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Date: 2003-07 FOX RIVER TROLLEY MUSEUM SLASHES PRICES FOR ITS BIRTHDAY The Fox River Trolley Museum is celebrating two birthdays this July 4! Not only is it Independence Day, it is the 37th anniversary of the day the museum began public operations. To mark the occasion, all riders on all trips Independence Day at the museum will be charged just $1. This Red, White and Blue Dollar Day, riders will make a four-mile round trip on its scenic line, bordering the Fox River and running through the Blackhawk Forest Preserve, in South Elgin and St. Charles Township, for just a fraction of its everyday low fares. The core of the museum’s operations is over historic trackage of the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric line. Museum operations began July 4, 1966, and co-existed with the freight service for six years, said Bruce Moffat, museum member and rail historian. Railroad owner Robert DeYoung operated freight service on weekdays, and the museum operated its trains on weekends, Moffat said. The museum paid its “rent” in the form of trackwork and other maintenance on the railroad. The railroad is one of the oldest continuously-operating interurban railway lines in the United States. It began operation between Elgin and Geneva on June 30, 1896. The railroad linked Elgin and Aurora with frequent, inexpensive electric railway service from 1901 until 1935. From 1901 until 1924, it ran between Carpentersville and Yorkville, a distance of more than 40 miles. From 1935 until its purchase by the museum in 1972, the railroad concentrated on freight service linking the Illinois Central Railroad with the Elgin State Hospital and other industries in the South Elgin area. Although at one time, freight customers included a meat packing plant, a tannery, a gravel pit and the Village of South Elgin, freight service in later years consisted almost exclusively of coal for use at the State Hospital’s power plant, Moffat said. In 1972, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the plant to burn natural gas instead of coal because of pollution problems, coal shipments ceased and DeYoung sold the railroad to the museum. In 1978, the museum abandoned the trackage between today’s Castlemuir depot and the State Hospital and removed the rails. The museum’s line was once part of a larger network of electrically-operated railroads that operated throughout the western suburbs. The museum rosters more than 25 pieces of historic railroad, streetcar and interurban electric railway equipment, much of it from the Chicago metropolitan area. Other upcoming special events include: Trolleyfest, Aug. 16-17, and South Elgin’s Riverfest Express, Aug. 14-17. Two great celebrations, and one great time! Riverfest provides food, music and fun as the museum expands its hours, operating Aug. 16 and 17 only from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Fall Caboose Train Rides, Oct. 5 and 12. As the colors begin to change along the scenic Fox River and in Blackhawk Forest Preserve, there’s no better place to watch than the cupola of the museum’s Illinois Central R.R. caboose! The Pumpkin Trolley, Oct. 18, 19, 25 and 26. Don’t get your pumpkin till you take a ride to the Pumpkin Patch aboard a Fox River Line trolley. Pumpkin tickets are $1 extra apiece. Fares at other times are $3.50 for adults and $2 for both senior citizens and children ages 3-11. Children under 3 ride free. The Fox River Trolley Museum is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization located at 361 S. LaFox St., on Illinois 31, in the village of South Elgin, Ill. It can be reached by taking either Interstate 88, Interstate 90 or U.S. 20 to the Fox River Valley and exiting at Illinois 31. Riders can board at the museum’s Castlemuir depot, on Route 31 in South Elgin, three blocks south of the State Street stoplight, or at the picnic grove of the Blackhawk Forest Preserve, just off of Route 31 in St. Charles Township. For information, or to charter a train, call (847) 697-4676. 
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