Vandals cause over $100,000 of damage to collection of historic electric railcars

Blutorse4792

Now T:ANE I can get into
From the Chicago Tribune...

Two boys, ages 11 and 13, broke into the Fox Valley Trolley Museum and bashed out train windows and did other damage that could cost as much as $150,000 to repair, South Elgin police and museum officials said.

The pair were arrested July 8 after police were able to track a blood trail from the museum at 365 S. LaFox St. to a nearby home, where the residents helped identify them and assisted with the investigation, Sgt. Mike Doty said.

Museum President Ed Konecki said Monday the vandals targeted the eight trolley cars locked inside two secured buildings. The bulk of the damage was to the trolley cars’ plate glass windows, which can be replaced but is expensive because it must be done by professional glaziers, he said.
Contractors gave the museum replacement quotes of between $100,000 to $150,000, he said. ...

This is a small but dedicated operation that operates over former AE&FRE interurban right-of-way. One of the damaged cars is 1902-built Chicago, Aurora & Elgin #20, the oldest operating interurban car in North America.

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I'm not affiliated with FRTM, but they need all the help they can get. Something like this can knock a small museum out of business. I encourage anybody interested in helping FRTM to donate and spread the word.

https://www.gofundme.com/fox-river-trolley-museum

I had been hoping to save my 1,500th post for more positive news...
 
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I just read about that today in the Trolley Dodger newsletter I subscribe to.

Very sad. Why would these kids do that? Because they had nothing else better to do. Maybe they should be made to work their backsides off and assist in the repairs at the museum among other things that will keep them busy enough and too tired to do this kind of thing again.
 
Really serious crime at their age...........

:( Well I can tell both the Burglary and Vandalism are separate Felonies, because of the intent shown and demonstrated, and high Dollar amount of Vandalism!!!!

It's a shame, as their new juvenile record will most likely carry thru the rest of their lives due to the seriousness and monetary amount of damage they caused.

There is no excuse in the world for this..........

I hope there is some serious intervention with these Kids, they have already graduated to the big leagues, and that in and of itself does not bode well for them age wise...........:eek:

My other thought would be, maybe the Museum could look at Go Fund Me to raise the part of the Donations they need for repair...........Very, Very Sad Story............
 
The kids punishment should be helping to raise the funds to fix the damage....

I'd have them either go to prison or pay $150,000, each, plus also have them work at the museum cleaning toilets and doing other jobs that results in them being covered in oil, grease and other stuff. I'd also take away their phones, computers, video games, TV, not being able to see their friends, be confined to their bedrooms all day, and eat their meals in the bedroom, basically cut them off from civilization for a month. I had that done to me for a week because of something I did, which I do not want to talk about, and haven't done again. I wouldn't be surprised if they also couldn't sit down for a few days because their butts were sore due to a paddle.
 
Thank you for the Go Fund me Information

I would not be surprised if they did, that amount of money and damage, personal stress, for a loss of something you have put countless hours of work, sweat, and probably some Blood too,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

And your House if you well, has been broken into.........I don't have a business, but when my house was broken into several times, and almost burned down once by Kids......Well I can only tell you I never felt the same, when total Strangers entered my Private place and caused havoc............:(

NO one should ever go thru that, such disrespect is vile...........

Thank you for the Go Fund me info, I will send some monies over to them to help out, they are too far for me to Travel at moment, but maybe in the future I can go visit their wonderful Museum........

;) When I go to church in few minutes, I will say a Prayer for the Museum in the hopes something Good will come out of this terrible situation they are in..........
 
I am told that the museum is currently exploring the possibility of filing a civil suit against those responsible.

They don't have to "explore the possibility" but THEY HAVE TO I mean a felony have deen done and the batards got to pay for the damages
 
They don't have to "explore the possibility" but THEY HAVE TO I mean a felony have deen done and the batards got to pay for the damages

Being as young as these kids are, their parents will be responsible for the financial loss. Aw too bad. It means that their parents will have to show more responsibility for their children!

I still think that the kids should be made to work off their damage as part of their punishment. This will include restoring the very interurbans they ruined, and perhaps other things that will make them too pooped to pop after a hard days work.
 
ouch, I hate to see and not to mention of any vandalism,much like the steam engines, those trolleys that had their windows broken are very valuable to the hard working folks at that museum put in a lot of work to not only preserve but also keep them running, I hope those fools who did this get what is coming to them.
 
look at all the triggered foamers

calm down, they'll raise the funds in a bit, I'll donate a few bucks if someone gives me a link.
 
look at all the triggered foamers

calm down, they'll raise the funds in a bit, I'll donate a few bucks if someone gives me a link.

That's not the point. It doesn't matter whether the brats vandalized a couple of trolley cars, an old church, or some other historic monument, it's the fact that they ruined something of historic significance, and need to pay the consequences for doing so.
 
The vandalism was bad enough to have those boys and/or their parents pay for the car's damaged windows, like I said, in a incident like this, there is no calming down especially when a severe incident like this one occurs, I am getting sick and tired of saying this but for the last time, those cars which belong to the museum are valuable and shouldn't have been treated like that, take care of your stuff but when on railroad property, don't touch what does not belong to you and don't destroy it.
 
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I think having them pay more than the cost of the damage is excessive. Especially since its gonna be their parents paying for it. The parents should pay up to the amount of the damage caused, so 50 000 per family. Its going to be a big dent in their budget however we look at it.

I do think they should be put through a diversion program. The kids should get a reasonably high amount of community service hours and the money from that be moved to the museum. Perhaps as part of that work, they should be assigned to help some museum or restoring some monument so they learn how museum work and why some things are worth so much.

They should also go through the regular diversion programs, such as anger management possible drug/alcochol programs and be forced to pay for these courses.

Having said that, depending if its their first offence and how well they do in diversion, they should be allowed to get a relatively clean sheet. That is after they pay for the damage, do all that community service and score well on diversion.

If it was just stupidity, we should allow them to just make up for the mess and learn their lesson if they are willing to work with the authorities.
 
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Unfortunately all across America this is happening every day. There is no respect for other people's property. People destroy, break, or spraypaint things simply because they are bored. Life is like a video game to the.
 
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