The railcar now headed for Villa Park started with a joke. Early in 2025, Illinois Prairie Path board member Ralph DiFebo asked a Fox River Trolley Museum member, Eric Zabelny, whether the museum "happen[ed] to have any spare CA&E railcars lying around." Zabelny said no, but he knew who did. That account comes from the Daily Herald's April 2026 story on the project.
That exchange led to the short piece of track now sitting east of the old Ardmore Avenue station, right next to the Prairie Path. The track is empty this fall and will stay empty all winter. Villa Park is building a rail story that runs between its two surviving Chicago Aurora & Elgin stations. Until the car shows up, the place to see that story is the other station, a few blocks west, and its season is nearly over.
What the track at Ardmore and Central is for
The track is waiting for Car 321. It's a wooden CA&E interurban car built in 1914, 55 feet long, and it once carried commuters through Villa Park. The Daily Herald puts its weight at 50 tons. The Illinois Railway Museum in Union bought it from the CA&E in the early 1960s and has now donated it.
The car's new home is the former station near Ardmore Avenue and Central Boulevard. Chronicle Media reported that the plan includes restoring the outside to its original condition and rehabbing the inside so the car can host community events. The Village's own description adds a station-style roof over the car, a walkway, and possibly a small plaza connecting the historic Ardmore Avenue station to a viewing platform beside the car.
DiFebo's reason for wanting a car on the trail at all, in his words to the Daily Herald:
"Most people who use the Illinois Prairie Path don't have a clue that the path originated as a rail line."
Why the Village is the owner, and who is doing the work
The Prairie Path nonprofit found the car, but insurance restrictions kept it from taking possession. DiFebo then went to the Villa Park Historical Society, which brought the idea to the Village. As the Daily Herald tells it, Village President Kevin Patrick was enthusiastic, and attorneys for the Village and the railway museum worked out a memorandum of understanding.
That's why so many groups are involved in one railcar. Here's who is doing what, based on the Daily Herald's April report and the Village's fall newsletter:
- Village of Villa Park: budgeted $100,000 and is buying the fabricated canopy parts
- Illinois Prairie Path: offered $25,000
- Christopher Burke Engineering: offered $10,000
- Fox River Trolley Museum: coordinating the move from Union, supplying the track, and replacing the roof with the same kinds of materials used to build it
- Ironworkers: putting up the metal canopy
- Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council: repairs inside and outside the car
- Painters District Council No. 30: volunteering painting work
An anonymous donor also contributed. The Daily Herald points out that the Prairie Path itself began in 1963 as a citizen-led effort to turn the abandoned CA&E line into a trail. Bringing a CA&E car back through a mix of volunteers, nonprofits and the Village follows the same pattern.
The arrival date has slipped into 2027
Earlier 2026 forecasts expected the car this year. The Village's current schedule doesn't:
- February 2026: Chronicle Media reported the car would reach the old Ardmore station "this spring."
- April 2026: The Daily Herald said path users would see it "later this year."
- Village of Villa Park, current: Delivery is now expected in May 2027, with work on the shelter starting soon after and running through the summer.
The Village's fall newsletter gives the reason. The car needs roof repairs before it can be delivered, so it won't be damaged once it's outdoors. A wooden car can't sit outside until it has a sound roof and a pavilion over it. So for the rest of 2026, the Ardmore side of the project is a track, a plan and a 1908 station building.
The Villa Avenue station already tells the CA&E story
The CA&E had two stops in Villa Park, one at Villa Avenue and one at Ardmore Avenue. Both buildings are still standing. Chronicle Media reports that the Ardmore building houses the Villa Park Chamber of Commerce, and the Villa Avenue building houses the Villa Park Historical Society Museum.
The museum, at 220 S. Villa Ave., is in what the Historical Society calls its 1929 CA&E electric train station. One of its new exhibits covers the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railway. Admission is free, and donations are accepted. If you visit, the background of that exhibit helps explain why the Village is going to this much trouble for one car. Passenger service on the line ran from 1902 to 1957, the trains reached the Loop on the 'L' tracks, and passenger service ended abruptly at noon on July 3, 1957. Patrick told Chronicle Media that the interurban brought workers to the Ovaltine factory and the other plants that opened as the village grew. Those factory years are covered in our earlier post on Villa Park's Ovaltine-to-lofts corners.
The rail exhibit isn't the only one connected to the tracks. The museum's Sears homes exhibit explains how more than 30,000 parts were shipped by rail to build some of the town's houses, and it lists Villa Park's 11 authenticated Sears Catalog Homes.
Timing matters here. From November 2 through December 5, 2026, the museum is open Saturdays and Sundays only, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and its 2026 season ends December 5. As of this week, that leaves four full weekends in November plus one last Saturday. Once that Saturday ends, neither station has a CA&E exhibit open to the public until the museum reopens in the spring. Its 2026 season opened April 1. If the 2027 season follows the same calendar, the museum would reopen about a month before the car's current May 2027 delivery estimate.
December 5 is the one night both ends are open
The museum's last day is also the day of Joyful Traditions, the Villa Park Chamber of Commerce's holiday event. The Village calendar listing has it on Saturday, December 5, 2026, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Rugaard Gazebo, 10 W. Park Blvd. It's free and open to all ages.
The event takes place along the old rail corridor. You walk the Prairie Path past the community's decorated Christmas trees, and a trolley runs to the Library and the Historical Society. New this year, a jazz trio will play holiday classics and carols inside the museum.
| Stop | What's there on December 5 |
|---|---|
| Rugaard Gazebo, 10 W. Park Blvd. | Santa and costumed characters, pony rides, petting zoo, food trucks |
| Prairie Path near the gazebo | Christmas trees decorated by the community |
| Historical Society Museum, 220 S. Villa Ave. | Jazz trio playing holiday music in the 1929 CA&E station on the museum's last day of the season |
| Villa Park Public Library | A stop on the event trolley |
The Ardmore station isn't on the event route, and its track will still be empty. Still, someone who rides the trolley to the museum that evening will see the rail history in the station where it's displayed, then later walk past the place where the car will sit next summer. Our September post on Villa Park's fall along the path covered the corridor as an event venue. In December it's also a transit site being restored to show its history.
Putting a name on the walkway
The Village is raising part of the project's money through the Car 321 Commemorative Bench & Brick Program. Engraved bricks cost $250 to $500 and benches cost $3,000. They can honor a loved one, a veteran, a neighbor, a friend or a local organization. Bricks and benches are reserved in the order applications come in. The final location and the number available won't be set until the walkway design is done. Applications are online at invillapark.com/car321. Printed forms are available at Village Hall, the Public Works building and the Villa Park Recreation Center.
The Village is also looking for volunteers to help with the restoration. Anyone interested, individually or as an organization, can call the Community and Economic Development Department at 630-433-4305. That's the same number for other kinds of legacy donations.
The CA&E carried Villa Park's workers and brought in parts for its kit homes, and much of the town grew up along the line. If you own one of the older homes near the Prairie Path and want to know what it's worth before the car arrives next year, The Schiller Team knows Villa Park block by block. Request a free home valuation from our local experts.