Hello and good morning! I found this while we were digging out for the foundation of our addition. I am fairly certain that it is a Railroad token and it is local, does anyone know the 'when' of this. I have done some research, but have not found any pictures or descriptions of the tokens used years ago. And could it possibly be worth anything. Please take a look...
it's a token for the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railroad - an interurban electric line that served the southwestern suburbs of Chicago. the AE&C filed for bankruptcy and in 1922 become part of the the Chicago, Aurora & Elgin. the railroad ceased operation in 1961 and is now a bike path. instead of paying for the ride with cash, tokens were purchased and then used for the ride. this token pre-dates 1922. not worth much more than $1.00 - i collect railroad tokens as well. -steve
Just to expand a bit regarding what asciibaron posted. The id number for your token is IL25Ba. The letter "A" on the token indicates this token is from Aurora (Elgin tokens had the letter "E"), and yours is the slightly better of the two. My 1996 reference values it at $.35 ($.25 for the Elgin). It is made of white metal, and there are 3 varieties. The Aurora, Elgin & Chicago RR was a consolidation of earlier companies on June 15, 1901. A larger (23mm, & valued at $50.00) token was used from 1920-1922. In 1922, the name of the interurban to Chicago was changed to Chicago, Aurora & Elgin RR. City operations were then separated, and were acquired on January 21, 1924, by Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Co. Streetcars were discontinued Nov. 17, 1934, and the following day the system became all bus. Natonal City Lines took over the system in 1936 and reduced fares to 5 cents on Feb. 1, 1937, and IL25B (as is your token) became obsolete at that time. The 5 cent adult fare continued until Dec., 1948. The transit systems of Aurora and Elgin became separate companies in 1938. Aurora City Lines has since gone out of business, and local service was later provided by Tom-A-Hawk Transit.
