A new spin on ‘rails to trails’: Community effort brings century-old CA&E rail car to Illinois Prairie Path

It pays to ask.

So concluded Ralph DiFebo, board member of the Illinois Prairie Path nonprofit Corporation and driving force in securing historical artifacts for path visitors to admire. Later this year, bikers, hikers and other users from Cook, DuPage and Kane counties will have another reason to explore the eastern end of the 62-mile path.

That reason? A 50-ton, 1914 wooden-sided train car from the Chicago Aurora & Elgin’s interurban rail line, which the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois, has donated.

“Most people who use the Illinois Prairie Path don’t have a clue that the path originated as a rail line,” said DiFebo, a Forest Park resident and model railroader since his youth. Soon they can glimpse railroad history when Car 321 is transported to a new 60-foot track at Villa Park’s Ardmore Station, itself vintage 1908.

Members of the Fox River Trolley Museum had attended IPPc’s January 2025 board meeting inquiring about additional signage since the trail runs close to the South Elgin museum. An offhand question to museum member Eric Zabelny is what put the CA&E railcar project on track.

“My model train collecting got me started looking for a train car for the path,” said DiFebo. So he asked Zabelny, jokingly, “Did the trolley museum happen to have any spare CA&E railcars lying around?” Zabelny said no, but he knew who did.

The Illinois Railway Museum had purchased Car 321 from the CA&E in the early 1960s and was willing to donate it. Insurance restrictions prevented the IPPc from taking possession, so DiFebo contacted the Villa Park Historical Society, which broached the idea with the village. Per DiFebo, Village President Kevin Patrick was enthusiastic about the project, so village and IRM attorneys worked out a memorandum of understanding.

The village budgeted $100,000, with the IPPc organization offering $25,000 and Christopher Burke Engineering $10,000. With an anonymous donation, the Fox River Trolley Museum is coordinating the car’s relocation from the Union museum to its Villa Park location, plus supplying track for its siting alongside Ardmore Station.

A community effort

In addition, several trade unions were recruited to help. Iron worker union members will erect a metal canopy for the train car using fabricated parts purchased by the village. Carpenters will make repairs inside and outside the car. Members of the painter’s union will volunteer their services. The trolley museum will replace the roof with materials used in its original construction.

With its start in 1963, the IPP stakes its claim as the oldest rail-trail conversion in the U.S., when a citizen-led movement organized to turn the abandoned Chicago Aurora & Elgin interurban rail line into a multiuse trail. The current project involving individuals, nonprofit groups, volunteers and Villa Park echoes that original community effort.

DiFebo has served as an Illinois Prairie Path board director since 2023 and has advocated for safety improvements on its east end. “He has been passionate in his work for the path,” said Ken McClurg, board vice president.

Besides the railcar project, DiFebo also worked with the village of Bellwood to reconfigure a safer crossing for path users at 25th Avenue. Instead of the path T-boning at 25th Avenue then abruptly resuming on the opposite side, an asphalt path curving 80 feet to the south replaced sidewalk on both sides.

Completed late last year, the path extension leads users to the signaled intersection at Madison/Maywood, where a painted crosswalk and pedestrian-activated light facilitate a safe crossing. Landscaping is expected to be installed later this spring.

Updated trail logos

Users also will see new signage along the DuPage County trails. Trail Path coordinator Melisa Ribikawskis noted the county replaced more than 1,000 signs with updated logos and branding in 2025. This included signs for way-finding, trail access, mile markers and road-trail crossings.

Based on the DuPage County Trails Plan adopted in February 2024, new trail logos are now round but retain the original colors — green for the Illinois Prairie Path and orange for the Great Western Trail. The Southern DuPage County Regional Trail logo is blue.

DuPage County also posted new trail etiquette signs recommending typical trail protocol reminders: trail speed, passing on the left, calling out when overtaking, stepping off-trail when stopped, etc.

Ribikawskis expects the final DuPage County Active Transportation Plan will be issued this summer summarizing the existing conditions for active transportation throughout the county, as well as input collected from public engagement events and surveys completed in 2025.

April 25 cleanups

You can check out the new signage while helping out with the annual trail cleanups on Saturday, April 25. Both the Illinois Prairie Path and the Great Western Trail events are rain-or-shine, and both include assigned trail sections, section coordinators and cooperating municipalities.

Prairie Path volunteers will clean segments of the 62-mile trail network in cooperation with DuPage County and local communities to celebrate Earth Day and Trails Day. Volunteers should wear long pants, work gloves and sturdy shoes, and are encouraged to bring grabbers and/or trash sticks. Site coordinators will provide trash bags.

Volunteers can register online at ipp.org/cleanup and select the trail segment to work on. Questions can be directed to Ken McClurg (info@ipp.org) or Dennis Terdy (dennis.terdy@gmail.com). To register for the Great Western Trail cleanup, contact Don Kirchenberg at frndsgrtwstntrl@aol.com.

• Join the ride. Contact Ralph Banasiak at alongfortheridemail@gmail.com.