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Illinois Railway Museum
Illinois Railway Museum Herald.gif
Ilinois Railway Museum Overhead.jpg
Aerial overview of the museum
Locale Union, Illinois
Coordinates 42°13′40″N 88°31′43″W / 42.22778380°N 88.52859170°W / 42.22778380; -88.52859170
Connections Union Pacific Railroad
Commercial operations
Built by Elgin and Belvidere Electric Company
Original gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preserved operations
Reporting mark IRMX
Stations Mainline: 2
Streetcar loop: 5
Length 4.6 mi (7.4 km)
Preserved gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preservation history
1953 Opened as Illinois Electric Railway Museum
1956 Elgin and Belvidere Electric Company right-of-way acquired
1961 Named Illinois Railway Museum
1964 Museum relocated
1966 Illinois Terminal Railroad interurban car 415 first operated
1968 First steam locomotive operated
1972 First storage barn erected
1981 Streetcar loop constructed
Late 1980s/early 1990s Railroad line built
Headquarters Union, Illinois

The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) is the biggest railroad museum in the United States. You can find it in Union, Illinois, about 55 miles (88 km) northwest of downtown Chicago. The museum has a special code, IRMX, which is used to identify its railway equipment.

All About the Museum

How It Started

The museum began in 1953. Ten people teamed up to buy an old electric train car. At first, it was called the Illinois Electric Railway Museum. It was located in North Chicago.

In 1961, the museum changed its name to the Illinois Railway Museum. This new name showed that it was collecting all kinds of railway equipment, not just electric trains. In 1964, the museum moved to its current home in Union, Illinois. It settled along an old railroad path.

The first steam train ran at the museum in 1968. In 1972, they built the first big storage building for the trains. A 1-mile (1.6 km) long streetcar track was built in 1981. The museum even bought the old railroad track next to it, adding 4.6 miles (7.4 km) of track to its property.

In 2016, the museum bought a huge 130-foot (40 m) turntable. This is a giant spinning platform that can turn locomotives around. It's big enough for any train in their collection! The museum owns over 500 pieces of equipment and more than 100 acres (40 ha) of land.

What You Can Do There

The museum is a fun place to visit! You can take rides on different types of trains. They have rides on the main railway line and also on the streetcar loop.

Electric trains run from April to October. Diesel and steam trains operate from May to September. You can even ride a trolleybus on certain Saturdays during holiday weekends and on "Bus Day" in the fall. The Illinois Railway Museum is one of only two museums in the country that offers rides on electric and diesel trains. It's also the only one that regularly offers trolleybus rides!

Buildings and Equipment

Museum Buildings

The Illinois Railway Museum covers more than 80 acres (32 ha). This makes it the largest physical rail museum in North America. In 2009, the museum bought another 89 acres (36 ha) of land nearby. This extra land helps protect the museum from new buildings being built too close.

Here are some of the cool things you can find at the museum:

  • 11 large buildings where trains are stored. These buildings have over 3.25 miles (5.23 km) of covered track.
  • Two extra garages for trolleybuses and regular buses.
  • A special shop where they fix and restore steam locomotives.
  • An old train station from Marengo, Illinois, built way back in 1851. It's from the Chicago and North Western railway.
  • A full ground-level subway station from the Chicago Rapid Transit Company. It was called the 50th Avenue station.
  • Five different streetcar stations.
  • Many old, working neon signs and concrete decorations.
  • An indoor dining area that opened in 2003. It's open during certain seasons.
  • The Multi-purpose Building, finished in 2021. It holds a model train display, a changing exhibit area, and archives.
  • A 130-foot (40 m) turntable from the Union Pacific Railroad.
  • Seven railroad crossings, including five old-fashioned wigwag signals.

The museum also has a research library in downtown Marengo. The Pullman Archive, which holds historical documents, moved onto the museum campus in 2021.

Trains and Other Vehicles

The museum has a huge collection of trains! This includes many different kinds of locomotives (the engines that pull trains) and other railway cars.

They have:

  • Steam Locomotives: These are old-fashioned trains that run on steam, like the St. Louis-San Francisco 1630 and the Chesapeake and Ohio 2707. Many of these are on display, and some are even operational!
  • Diesel Locomotives: These are more modern trains that run on diesel fuel. Examples include the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 92 and the Chicago And North Western 411. Many of these are also operational.
  • Electric Locomotives: These trains get their power from electricity, like the Amtrak 945 and the Chicago South Shore and South Bend 803.
  • Other Cool Equipment:
    • A Toronto Transit Commission CLRV #4034 streetcar. It's being changed so it can run on the museum's tracks.
    • The Nebraska Zephyr: A super-fast, streamlined passenger train from the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
    • The Electroliner trainset: A very rare electric train from the North Shore Line. Only two were ever built, and this one is being restored.
    • Two New York City Transit Authority subway cars from 1960.
    • 23 electric trolleybuses from cities like Chicago, Cleveland, and Toronto.
    • 13 motor buses from various cities and companies.

How the Museum Works

The Illinois Railway Museum is a non-profit organization. This means it's run by its members and volunteers, not for making money. A group of directors, chosen by the members, helps manage the museum. Most of the people who work at the museum are volunteers! If you're interested in trains, you can even volunteer and get training from the museum.

The Museum in Movies and TV

Because the museum has so many historic trains and is close to Chicago, it's often used for filming movies and TV shows!

  • In the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, the museum's old train station was used for small-town scenes. The Nebraska Zephyr train also appeared in the film.
  • The 1993 movie Groundhog Day featured one of the museum's diesel locomotives.
  • Parts of the movie The Babe, starring John Goodman, were filmed at the museum using some of its passenger cars.
  • In 2005, a train from the museum was used for filming Flags of Our Fathers, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
  • The movie Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) also filmed several scenes at the museum.

Many TV shows have filmed train scenes at the IRM too. The 1993 TV series The Untouchables filmed scenes showing steam trains from the 1920s. The show Chicago Fire also featured the museum in one of its episodes.

Fun Events

The museum hosts several special events throughout the year:

See also

  • List of common carrier freight railroads in the United States
  • List of Illinois railroads
  • List of heritage railroads in the United States
  • List of railway museums

Images for kids

  • Frisco 1630

    St. Louis-San Francisco 1630 steam locomotive

  • AMTK 945

    Amtrak 945 electric locomotive

  • ATSF 92

    Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 92 diesel locomotive

  • 2023-05-27 Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe 2903

    Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 2903 steam locomotive

  • BN F-Units (1)

    Burlington Northern 1 and 2 diesel locomotives

  • Burlington Northern 3

    Burlington Northern 3 diesel locomotive

  • GE U30C BN 5383

    Burlington Northern 5383 diesel locomotive

  • Chesapeake & Ohio No. 2707 at the Illinois Railway Museum August 2014

    Chesapeake and Ohio 2707 steam locomotive

  • 2023-05-27 Illinois Railway Museum TTI No. 260

    Chicago Burlington & Quincy 114 diesel locomotive

  • Burlington504

    Chicago Burlington & Quincy 504 diesel locomotive

  • Burlington & Missouri River Engine 637, Chicago Railroad Fair (NBY 2906)

    Chicago Burlington & Quincy 637 steam locomotive

  • CB&Q 3007 - May 2010

    Chicago Burlington and Quincy 3007 steam locomotive

  • Chicago, Burlington and Quincy No. 4963 at the Illinois Railway Museum - May 2023

    Chicago Burlington & Quincy 4963 steam locomotive

  • 20080621 34 Illinois Railway Museum

    Chicago Burlington & Quincy 9255 diesel locomotive

  • EMD E5 at IRM

    Chicago Burlington & Quincy 9911A Silver Pilot diesel locomotive

  • North Shore 749 and BN 9908

    Chicago Burlington & Quincy 9976 diesel locomotive

  • Cnw411

    Chicago And North Western 411 diesel locomotive

  • 2023-05-27 Chicago And North Western No. 515

    Chicago And North Western 515 diesel locomotive

  • CNW 1619 (1)

    Chicago And North Western 1689 diesel locomotive

  • CNW SD40-2 -6847 (2)

    Chicago And North Western 6847 diesel locomotive

  • 20040911 26 South Shore Line Little Joe @ Illinois Railway Museum (8519366925)

    Chicago South Shore and South Bend 803 electric locomotive

  • ComEd5 1 - 15309601647

    Commonwealth Edison 5 steam locomotive

  • Ex-Commonwealth Edison SW1 locomotive 15 at IRM (2010)

    Commonwealth Edison 15 diesel locomotive

  • IRM CoronetPhosphate PorterSteam aug2014 05 - 22042205039

    Coronet Phosphate 9 steam locomotive

  • Detroit, Toledo & Ironton No. 16 at the Illinois Railway Museum, August 2012

    Detroit, Toledo and Ironton 16 steam locomotive

  • 2023-05-27 Grand Trunk Western 6323

    Grand Trunk Western 6323 steam locomotive

  • Grand Trunk Western No. 8380 at the Illinois Railway Museum - August 2014 - 06

    Grand Trunk Western 8380 steam locomotive

  • Graysonia, Nashville, and Ashdown 26 1926 Mogul Steam locomotive September 2017

    Graysonia Nashville and Ashdown 26 steam locomotive

  • GBW 2407 at IRM

    Green Bay and Western 2407 diesel locomotive

  • IC 201 20050716 IL Union

    Illinois Central 201 steam locomotive

  • Illinois Central Railroad -3719, 2-6-0 "Mogul", Brooks, 1900

    Illinois Central 3719 steam locomotive

  • Illinois Terminal 1605, July 16, 2005, Illinois Railway Museum

    Illinois Terminal 1605 diesel locomotive

  • Lake Superior & Ishpeming No. 35 at the Illinois Railway Museum - May 2023

    Lake Superior and Ishpeming 35 steam locomotive

  • Louisiana and Arkansas Railway No. 99 August 2014

    Louisiana and Arkansas 99 steam locomotive

  • MBTA 902

    MBTA 902 diesel locomotive

  • Metra EMD F7 No. 308

    Metra 308 diesel locomotive

  • Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific No. 30 Inspection Car at the Illinois Railway Museum - August 2018

    Milwaukee Road 30 inspection car

  • Milwaukee Road 118c

    Milwaukee Road 118C diesel locomotive

  • 2023-05-27 Pennsylvania Railroad 4927, Milwaukee Road 265, and Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 4963

    Milwaukee Road 265 steam locomotive

  • Milw 760 at IRM

    Milwaukee Road 760 diesel locomotive

  • Minneapolis Northfield & Southern 21 (Baldwin DT6-6-2000), 1948

    Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern 21 diesel locomotive

  • Minnesota Transfer Railway -200 (Alco RS-3), 1951 - 10570909323

    Minnesota Transfer Railway 200 diesel locomotive

  • NEKP 14

    Nekoosa Paper 14 diesel locomotive

  • Norfolk & Western 2050

    Norfolk and Western 2050 steam locomotive

  • Restored GG1 PRR 4927 at IRM

    Pennsylvania Railroad 4927 electric locomotive

  • 2023-05-27 Public Service Co. No. 7

    Public Service Co. 7 steam locomotive

  • Rock Island No. 938 at the Illinois Railway Museum - December 2008

    Rock Island 938 steam locomotive

  • Rock Island 4506 (1)

    Rock Island 4506 diesel locomotive

  • SP 975

    Southern Pacific 975 steam locomotive

  • SP 1518 20050716 Illinois Railway Museum

    Southern Pacific 1518 diesel locomotive

  • TPW 400 20050716 Illinois Railway Museum

    Toledo, Peoria and Western 400 diesel locomotive

  • Union Electric Co. No. 4 at the Illinois Railway Museum - December 2008

    Union Electric Co. 4 fireless steam locomotive

  • Union Pacific 18

    Union Pacific 18 gas turbine locomotive

  • Up 1848 (1)

    Union Pacific 1848 diesel locomotive

  • UP 6930 20050716 Illinois Railway Museum

    Union Pacific 6930 diesel locomotive

  • 2023-05-27 Illinois Railway Museum United States Army 8537

    United States Army 8537 diesel locomotive

  • Wisconsin Central 7525

    Wisconsin Central 7525 diesel locomotive

  • Damptog på Henry Ford Museumet i Detroit

    Bessemer and Lake Erie 154 steam locomotive

  • End-O-Line Railroad Park

    Georgia Northern 102 steam locomotive

  • Cumberland Railroad Station, train (21600505165)

    Lake Superior and Ishpeming 34 steam locomotive

  • N&W 475 at Leaman Place Junction - August 16, 2020

    Norfolk and Western 475 steam locomotive

  • Tillamook Air Museum in Tillamook, Oregon 34

    Polson Logging Co. 2 steam locomotive

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Illinois Railway Museum Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.