Issue 01-2, Summer 2001

Team Work is the Issue

About this issue . . . the theme is TEAM WORK . The first five months of this season have produced a remarkable amount of team work on the part of Museum volunteers. Most of the articles in this issue of "Fox River Lines" are devoted to that subject . . . within the Museum membership and in the community within which the museum resides. Read on . . . and ENJOY! -Ed.

Team One (WON)!

CNS&M 715 gets an end to end cleaning after a long winter's rest.

Count `em just count `em . . . over 33 loyal, hard working and dependable museum volunteers showed up on a beautiful Saturday, April 28th to ready the museum's equipment for this season, clean cars, put in a switch, wash car windows, lubricate journals and air compressors and stock the gift shop. Several members recently attended a railway preservation symposium. The theme was "There is no I in TEAM!" That was certainly true of the effort to ready the museum for the season.

Arranged and organized by Laura Taylor to replace the Mid-winter Member's Meeting, it provided a venue for member participation in a very important part of the Museum's operation this year. Perhaps more importantly it provided an excellent model to produce significant achievements through our efforts. The weather, clear, cool and with a good wind made even the heaviest work bearable! Everyone pitched in, made adjustments to personal preferences and desires all culminating in a museum ready to face the 2001 season!

The frosting on the cake was an excellent buffet lunch under the oak trees enjoyed by all. The evening program held at the South Elgin Village Hall included a splendid slide presentation by Bob Walesa on the Chicago, Harvard and Geneva Lake. Stan Nettis followed this with a showing of a Monon Route 16mm sound color film industrial development "puff piece." This included many great trackside shots of Monon time freights and passenger trains including the Thoroughbred.

Readying CTA 4451 and CTA 43 included a lot of window washing as well as inside cleaning.

Let's hear a big round of applause for:

Don Anderson
Al Barker
Bob Blaus
F. Willard Bruning
Janet Gonyo
Jim Gonyo
Joe Hazinski
Bob Hillman
Paul Kaufman
Ed Kedzie
Dan Kelley
Ken Kitzing

Ed Konecki
Brian Kruser
Jack Lange
Mary Lange
Fred Lonnes
Don MacBean
Don MacCorqudale
Bill Minerly
Chris Minerly
Jim Minerly
Hiro Miyagawa

Andy Morris
Stan Nettis
Barb Pettijohn
Patrick Storm
John Swanson
Jan Tarbet
Jimmy Tarbet
Laura Taylor
Ralph Taylor
Marty Touhy
Ken Ward

-Don MacBean

Putting the "trolley shoe" on the "trolley pole" of CNS&M 715.

CNS&M 715 getting new inserts in the trolley shoes as the car is readied for the season on the member's work day.

A beautiful cake and assorted goodies were among the rewards for a hard day's work at the Museum's Spring Member's Day gathering.

Our younger volunteers line up for lunch after a hard mornings work.

Spirit of Partnership

The members and friends of the Fox River Trolley Museum volunteer their time and funds to provide a memorable and educational experience for our visitors. Many of us work long and hard on such activities as maintaining the cars, making train crew assignments, keeping the grounds up, running the gift shop and taking care of the hundreds of other tasks needed to run the museum. Sometimes, though, despite the hard work, we encounter critical comments from our visitors. People will ask about the lack of visitor facilities or the shortness of the ride. They will also help with suggestions to improve things that start out, "You should.". Now, like many people, I often feel a bit taken a back when I run into comments like these, but instead of being frustrated, I instead change it around in my mind as an opportunity to invite a critical visitor to help the museum. How, ask for their help.

When you ask for help, you are changing the relationship we have with our visitor. You turn the conversation from one of critical concern to acting as partners. The word partner is important here. Why is it important? Partners are equal participants in an activity of common interest, in our case, explaining history. Let us look at what this means concerning the Fox River Trolley Museum.

Our museum exists to provide a service to the community. We are the caretakers of a significant part of the historical story about who we are and how we came to live the way we do. Since 1959, the Fox River Trolley Museum's members and friends have volunteered to build a museum to tell this story. We tell the story with artifacts, antique railroad cars and a ride on a 105-year-old railroad. We tell this story to thousands of people every year-our visitors. Our visitors are our partners in our activity. Without them listening to us and riding with us, there would be no story, no museum, no preserved artifacts, no railroad cars and no railroad. But, our visitors do not know that they are our partners. And, this is where we must begin to educate them.

The best place to start with educating our visitors that they are our partners is when they ride with us. Let our visitors know that they are partners in the museum. Tell our visitors that this museum is their museum and that they can help in improving it for tomorrow's visitor. Tell them that they can help. When our visitors know that they can help and that they are our partners, it will change the relationship that they have with us. Our relationship changes from passive to active, from visitor to partner. So, what is the power of this partnership relationship? When you treat visitors as partners, visitor comments, even of our critical visitors, change to suggestions for positive action. And, positive action is what will build our museum for future generations to come.

Ed Konecki

FRTM partners, John, Shari, Alyse and Cosette Teschke settling in for a pleasant ride along the "Fox" in CNS&M 715.

Museum Opens 2001 Season
with the Biggest Mother's Day!

Sunday, May 13, 2001 (Special to "Fox River Lines") Under azure blue skies, a gentle wind, low humidity, a kindly sun - just perfect weather - the Museum celebrated mothers and grandmothers.
All of the work of 30 some volunteers (see Team 2001 story) on Saturday, April 28 paid off as we achieved the best Mother's Day in our history.

The Teschke family, John, Shari, Alyse and Cosette from West Chicago boarding CTA 4451 on its first trip of the season.

Alex and Tony from Oak Park and Chicago buying tickets. They were our first visitors on opening day.

Mothers, grandmothers, families came from far and wide - from Moscow (not Idaho but Russia), Chicago, West Chicago, St. Charles, Geneva, Naperville, Bartlett, Glen Ellyn, South Elgin, Elgin, Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa and on and on. One hundred and sixty-nine mothers or grandmothers visited the museum breaking all previous records. CTA 4451 and CNS&M 715 were loaded to capacity on most runs. Trains ran in two sections for many trips handling 553 people or a 14.26% increase over last year. All of this was done from track two. Castlemuir main station and the mainline to switch 54 was out of service for switch installation for the maintenance of way building. Trainmaster Jim Gonyo and his crews are to be commended for a very smooth and efficient operation. The Museum Gift Shop broke all sales records according to Laura Taylor, Museum Gift Shop Manager.

CNS&M 715 with conductor Kitzing getting ready to help the Teschke family and Tony and Alex board.

The Museum grounds were manicured and clipped thanks to the efforts of Chuck Galitz, Fred Lonnes and Andy Roth. Chief Engineer and Signal Department head, Ralph Taylor had the pedestrian crossing signals performing perfectly.

A BIG THANK YOU to all who made Mother's Day 2001 a huge success!

Laura Taylor - Don MacBean

2001 and the Museum Store

2001 - A Space Odyssey - well not exactly - yet, but Laura Taylor has been on an Odyssey most of this past winter planning and ordering and buying for a new and better Museum Store for 2001. The family, children, the railfan, "industrial locomotive fan" and the occasional rider however described will be able to select from a wide range of books, gifts and educational items.
"My goal for the gift shop is to make it . . . attractive for all of our visitors no matter what" Laura said. "I want it to be more like a `gift shop'."

Railfans have many tastes and desires from the artistic "Moonlight in Duneland" featuring a collection of posters created in the 1920's and 1930's for the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend Railroad to the railroad historian interested in the Union Pacific and the building of the transcontinental railroad, to the trolley fan and Cash, Tokens and Transfers. Favorites such as Hopkins Peffer's Aurora - Elgin Area, Street Cars and Interurbans" are available again this year.

New items (note the fox on the right) being placed for public display in the reorganized "Gift Shop."

Families and children will be able to select from assorted Fox River Line T shirts, mini trains, whistles, coffee mugs, Thomas The Tank Engine® videos, coloring books and a brand new item . . . a Fox River Trolley Museum FOX in railroad attire. And the list goes on and on. For those that forgot to bring their camera a "one time camera from KODAK®" is also available. "Sounds like it's going to be an exciting season to me," said Jan Tarbet, the Assistant Store Manager and a great helper to Laura.

So come one come all with cash or plastic and visit the Museum's Gift Shop.

Laura Taylor

Lots of "elbow grease" went into preparing the "Gift Shop" for the Mother's Day opening.

Riverfest Express Committee
Wins Chandler Award

The DuKane Valley Council on May 16, 2001 awarded the prestigious Chandler Award for Community Cooperation to South Elgin's RIVERFEST EXPRESS COMMITTEE. The award reads as follows:-

The Riverfest Express - 2000 Annual Festival is designed to:

Unite its citizens east and west of the Fox River in a community celebration

Provide community services of benefit to all residents of the village or to raise funds to benefit a needy South Elgin resident or residents

Increase the exposure of the local business community

Stage an effective community awareness campaign to promote the historical Fox River Trolley Museum located within its borders.

This award recognizes jurisdictions that have exhibited exceptional cooperation on projects designed to make significant contributions to the community. The importance of communities planning and working together on issues was a founding ideal of the Council in 1969, and those ideals continue to be nurtured today through this award.

The award is named after the first DuKane Valley Council Chairman, Marvin Chandler, whose foresight was responsible for the establishment of the Council. Mr. Chandler served as Chairman and President of Northern Illinois Gas Co. from 1954 to 1975. President Mark Ruby, Village President of North Aurora, and president of the council presented the award to Joyce Ware, Co-Chair of Riverfest-Express Committee and Leo Snyder at the Mill Creek Golf Club in St. Charles.

The plaque and presentation will be made to the South Elgin Village Board at its July 16, 2001 meeting.

Joyce Ware - Don MacBean

Track Department News

In Search of Track Material

The fun of historic preservation is scrounging for the parts and pieces that we need to keep the Museum's artifacts in tip-top shape. Of course, our largest artifact is the 1.3 mile long railroad that extends from Castlemuir to Coleman Grove, and what an artifact it is. The track that we operate on today is composed of rails rolled and set down in 1924. Our rails weigh 70lbs to the yard and are, for the most part, 33 feet long (2310 lbs, but who's counting). Originally, the rails rested directly on the wood ties, but in the 1960's tie plates-a piece of steel between the rail and the tie-were installed to extend the life of newly inserted ties. An interesting rule of thumb is that if the tie has a tie plate, Museum volunteers have changed the tie. The dimension of railroad rail-height and width-changes with the weight of the rail.

Placing the "frog" for the MOW switch. A real heavyweight job.

What this means is that tie plates need to be sized for the weight of the rail that is used. Since the Museum uses 70lb to the yard rail, we need 70lb tie plates. Now comes the fun part. Seventy-pound rail is no longer a common size in the United States. That means that finding tie plates and other track material to match is a true challenge.

Anyway, the Museum had just about run out of tie plates so it was time to scrounge for more. Fred Lonnes was in contact with a track material brokerage firm, Quality Railway Services and Supply. The representative from Quality, Winnie Bartucci, had found 70 lb tie plates with only one hitch-they were in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Museum quickly negotiated to buy 1000 plates-enough for 500 ties. The next step was to get them. I contacted the broker and arranged to meet the owner of the plates at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 22, 2001. Fred volunteered the use of two of his trucks and one trailer to pick up the plates. Fred drove one and I drove the other. To get to Cedar Rapids by 10:00 a.m., we had to have an "EARLY" start. We both arrived Cedar Rapids by 10:00 a.m. to meet representatives of the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway Company or CRANDIC. Fred and I met Craig Bortz and Randy Walker at a local McDonalds where Craig and Randy guided us to the track material site. Craig, Craig's daughter, Fred, Randy and I then spent a couple of hours picking up over 700 of the 1000 plates. All that would fit in the vehicles.

Installation of the 70 lb switch (from the CRANDIC) in the mainline for the Maintenance of Way (MOW) siding is going on in earnest.

While at the CRANDIC facility, Randy and Craig showed us around. The CRANDIC is a former electric interurban that operates today as a profitable freight railroad. Many of the CRANDIC's interurban features still exist though, including 70 lb track material. We saw three `new' switches for sale as well as a `bumping-post'. In addition, they had on hand a supply of 70 lb rail that we could use for future projects. The switches are what really caught our eyes. Most of the track material that we use is called `quality relay'. In other words, it is used. These switches, however, were brand new, never been in track. They had number 5, 7 and 9 (sounds like a dress store) switches in stock and for sale. The number 5 switch would be perfect for the lead into planned track 1-West at Castlemuir. Track 1-West will connect the mainline to the track inside the maintenance of way building. But, first things first, it was time to finish loading tie plates and head back to South Elgin. After a fun 6-hour drive, we got back to the Museum where Fred and I unloaded the plates with the assistance of members Barbara Pettijohn and Don MacBean.

Even with "modern" drilling equipment putting holes in the rails for joint bars is time consuming.

Fred made another round trip to Cedar Rapids in November to pick up the remaining tie plates. At that time, he negotiated a price of $1,500.00 for the number 5 switch that CRANDIC had in stock. Since buying a switch was not in the Museum's 2000 budget, I arranged for donations to cover the cost of buying it. So, what do you get when you buy a switch? You get a frog (the piece where 2 rails cross), the points (the pieces that guide the wheels to each switch route), guard rails, throw bars, braces, slide plates and heel blocks. It adds up to some very heavy iron.

Since winter hit early in December, it was not possible to pick up the switch then. We had to wait for March of this year when Fred Lonnes and Don MacBean picked up the material on a return from a Rail Preservation Symposium held in Fort Dodge, IA by the Boone and Scenic Valley (Iowa Railroad Historical Society) operating on former Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railway tracks. Fred and Don left on Friday the 30th and returned to South Elgin on Sunday, April 1st. No April Fools jokes please. Museum volunteers unloaded the switch material and placed it at the location where it will be installed. Construction and installation of the switch is scheduled to start the second weekend of April and to be completed by Mary 12th. Come out, see our progress and lend a hand.

Ed Konecki

April 2001Development Report

The ongoing activities of the Development Department have continued to concentrate on the Blackhawk Line Extension Project. As noted in earlier Reports a projected budget to fully complete the line has been developed, including infrastructure improvements to the existing tracks.

As earlier reported we were informed in mid July that State Senator Doris C. Karpiel had set aside additional money for the Blackhawk Extension Project. The final funding contract has been signed and returned and the check for an additional $100,000 has been received.

Track work on the extension continued with the installation of a trail grade crossing within the Forest Preserve. These crossings were installed by Swanson Contracting in Mid-April. The order for track bonds was received and installation will start soon.

Trail grade crossing on the mainline in Blackhawk Forest Preserve. Poles are awaiting trolley wire and feeder line installation.

Plans for the installation of the overhead trolley wire on the extension were received April 28. Review and marking of the plans to show work completed earlier, and thus not part of the next Contract, have been completed and the plans sent out for pricing. Plans for the feeder line from the substation to the extension have not been completed. Prices for work on the feeder line will be solicited as soon as design plans are finalized. Most of the materials for the trolley wire have been received. However, a few items remain back ordered and should arrive within a month. The economics of construction is such that the entire trolley wire and feeder line need to be done at the same time. Disruptions to the Museum's line and operation as well as contractor's manpower and equipment scheduling are significant factors in the overall accomplishment of this phase of the project.

With the Blackhawk Extension hopefully nearing completion, the activities of the Development Department expect to focus on the other long range goals of the Museum, a Carbarn and Education/Visitor's Center. Work has started on materials to raise funds to accomplish these goals. The success of future fund raising depends on timely completion of the current projects that have received outside funds .

Fred Lonnes

The Crandic - What Is It?

Ed Konecki, spoke well of the "CRANDIC" and their invaluable help
to the Museum. But what/who is the CRANDIC? Many of our younger "railfan" members have never ridden or experienced what a real "interurban" is. CRANDIC, as Ed Konecki suggested in his story "In Search of Track Material", stands for Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway. Once a very busy interurban handling students, farmers (and their wives) , salesman, school children, business men and shoppers between its namesake cities (and scheduled intermediate stops Swisher, Coralville, North Liberty and many other flag stops), it was VERY famous and well known among railfans for its use of Cincinnati & Lake Erie and Indiana Railroad "lightweights." They were purchased after those lines went out of business in the 1930's. In addition to handling many passengers on trains that at one time ran hourly, it was always a very prosperous freight hauler, which it remains today. In fact today it is one of the major players in the "Cedar Rapids Switching District."

CR&IC 116 AND 117 on Saturday, April 10, 1948 preparing to the leave the Iowa City station for Cedar Rapids. Note the flags (green) on 116. The Ex C&LE cars did not have drawbars so when traffic demanded trains were run in sections.

In "the good ole days" many long distance passengers began their transcontinental train trips by taking the CRANDIC to Cedar Rapids to catch C&NW/UP streamliners such as the "City Of Denver" or the Rock Island's "Zephyr-Rocket" or the Milwaukee Road's "Midwest Hiawatha" or to Iowa City to catch the Rock Island's "Rocky Mountain Rocket" or "DesMoines Rocket." The CRANDIC was a participating carrier in Western Passenger Association Tariffs and sold and honored interline passenger tickets. The cars were painted a bright (almost "Armour") yellow with brown and red striping very similar to UP's streamliner colors. The 27 mile ride on the light weights was fast even on the CRANDIC's line which was full of curves as it climbed into and out of the Iowa River and Cedar River valleys. This is probably why it earned the nick name "Vomit Comet" among University of Iowa students. Today in its all freight configuration, it has two lines between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and serves most of the major industries in Cedar Rapids.

Don MacBean

Fox River Lines Staff

Managing Editor—Don MacBean, 817 College Ave. #5, Wheaton, IL 60187
(630) 665-2581 E-mail DMacbRR@aol.com

Layout and Graphics— Jack Sowchin

Fox River Lines is the official publication of the Fox River Trolley Association, Inc., an Illinois not-for-profit corporation. It is published four times per calendar year for distribution to members and friends of the museum. Reproduction of Fox River Lines, either in part or in its entirety, is strictly prohibited without prior permission from the editorial staff or the FRTM board of directors. Copyright © 2001 Fox River Trolley Association, Inc.

Submissions: Submission of stories from members and others is necessary to publish Fox River Lines. Feature length articles are always welcome and considered. Please contact the staff before undergoing a project. Contributors submit materials with the understanding that no monetary compensation is provided.

Correspondence: Comments, suggestions, and corrections relating to Fox River Lines should be directed to Managing Editor Don MacBean at the address listed above. The editorial staff appreciates your feedback.