A new television special premiering Monday, April 13th, 2026, at 7:00pm on WTTW, will feature the Illinois Railway Museum. Riding the Rails with Geoffrey Baer is a 60-minute television special that tells the story of how railroads shaped the Chicago area. Baer travels around northern Illinois to discover traces of Chicago’s railroad history and tell the stories of the current rail system.

As America’s largest railroad museum and the home to an unparalleled collection of Chicago railroad history, IRM is prominently featured in this special. The Museum hosted Emmy Award-winning Geoffrey Baer and the WTTW crew in 2025, when they visited during filming, and is excited to be a part of this educational feature. IRM was even able to put Geoffrey at the throttle of a real steam engine, J. Neils Lumber Company 5.

“I’ve been obsessed with trains since I was a little kid, when I would rush to the dining room window each time a train passed by,” said Geoffrey Baer. “So creating this special was a lifelong dream. I’m excited to take viewers along with me and my crew on this virtual ride aboard every kind of train imaginable, modern and historic.”

The show will be viewable on WTTW, the PBS app, and at wttw.com/rails.