‘Small but mighty’: Volunteers reenergizing Fox River Trolley Museum

On the west bank of the Fox River in South Elgin, the Fox River Trolley Museum has been preserving the history of local railroad service since 1961.

But it has been more than 40 years since it built its service building, a car barn that can hold only eight of the 30 or so trolleys, railroad cars, CTA cars and other items on the grounds at 365 S. La Fox St. (Route 31).

Now that’s changing as a reenergized volunteer corps is enlarging the barn and making other improvements to the site.

“The whole idea is to get some of these trains into the barn to protect them,” said Jeff Bennett, who oversees car restoration work. Much of the restoration work volunteers do is done in the barn.

Some of the cars are especially vulnerable to the effects of sun, wind, rain and snow, Bennett said, pointing to a canvas roof cover on a wooden car awaiting restoration.

It is a $300,000-plus project. Volunteers did a lot of the prep work, including regrading much of the five-acre property. Professional contractors are putting up the building’s shell.

Volunteers will finish the interior and re-lay railroad tracks into the barn.

A donor has agreed to contribute up to $53,000 in matching funds to finish the job. You can make a tax-deductible donation via a GoFundMe.com campaign, which has received more than $18,000 since it was created on Jan. 1. Donations are also accepted on the museum’s website, and by mail.

The extension is adding 2,688 square feet.

“This place runs in my blood,” said Bennett, who first visited the museum as a child in the 1980s when he was growing up in Elgin.

He said the organization has about 200 members. There are 20 people working on car restoration, and another two dozen working on operational tasks, such as running events.

Bennet said that one of the recent car restorations has taken roughly 13,000 hours of labor.

“It’s that camaraderie and passion for this place that enthralls me,” he said.

The museum has had some difficulties in the last decade. In 2018, two boys, ages 11 and 13, broke into the car barn and vandalized cars, causing about $150,000 in damage.

In 2024, the museum struggled through the closure of La Fox (Route 31) from the north for much of its season. The road was torn up while a culvert under it was replaced.

The museum did not have any of its special events, such as the Polar Express or Oktoberfest, that year, which meant revenue decreased, Bennett said.

But those events are back this year. Tickets went on sale Saturday for the Bunny Burrow Express, which will take place on three Saturdays in April.

Two longtime leaders stepped down from the board of directors in 2024 after 40 years.

But the new leaders “are very aggressive and ambitious,” Bennett said, about growing the museum. For example, there are hopes of building a visitor center, he said.

Meanwhile, the car barn expansion “is a huge jump in the right direction for us,” Bennett said.

“We’re small,” he said, “but mighty.”