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Former Electronic Interurban Railways of Northen Illinois
Thursday, November 12
6:00pm - 7:00pm
Huntley Area Public Library
Program Room 3Discover the fascinating history of Northern Illinois’s once-vast network of inter-city electric railways.
Discover the fascinating history of Northern Illinois’s once-vast network of inter-city electric railways. This program explores the rise of these historic electric trains, their decline during the Great Depression, and how the rise of automobiles and paved highways changed American transit forever.
The presentation highlights the remarkable resurrection of this transit history. Learn how a 1958 land purchase allowed the Illinois Railway Museum to relocate in 1964, transforming a long-dormant right-of-way from the Elgin and Belvidere Electric Company into the vibrant 5+ mile historic railway operating today.
Many years ago, there existed an extensive network of inter-city electric railways that had served citizens of Northern Illinois; the Great Depression brought an end all too soon. Advances in paved roads, the advent of affordable automobiles, trucks and buses all helped put these electric trains out of existence.
Today, the Illinois Railway Museum exists on a 5+ mile segment of one of these former railways, the Elgin and Belvidere Electric Co. This story will conclude with building the museum's railway on the long-dormant former right of way. A 1958 purchase of former interurban right of way gave us a place to move the museum from North Chicago in the 1st half of 1964; the rest is history.
Huntley Area Public Library
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