Elgin and Belvidere Electric Railway

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The Elgin and Belvidere Electric Railway (operational from 1907-1930) is a 36-mile interurban line that connected Belvidere, Illinois and Elgin, Illinois. It was the central link in the interurban network connecting Freeport, Rockford, Elgin and Chicago which included the Rockford and Interurban Railway to the west and the Chicago, Aurora and Elgin Railway to the east.

1 History
2 Closing
3 Preservation
- 3.1 Huntley-Union Marengo Trail
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Bion J. Arnold acquired the railroad after it went into financial difficulties during construction in 1906. His company, The Arnold Company, designed and built the power generating stations and the overhead structure for the railway, and had largely been paid in railway securities ^[1]. Arnold used the railroad as a proving ground for pioneering designs; the first automatic substation was on the line at Union and the railroad was one of a handful to use gasoline generators to generate electric power. Its rolling stock consisted of standard wooden interurban cars which typically ran in short one- to three-car trains on hourly intervals. Arnold himself was heavily involved in the line's construction and management, and at one point operated the cars himself during a strike.

[edit] Closing

The railroad was never particularly profitable, with a rate of return of about 2% in its best years. On March 9, 1930, the railroad ceased operations due to competition from the parallel Chicago and North Western Railway and from the automobile. For a time the railroad sat moribund, with the cars stored at the shops in Marengo, until Arnold scrapped the line himself in the mid to late 1930s.

[edit] Preservation

The Illinois Railway Museum acquired 7 miles of the abandoned right of way through a delinquent tax sale east of Union, Illinois in 1956^[2]. The museum currently operates trains over this section of the line during the summer as part of its demonstration railroad.

The exterior of the interurban rail station at 202 E. State Street in Cherry Valley remains basically intact, and is now home to the administrative offices of the Cherry Valley Fire Protection District.

[edit] Huntley-Union Marengo Trail

In 2006, the McHenry Conservation District opened the first phase of the Huntley-Union-Marengo (H.U.M.) trail ^[3] along the former right-of-way from Union, Illinois to Marengo, Illinois. The trail is eventually planned to connect to Huntley, Illinois as well, following the former rail right-of-way where possible.