Last Saturday, we partnered up with Operation Lifesaver for National Rail Safety Week, an organization promoting railroad safety. We take safety extremely seriously on our railroad, it was fitting we partnered with them to teach rail safety to the public on our own railroad. We had a massive turnout and a lot of very happy faces, and our visitors left knowing how to stay safe around trains.

Did you know that at every railroad crossing, there is a blue sign with a phone number and a crossing identifier? If your car is stuck on the crossing, you can call that number and give them the crossing identifier and they will stop any trains in the vicinity to save your car.

Two Operation Lifesaver volunteers show the sign that tells you how to stop a freight train if your car gets stuck on a crossing

We had CA&E Car 458 ready to carry passengers.

Operation Lifesaver had a representative on every train to give a presentation on how to stay safe around train tracks

We had so many visitors that we brought out North Shore Line 715 to carry additional passengers

While we have a lot of experienced volunteers trained on our various electric cars, we only have a few people with experience on our diesel locomotives, especially Locomotive 5. This past weekend we started changing that by training a bunch of our operators on Locomotive 5 with the Caboose Train. On Sunday, operators Ben Rohling and Jacob Goldberg (who is also the dutiful webmaster) were trained in Locomotive 5 by Jeff Bennett. In addition, Jeff gave Jacob a practice run in Locomotive 5 the previous week after hours to get a feel for the controls and how it handled.

For the first run of the day, we ran the freight train without passengers to make sure Ben and Jacob had a good handle on the controls and how a freight train operates. The run went without issue, so we ran the subsequent runs with passengers. Over the next few weeks we will train several other operators on Locomotive 5 so we can have a large pool of volunteers available to operate it in the future. We are continuing to expand the capabilities of our volunteer force, and are always looking for new volunteers.

The Caboose Train will be running the next two Sundays, September 17 and 24. No advance reservations are required and it is included in a regular admission. Stop on by to experience life on a freight train!

Jeff takes a selfie while Jacob is at the controls and Ben watches

Jacob operates the locomotive near Woodcliff

Close-up of Jacob operating the locomotive

Jacob operates the locomotive with Ben watching

It gives us great pleasure to introduce to our museum team Shelia M. Pardo, the new Executive Director of the Fox River Trolley Museum.

She will be an incredible part of the Museum and will be working with the Board of Directors and our Department Heads to move the Museum forward in improving our visitor facilities, community outreach, educational programs, volunteer programs, and so much more.

Here is a brief biography:

Shelia M. Pardo is a seasoned leader who possess over two decades of Business, Accounting & Finance. She brings tremendous energy, strategic thinking, innovation and creativity to her work. Shelia is recognized by her peers for having a passion for helping others, and exceptional leadership skills.

Shelia holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Leadership from Aurora University.

After the loss of her grandmother, Shelia sought to assist others in similar situations and founded “Journey On” to both reflect on her own grief, and to provide comfort for those experiencing a loss. Journey On has serviced individuals and families within the Chicagoland, Indiana and Wisconsin areas for over a decade and continues to offer support today.

Shelia enjoys volunteering, watching sports, yoga, running, biking and spending time with her family and friends.

Personal Statement:

As a highly motivated and results-driven executive, I am eager to contribute my skills and experience to the Fox River Trolley Museum. Throughout my career, I have developed a reputation for being a problem-solver and effective communicator, with a keen eye for detail and the ability to work under pressure. My passion lies with helping others, I look forward to our growth together. - Shelia Pardo

All of the members of the museum are very excited to have Shelia join the Fox River Trolley Museum. Exciting times are ahead!

This past Monday after closing, we set up for the Caboose Train, which runs the next three Sundays. The caboose has been open on static display all season, but comes to life starting this Sunday. The caboose was already in the right place, but we needed to grab our Wilson freight car to make it a true freight train. After moving a few other railcars out of the way, we coupled Locomotive 5 (which originally carried freight right on our own rails) to the Wilson car, then brought it out onto track 2 next to the platform to couple it with the caboose. Now we have a true freight train, with a locomotive, caboose, and freight car.

The following three Sundays, September 10, 17, and 24, the caboose train will be carrying passengers! Passengers are welcome to ride in either the caboose or the locomotive and experience a piece of what life was like for workers on freight trains before cabooses were replaced by lineside defect detectors and end-of-train devices. This Caboose Train does not require any advance reservations and is available for regular admission. We will also be running CA&E car 458 this Sunday to allow visitors to experience an interurban passenger car in addition to a freight train.

Museum Member Stan Nettis passed away on Monday July 3, 2023.

Stan was a long time Member of the Fox River Trolley Museum as a motorman, conductor, and a big help on the track crew.  From 1992 to 1999, Stan was a Board Member and held the office of Treasurer until 1999.  Stan was also a big help in the Museum Store.   Declining health meant that Stan had to give up being on train crew, but he was always a part of the Museum until the day he passed away.

I first met Stan in 1982 as a fellow member of the Central Electric Railfans Association and fondly remember riding with him in October 1983 on the farewell trip of the old South Shore Cars.

Stan, you are very much in our hearts and memories.   You will be very much missed.

It was Stan's wish that his ashes be scattered at the Museum.  Stan's daughter, Robyn Nettis, will bring his remains home to the Museum on Sunday, August 13, 2023 with a special charter at 10:00 AM to lay Stan to rest.

In remembrance of Stan, Robyn has asked that donations be made in his name to the Fox River Trolley Museum.

https://www.foxtrolley.org/donate

Ed Konecki, President

On Sunday July 17^th, 2023 the museum hosted some visiting “firemen” from the Northern Ohio Railway Museum.  Steve Heister, who has been helpful since we acquired 304 and 458, and who has access to the Gerald Brookins collection of papers from the old Trolleyville museum now in the special collections of the Cleveland State University library,  and has been sharing relevant information about 304.  They are restoring sister 303 so we have exchanged notes on that front.   As a youth he volunteered at Trolleyville and vouches for the fact that 458 was never operated there and was very impressed at our restoration.  With him was Blaine Hays, who was an administrative assistant to Ed Allen when he was the head of the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit shop.  For those who don’t know, Ed Allen was the young CA&E employee holding two phone handsets in an iconic photo taken at Forest Park on the fateful July 3^rd in 1957 when passenger service was ended at midday.  Ed was one of the people who tried to retain the Elgin branch as freight short line.  While this effort failed, the group evolved into RELIC with Ed being one of the founding members of our predecessor organization.  Later he moved on to become the master mechanic of the Iowa Terminal (now Iowa Traction) electric short line in Mason City, Iowa which is where I first met him.  Later on he moved to Cleveland to become the head of maintenance at Shaker Heights Rapid Transit and when it was folded into GCRTA he became head of all rail maintenance there.  Blaine continued his friendship with Ed after their retirements and when the Brookins collection was finally being disbursed to other museums in 2009, Blaine would take pictures of the CA&E cars at the GCRTA Brookpark facility and share them with Ed, who by that time was in assisted living.  Ed told Blaine that those photos of his beloved CA&E cars were what kept him going.  Ed passed away just one day after the last batch of pictures arrived.

Much to our surprise we had another fabled visitor, Karl Johnson, who is currently head of maintenance of the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s streetcar line.  When I first met him, decades ago, he was head of maintenance of the historic streetcar fleet at Muni in San Francisco as well as the PCC’s and Italian  Peter Witts that operate on the famous F streetcar line. (The cable cars are a separate division.) 

We toured our car barn and had rides on 458.  Karl left in the early afternoon to visit Desplaines Hobbies, a  shop he has done mail-order business with but had never been there in person.

In the photos it is Karl, Steve, Blaine and Jeff.  On a later 458 trip after Karl was gone we had a “hornfest” at Coleman with a westbound CN freight to the delight of our visitors and the CN crew alike!  And yes we waited until the whole train passed overhead per our safety protocol.

While most of our visitors come from the Chicago area, we do get a good number of visitors from all over the US. Occasionally we even get international visitors, and this past weekend we were visited by a group of British tourists.

They arrived in a charter bus, and received a tour of the car barn given by Damin, then rode on a special ride CA&E 458 (including an explanation of the history of the car by Joe) behind the regularly scheduled run in Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee 715. Later on, they rode the final trip of the day in 715 and then returned to their hotel, which is near the Skokie Swift, built on the former North Shore Line tracks where 715 once ran.

This past Saturday, we hosted not one, but two major events. The first was a charter with the Central Electric Railfans' Association (CERA), and the second was a performance by the Ballet Folklorico Huehuecoyotl group. Both events were well attended with many happy patrons.

Trolley lines across the USA facilitated many cultural events throughout their years operating. Just in the Chicago region, Ravinia was the brainchild of the A.C. Frost Company to lure Chicagoans to ride its fledgling Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad to a respite in the woods, far from the heat and smells of a city known as the “hog butcher to the world". One hundred and fifteen years later, it is a premier cultural center for all genres of music for people living in the Chicago area.

Today, we still operate car 715, which once carried passengers to Ravinia. We are proud to continue the legacy of the North Shore Line and many other trolley lines that have long since ceased operating by providing rides to a new generation of cultural events.

Newly restored CA&E 458 with Fox River 304, juxtaposed with the vintage bus CERA chartered

Cars 304 and 458 at Blackhawk

CERA members boarding car 458

CERA members posed in front of car 458

Cars 40 and 43 ready to carry passengers down to Blackhawk for the ballet performance

Visitors enjoying the performance

After years of hard work from our car department, we are proud to announce that Chicago Aurora and Elgin car 458 has entered service at the museum! The car certainly has a rich history, and now we can demonstrate it to the public.

On Saturday we held a dedication ceremony to commemorate the event.

First we have Joe and Fred 14 years ago, when we first acquired the car

Here they are now showing off the fruits of their efforts

Fred motored every passenger run for the dedication smiling the whole way, eager to show off his work

We also had many excited members attending the ceremony, eager to see our latest addition to our pool of running cars.

Thank you to everyone who attended the dedication, and thank you especially to the car department for all the time and labor they put into restoring this car. We look forward to many years providing rides to visitors on car 458.

We had a great action-packed weekend with this year's Rails to Victory! With all but one train completely sold out, we had a full house of visitors to present a piece of living history. They first took a one hour tour of the camp set up at Castlemuir, then traveled on Fox River car 304 and North Shore car 715 to witness several battles accompanied by an educational narrative.

Soldiers set up their camp at Castlemuir to demonstrate to the visitors all that was involved in the military and home front life in World War II

Soldiers present their rifles for inspection

Military police and Reichsbahn conductors check papers

Soldiers engage in battle in Berlin