The Dairy Route – A History of the Elgin & Belvidere Electric Company

Description: The Dairy Route – A History of the Elgin & Belvidere Electric Company is about the interurban that planned route was between Belvidere and Elgin. The 1903 plan was to connect the E & B with the Chicago Aurora and Elgin to allow people along the line to travel to Chicago. The line lasted twenty-five years and was abandoned in 1930. The “Dairy Route” as it was known, only had three profitable years during its existence. Because of the profitability issue, the line had several labor saving and cost cutting innovations during its short life. Among those innovations, was the nation’s first automatic electrical sub-station. In later years, it was the first to operate lightweight on-man cars. When the local electrical company raised the price of electricity it was furnishing to the railroad, the company purchased a surplus submarine engine and coupled it to a generator at the Marengo Shops. This move resulted in the utility company lowering its rates back down the following day. The book explains that all the innovations and cost-cutting moves could not ward off the inevitable competition. The improved highways, the increase in truck and auto traffic, and a newly formed bus line, combined to drive traffic from the railroad. The result was abandonment of the railroad in the late 1920s. On March 9, 1930, the last E & B cars operated. Over the years that followed the trolley wires were removed, the rail torn up, and the right of way plowed under by farmers. The cars sat idle outside the Marengo shops, while the owners looked for purchasers. Finally, around 1940, the cars were cut up by scrap dealers. The story of the book The Dairy Route – A History of the Elgin & Belvidere Electric Company is not unusual. Many interurban companies throughout the Midwest had similar histories. What is different about the E & B railroad is that interurban cars are again operating along part of the Dairy Route’s right of way. The Illinois Railway Museum now carries passengers on trollies during the summer months over a rebuilt portion of the right of way east of Union. The Dairy Route continues to live on after the abandonment of the railroad.

Price: 34.95 USD

Location: Glencoe, Illinois

End Time: 2025-02-02T01:36:03.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.38 USD