Fox River Trolley Museum

The Fox River Trolley Museum is a railroad museum in South Elgin, Illinois. Incorporated in 1961 as R.E.L.I.C., it opened in 1966 and became the Fox River Trolley Museum in 1984.

WWW foxtrolley.org

Location

The museum is located at 365 South LaFox Street, approximately two blocks south of the intersection of LaFox and State Streets.

Volunteers

The Fox River Trolley Museum is completely run by dedicated volunteers.

Heritage Railroad

Since 2003, the museum has operated a heritage railroad over a 2-mile line along the banks of the scenic Fox River to the Jon J. Duerr Forest Preserve.
The museum operates its trolley excursions from Mother's Day to the first Sunday in November every Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During July and August, the museum excursions operate on Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Museum Main Line

Since 2003, the Fox River Trolley Museum has operated the current 1.9 mile long mainline along the banks of the Fox River. This mainline, which is one of the few railroads in the country that operates within a forest preserve, has two termini. The northern terminus is located in South Elgin, IL, and it is the museum's main campus. This terminus is called "Castlemuir" by the museum, and it houses two platforms, a large train yard, and the museum's maintenance facility and car barn. The southern terminus of the railroad is called "Blackhawk", and this station lies within the heart of the Jon J. Duerr Forest Preserve. The station is named for the Blackhawk Forest Preserve, which is what the forest preserve used to be named. The museum's mainline also includes one major flagstop, which is named "Woodcliff." Woodcliff is a private residence that is located approximately 0.2 miles south of Castlemuir, and the home is located along the museum's mainline and the Fox River riverfront. Woodcliff, owned by museum member Ralph Treddup until his passing, was bought by the current head of the museum car department. There is a path down from the Woodcliff house to get to the museum's mainline and the adjacent Fox River Trail which is adorned with railroad switch stands and memorabilia, and a small flagstop structure on the mainline.
While the stations and many of the buildings along the line are new, the line that the museum now operates over has been in non-stop operation since 1896. The railroad line was built for the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric interurban railroad in 1896, and it transported passengers up and down the Fox River until 1935. In 1935, passenger service along the line was abandoned, and almost all of the line was torn up, with the exception of 3.5 mile of track in South Elgin, IL. The sole purpose of this line was to transport coal to the nearby Elgin State Mental Hospital, and the railroad was powered by two ancient home-built electric locomotives. The coal for the mental hospital was brought in by the Illinois Central Railroad via Coleman Siding on the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric line, which is now a point on the museum's mainline. The Illinois Central Railroad would bring three hoppers of coal to Coleman Siding every three days, and these hoppers would be brought up to the mental hospital. This system of interchanging car between the Illinois Central Railroad and the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric took place from when passenger service shut down in 1935 until the railroad itself shut down due to the lack of a need for coal by the mental hospital.
Until 1946, the railroad was powered by electric trolley wire. In 1946, the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric purchased a 45-ton General Electric diesel switcher for use on the line, and that diesel switcher was the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric #5 that is now in the collection of the museum. The locomotive handled all of the freight on the line until 1973, when the last freight train on the line ran. In 1961, the Railway Equipment Leasing and Investment Company has founded using a small plot of land in the South Elgin, IL adjacent to the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric line that was graciously lent to the museum by the then owner of the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric, Bob DeYoung.
In 1966, the museum began operating under a new name: RELIC Trolley Museum. In 1973, when freight service finally shut down on the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric, the last owner of the railroad Bob DeYoung sold the remaining line to the Fox River Trolley Museum. The last big development to the museum's mainline occurred in 2003 when the line was extended into the Jon J. Duerr Forest Preserve. Before 2003, the end of track on the mainline was at Coleman Grove, about 1.7 miles from Castlemuir. The addition in 2003 added 0.2 miles to the track length.

2018 Vandalism

On Sunday, July 8, 2018, two boys, aged 11 and 13 broke into the museum's car barn and inflicted almost $150,000 worth of damage on the 8 antique pieces of history stored inside. The boys first broke into the Maintenance-Of-Way Building to get pickaxes, which they then used to cut a hole in the wall of the car barn, allowing them access to the vary valuable and rare trolley cars. They then continued to throw rocks and destroy many train windows and relics. One electric car had 26 windows completely trashed, and another car, CA&E 20, had its extremely rare CA&E headlight almost completely destroyed. The two boys were caught by a woman who was walking along the Fox River Trail, which is adjacent to the museum, and saw one of the boys bleeding. The boy had cut his arm on a piece of glass inside the car barn, and the woman called the South Elgin Police thinking that this was suspicious. Upon investigation, the boys were caught soon after. The cars damaged during this act of vandalism included CTA 4451, CTA 4288, CA&E 458, CA&E 11, CA&E 316, CA&E 20, AE&FRE 304, and CSL 6. In contrary to the damage created, this vandalism attract the attention of many well-wishers. Many Chicago news channels covered the vandalism including NBC 5 Chicago, ABC 7, and Fox 32 Chicago. This also prompted over 400 people to donate over $50,000 altogether, and glass companies Window Repair Guy and Chicago Window and Door Solutions to donate glass to help with the repair of many of the cars damaged on July 8.

Car Barn Extension

In Early November 2024, the Fox River Trolley Museum announced a new plan to extend their current car barn, which was built in 1984, an additional 50 feet. This project will protect three additional trolley cars from the elements. The project is set for completion on September 27th, 2025.

Non-profit organization

The Fox River Trolley Museum is operated by the Fox River Trolley Association. The FRTA is an educational, member-based 501 tax exempt Illinois not-for-profit corporation.

Collection

The museum maintains a collection of 30 antique electric trolleys, railroad cars, and locomotives which range in construction dates from 1887 to 1973. The majority of the museum collection is focused on railways and electric transit lines of the Chicago area. One of the most exceptional cars in this collection is the wooden interurban Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad car #20, purchased directly from CA&E after that railroad discontinued passenger service. Car #20 was constructed in 1902 and is the oldest electric interurban car operating in the United States. The most recent collection acquisitions include the interurban electric railway car, Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Co. #304, that was built for the Fox River Line in 1923, and ran in daily service between Elgin and Aurora until March 1935. Between 1935 and 1954, it operated in Cleveland over the line best known as the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit. The car was then sold, with three other ex-Fox River Line cars, to real estate entrepreneur Gerald E. Brookins, whose family operated Trolleyville USA, in Olmsted Township, Ohio, in suburban Cleveland, until 2002. AE&FRE #304 made its first run over its original railroad on August 21, 2010, over 75 years after it last ran on the line.