Warm weather does good by South Elgin trolley rides

The unseasonably warm weekend weather was a boon for the Fox River Trolley Museum's pumpkin trolley.

On Sunday, kids and their families clamored aboard one of two trolleys in South Elgin for a trip back to yesteryear that involved picking out pumpkins from a makeshift patch at Coleman Yard.

The end of the four-mile line was at the Jon J. Duerr Forest Preserve.

The picturesque route was all dressed up for Halloween, with scarecrows, coffins, skeletons and pumpkins.

Attendance numbers weren't available, but on Saturday, the museum rang up more than $1,400 in sales along the scenic route between Route 31 and the forest preserve, said Bob Bresse-Rodenkirk, the event's coordinator and a 15-year museum volunteer.

The proceeds for the event, which continues Saturday and Sunday, will support the Fox River Trolley Museum.

"This weekend is unbelievable for October," Bresse-Rodenkirk said. "When we see cars that are full, we're very happy."

People boarded one of two trains Sunday - a 1926 Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee railroad car that can go up to 85 mph (but doesn't) or a 1906 Chicago Aurora Elgin car.

For the last four years, the pumpkin trolley has become an annual tradition for Tim Cahill of Elgin. On Sunday, Cahill brought along his granddaughters Emily Travis, 8, and Hanna Travis, 7, of Hampshire.

The trolley ride was as a precursor to the family's Halloween activities that will include other trolley rides and the girls trick-or-treating in their witch costumes, Cahill said.

The little girls loved the ride and history lesson so much that their grandfather bought another set of tickets so they could go again.

Emily Travis said she appreciated the impromptu history lesson.

"I like how they tell us how it was built," she said.