There are two articles in the Journal Star this morning regarding Peoria Heights’ desire to look at the feasibility of putting a trolley on the Kellar Branch rail line (Trolley enters Kellar line talks and Towns seeing boost from trolley systems). Both are well written and factual — a benefit of having replaced retired editorialist reporter Elaine Hopkins with Dave Haney on that beat.

There are just a couple of things I’d like to add to Haney’s stories that I think are pertinent. First, he made a lot of references to these trolley lines being taxpayer-supported in other communities. What’s being proposed in Peoria Heights, however, would not be tax-supported. The Illinois Prairie Railroad Foundation, in cooperation with Pioneer Railcorp, believes it can offer trolley service without receiving any taxpayer assistance, instead relying on economic development grants and ad revenue.

Also, while most trolleys are powered by overhead electric lines connected by a catenary on top of the trolley, the trolley being envisioned for Peoria Heights would run on battery technology — maybe even batteries created by Firefly Energy as a way of cross-marketing. That would lower the start-up costs of a Heights trolley.

The costs of putting in a trolley would actually be a lot less than the other communities that have them because we have something they didn’t: the rail line. The Kellar Branch rail line is already there, and the rail line is the most expensive part of putting in a trolley system. I’m glad to see the Heights taking this proposal seriously.

Now if we can just get Peoria, the Park District, and the RTA aboard….