nd operating season for the museum. Today, the Fox River Trolley Museum has history of its own to celebrate, along with the colorful history of Chicago's elevated, city and suburban streetcar lines and the interurbans which crisscrossed the countryside. And you can recapture the feel of that era with a trip to the museum at 365 S. LaFox St. (Route 31).
The Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Co.'s line once connected Carpentersville with Yorkville. Today, roughly two miles of track remain. Not only does the ride recreate the trip into the past, the Fox River Trolley Museum has one of the line's original interurban cars. AE&FRE 304 is expected to operate for several of the special events on this year's calendar, as efforts continue to return it to pristine condition and repaint it to appear as it did in the early 1930s.
Regular fares are $5, $3 for seniors, 65 or older, and $2 for children, ages 3-11. Children under 3 ride free.
Mother's Day is only the first of nearly 20 scheduled special event days at the museum. Others include:
• Rails to Victory, June 10. Remember the veterans of America's Greatest Generation as the nation marks the 72nd anniversary of victory in Europe. On Saturday, experience a World War II military encampment, view period battles on the banks of the Fox, ride special trains that take you "behind the lines" and re-enact the cat-and-mouse game between the French Resistance and occupying Nazi troops. There's also a U.S. Home Front baseball tame featuring the Rockford Peaches, made famous in the 1992 film "A League of Their Own." AE&FRE 304 is expected to operate. Special fares tickets may be purchased in advance at www.foxtrolley.org.
• Father's Day, June 18. Dad, grandpa, stepdad, and even great-grandpa ride free with a paid child's fare and get a free treat; others pay regular rates.
• Red, White and Blue Value Day, July 4. It's the museum's birthday as well as America's, and that calls for a special celebration at an unbeatable price of $2 for all riders, all day, this one day only. Enjoy the South Elgin Independence Day parade and pack a holiday picnic lunch, which you can eat at tables on the museum's grounds or at the picnic grove in the Jon J. Duerr Forest Preserve, the line's southern terminus.
• TrolleyFest, Aug. 19-20: Two great celebrations and one great time as the museum's annual celebration runs simultaneously with the village of South Elgin's Riverfest Express food, fun, music and carnival rides. AE&FRE 304 is among the cars expected to operate. Regular fares apply. Tickets for trolley rides are not honored on carnival rides.
• Caboose Days, Sept. 17 and 24. Freight trains once traversed portions of Chicago's 'L' system, and the Fox River Line has the only operating former CTA freight locomotive. Take a ride with the conductor in the big red Illinois Central caboose or up front with the motorman on the museum's demonstration freight train.
• The Pumpkin Trolley, Oct. 14-15 and 21-22. The corn is in the shock and the pumpkins are ready for you to harvest in the museum's very own Pumpkin Patch. Regular fares apply, but pumpkins are $2 apiece. AE&FRE 304 is expected to operate. All children get a small treat.
• The Polar Express, Nov. 19, 25 and 26 and Dec. 2-3, 9-10 and 16-17: The beloved book comes to life. Board at Blackhawk platform in the Jon Duerr Forest Preserve for the ride to the North Pole; children get the First Gift of Christmas, visit with Santa, sing carols and hear the Chris Van Allsberg classic read cover to cover. And who knows what the conductor will punch into your ticket? Tickets are $33 apiece and go on sale June 1; last year's tickets sold out in a matter of days!
The museum has a storied history. In 1961, a small group of rail historians and enthusiasts banded together with the intent of preserving a piece of the Fox Valley's history. After looking at a couple of potential sites, they settled on a still-operating railroad, a remnant in South Elgin of the old Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric.
The museum's founders worked hard. Railroad owner Robert DeYoung could not maintain the line by himself, so the arrival of the enthusiasts' group, then known as the Railway Equipment Leasing & Investment Co. (RELIC) was immediately welcomed. The RELIC volunteers maintained the railroad in exchange for the right to operate historic Chicago-area electric railway equipment on weekends.
On July 4, 1966, the volunteers set up a table under a shade tree and offered rides for 50 cents. The Fox River Trolley Museum was born.
It already had a great story to tell - one of an era when automobiles were a rich man's play toy, when there were no Interstate highways, when paralleling roads were little more than muddy ruts and how political intrigue stalled the completion of the first direct rail link between Elgin and Aurora.
The "electric highways" provided by the electrically-powered rail lines, known as interurbans, were not handicapped by giant mud puddles and frequent blown-out tires.
The Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric's predecessor line became the Fox River Division of a true "steel highway" into Chicago with frequent service day and night - the line best known as the Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railroad, which would operate mile-a-minute service from 1902 until 1957.
The Fox River Trolley Museum is dedicated to recreating the colorful trolley era in the Chicago area, one of the major centers for electric rail transport in the early 20th Century. The museum, a 501(c)(3) Illinois nonprofit, is staffed entirely by volunteers who attempt to evoke memories and make each trip memorable. Hours are 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 29; Saturdays, July 1 to Sept. 2 and Oct. 14 and 21, and major holidays. For more information, or to charter a train, call (847) 697-4676.