| Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Type | Interurban streetcar |
| Status | Defunct |
| Locale | Fox River Valley |
| Termini | Carpentersville, Ill. Yorkville, Ill. |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1895 |
| Closed | 1972 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 40 miles (64 km) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Standard gauge |
| Electrification | Trolley wire |
| Operating speed | 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) |
The Aurora Elgin & Fox River Electric (AE&FRE), was an interurban railroad that operated freight and passenger service on its line paralleling the Fox River serving the communities of Yorkville, Montgomery, Aurora, North Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, South Elgin, Elgin, Dundee, and Carpentersville in Illinois. It also operated local streetcar lines in both Aurora and Elgin.
Predecessor companies opened service in 1895 between Carpentersville and Elgin; in 1896 between Elgin and St. Charles and Aurora and Geneva; in 1899 between Aurora and Yorkville; and in 1901 between St. Charles and Geneva. In the era 1901-1906 it was known as the Elgin, Aurora & Southern Traction Company.
Service typically operated on one-hour headways between Elgin and Aurora, with connecting service between Carpentersville and Elgin, and between Aurora and Montgomery.
The EA&S merged with the Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railway in 1906 and became the new Aurora Elgin & Chicago Railroad's Fox River Division. The company was separated by order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 1923, when the Fox River Division assumed the AE&FRE name, and the rest of the AE&C (the Third Rail Division) became the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad. Passenger service ended March 31, 1935, except on a short stretch of track used by the CA&E in St. Charles and Geneva, where passenger service ended December 31, 1937. Freight service continued on a three-mile stretch of the line between Coleman Yard and the Elgin State Hospital under electric power until 1947, and by diesel until 1972. At that time, the remnant of the line was sold to its current museum operators. Rail remaining between the current museum site in South Elgin and the State Hospital was removed in 1978.
Today much of the railroad’s former right of way is now a bicycle path known as the Fox River Trail. The Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin operates over a preserved section of its right of way.