Steam & Excursion > Fox Valley Trolley Museum, South Elgin, IL

On July 11, 2015, my parents and I took a trip to the lesser-known Fox Valley Trolley Museum in South Elgin, IL for the first time in years, and I thought that I'd share some of the resulting photos here.  They may not have the collection of the mammoth Illinois Railway Museum to their west, but they certainly do have great, little museum with a nicely focused collection of equipment, complete with a mainline run over a former interurban line, which has been extended to a nearby Park District park/campsite, which is an amazingly "interurban" thing to do.  More on the museum can be found here: http://www.foxtrolley.org/

That being said, here are the pictures!

Photo 1: Upon arrival, here's the scene at their Castlemuir Depot, at the north end of the line, while waiting for our train to arrive. 

Photo 2: Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Co. GE 45-tonner #5 still toils away on the line it was built for, now serving the Fox Valley Trolley Museum in South Elgin, IL.  Here, its seen in MOW service, as they work on a track that had been taken out of service.

The car in the background is the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin #458 which is currently undergoing restoration.

Photo 3: The only car operating the day we were there was the North Shore #715, and here it is on its first departure after our arrival.

- Jeff Carlson

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Photo 4: Here are two of the tracks near the Castlemuir station, as led by the CTA #L202, a 1908 electric motor.

Photo 5: Sam Insull's electric railway legacy in Chicago is indisputable, yet one of the lines he didn't own was the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Co.  However, a portion of that line survives today as the Fox Valley Trolley Museum in South Elgin, IL, where one car ride examples of Insull's lines, such as the CNS&M #715, a 1926 Cincinnati Car Co. product.  Here, its seen skirting the Fox River, just south of the car barn and depot.

Photo 6: In 1947, the Chicago Rapid Transit Co. acquired four of these articulated carsets from Pullman - Standard as prototypes for the later 6000 series cars.  This, and one of its sisters at IRM live on today.

- Jeff Carlson

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Photos 7-9: Three views of the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin #458, a 1945 product of the St. Louis Car Co. that was in service until the end of the line.  This was part of a group of ten cars that were the last interurban cars ever built, and had been part of the "Trolleyville" collection in Ohio before returning home to the Fox Valley.

- Jeff Carlson

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Here are three final shots from our trip.  If you're ever in the west suburbs of Chicago, make sure to stop by this place.  While IRM dominates the national picture, the little guys deserve our help as well.  In 2010, they acquired an interurban car from Ohio that is original to this line (AE&FRE #304), so its great that it was able to make a homecoming like that.

Photo 10: A pair of old CTA cars, with the ones on the left, clearly open for display, complete with period Ads on the inside.

Photo 11: CNS&M #715's final departure for the day from Castlemuir, alongside IL Rt. 31.

Photo 12: CTA #45 layed over near the depot all day, along with another CTA car.  This is one of CTA's double-ended cars from the 1-50 series built in 1959 by the St. Louis Car Co.

Thanks for looking,
- Jeff Carlson

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This museum is new to me, and your images should get many of us to visit this facility. Thank you.

This has always been a great little museum.
Not as crowded as IRM but of course a smaller collection.

Yeah, no problem. You should try to make it out sometime!

- Jeff "Seriously, I'm not affiliated with them" Carlson

TonyJ Wrote:
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> This museum is new to me, and your images should
> get many of us to visit this facility. Thank you.

Posted from iPhone

Very nice set of pictures.

Minor point.  The four 5000 series cas were split between Pullmam Standard and St. Louis Car as: Pullman Car Co. (5001-02) and St. Louis Car Co. (5003-04).​

For details see: http://www.chicago-l.org/trains/roster/5000.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/15 20:04 by MartyBernard.

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> Very nice set of pictures.

Thanks!

> Minor point.  The four 5000 series cas were split
> between Pullmam Standard and St. Louis Car as:
> Pullman Car Co. (5001-02) and St. Louis Car Co.
> (5003-04).​
>
> For details
> see: http://www.chicago-l.org/trains/roster/5000.
> html

Yeah, I remember reading about that at some point, so thanks for the reminder.  Its just too bad that all of the non-grey/silver CTA stuff was gone by the time I was around, as I really like the green stuff.

- Jeff Carlson

And stepping into the wayback machine to the summer of 1973 at Fox Valley:
1) A toast rack and the 316 behind;
2) Inside view of the toast rack, very cool; and
3) The 316 car with Joe Zucker (photo center) looking on.

These are cars not shown in Jeff's excellent tour.
 

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Very cool, thanks for posting these!  In modern days, that open-air car would be a lawyer's nighmare!

- Jeff Carlson

arrowspatial Wrote:
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> And stepping into the wayback machine to the
> summer of 1973 at Fox Valley:
> 1) A toast rack and the 316 behind;
> 2) Inside view of the toast rack, very cool; and
> 3) The 316 car with Joe Zucker (photo center)
> looking on.
>
> These are cars not shown in Jeff's excellent
> tour.
>  

re the toast rack, I don't see it listed on their current roster. And it does not display a number.