Elgin and Belvidere Electric Railway

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The Elgin and Belvidere Electric Railway opened in 1907 and the 36 mile line connected Belvidere, Illinois and Elgin, Illinois.

In 1924 Bion J. Arnold acquired the railroad after it went into financial difficulties. 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].

On March 9, 1930 the railroad ceased operations due to competition from the parallel Chicago and North Western Railway and from the automobile. Arnold scrapped the line himself in the mid to late 1930's.

In 1956 the Illinois Railway Museum acquired 7 miles of the abandoned right of way through a delinquent tax sale east of Union, IL^[2].

In 2006, the McHenry County 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.