Trolley Tuesday 7/14/20 - The Chicago Aurora & Elgin

The best things in life always come in threes, especially when it comes to competition. Motor racing has the "Triple Crown" of Monte Carlo, Indianapolis, and Le Mans. Horse racing has the Belmont, Preakness and Kentucky Derby stakes, and even down to electric railways in hot contention for the Charles A. Coffin Gold Medal for Innovation and Speed in Electric Railways, utilities magnate Samuel Insull had the "First and Fastest" triple crown of the North Shore line, the South Shore, and the Chicago Aurora and Elgin. Of the three, the "Roaring Elgin" was not as fast as the North Shore, nor as dependent on freight like the South Shore, but its importance in building the Fox River Valley's many cities cannot be understated. Though the shortest-lived of the three Insull-ar roads, the Great Third Rail still holds a place in interurban history.