Amboy
Northern Illinois Electric Railway
#201 at Amboy, Illinois in 1911. The line began operating on October 1, 1910 using car 201 (which apparently came from the Chicago Uniion Traction) over the 11.5 miles of trackage between Amboy and Lee Center  in northern Illinois.  A larger interurban 104 was acquired from a group built by AC&F at Jeffersonville for the Louisville-New Albany bridge line when the interurbans there were replaced by wide gauge interurbans that could run into Louisville.  On July 8, 1914, the line was sold at foreclosure to the Lee County Central Railroad.  Patronage never amounted to anything as the population in the area was very minimual.  The powerhouse was very undependable and service was haulted numberous times.  Electric operations continued until the early 1920s, after which all passeneger service was terminated (and the two cars sat around for years in derilic conditions thereafter) and replaced with a gas locomotive (and other powers that was obtained thereafter) which operated over the remaining trackage to connect grain elevators with the CB&Q at Amboy until the 1960s when everything was scrapped after the CB&Q trackage was abandoned.
Stephen M. Scalzo collection
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