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Date: 2003-10-01 OCTOBER FAMILY FUN STARTS AT THE FOX RIVER TROLLEY MUSEUM Every weekend is special this October at the Fox River Trolley Museum! On Oct. 5 and 12, see the colors begin to change along the Fox River by taking a caboose train at the museum, on Route 31 in South Elgin. There are few better places to see the colors begin to change than the cupola of an old-fashioned caboose. The museum’s 1908-vintage Chicago Surface Lines electric locomotive will pull its Illinois Central R.R. (IC) caboose, offering visitors young and old the rare chance to ride aboard the locomotive, in the cupola, on the benches or in the conductor’s chair of Caboose 9648, built in 1957 at the Illinois Central’s Centralia, Ill., shops. The caboose retains its bunks, stove and some of the seats the IC built into it in Centralia, and has additional benches to accommodate railroad enthusiasts of all ages. Electric locomotive L-202 worked on Chicago’s streetcar lines and “L” for 70 years. During the first 50 years it transported streetcars, freight and work equipment over Chicago streets and around carbarns. After a 1958 rebuilding by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it shuttled freight cars for 20 years around the CTA’s Lower 63rd Street yard. The last two weekends of October, Oct. 18-19 and 25-26, the museum’s trolleys head for the Pumpkin Patch at Coleman Yard. Children and adults alike enjoy the Pumpkin Trolley ride, said Bob Rodenkirk, event coordinator. Sandy Andina will entertain children of all ages with Halloween-themed songs Oct. 18. Mad Scientist Bob Blaus will perform his ghoulish experiments to the delight of those waiting to ride to the Pumpkin Patch at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Oct. 19 and 26, at no extra charge. The museum will be open Saturday and Sunday both weekends, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Passengers can board at both ends of the line for all trips. Trains will leave the southerly terminal, at Blackhawk Forest Preserve, in St. Charles Township, from roughly 11:15 a.m. until 4:45 p.m., Rodenkirk said. Although regular fares of $3.50 for adults and $2 for seniors and children 3-11, there is a $1 per pumpkin charge to defray costs on Pumpkin Trolley weekends. The events are the last special events during the museum’s 2003 season, which concludes on Sunday, Nov. 2. The Forest Preserve trackage joins the museum’s historic line on the banks of the Fox River. The historic trackage was once part of a larger network of electrically-operated railroads that operated throughout the western suburbs. The line can trace its history to 1896, when the Carpentersville, Elgin and Aurora Railway laid tracks from Elgin to Geneva. The railroad prospered in its early years, and by 1901 extended from Carpentersville to Yorkville, a distance of 40 miles. Through a series of mergers, it became part of the Aurora Elgin and Chicago Railroad. Split in 1924 from the line that became the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, the line carried passengers until 1935 as the Aurora, Elgin and Fox River Electric Co., an arm of a utility that also provided power to Fox River Valley residents and businesses. The historic remnant owned today by the museum was retained after passenger service ended to provide freight service to several customers, most notably the Elgin State Hospital. The line was dieselized after World War II. The museum re-electrified the trackage in 1966 and bought the railroad in 1972, as freight service ended. The Fox River Trolley Museum is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization that specializes in preserving the history of Chicago’s colorful electric railroads, featuring more than 25 pieces of railroad, streetcar and interurban (intercity) electric railway equipment. 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, then traveling to the museum site at 361 S. LaFox St., on Illinois 31, three blocks south of the State Street stoplight in the village of South Elgin. For information, schedules or to charter a train, call the museum at (847) 697-4676. 
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