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The Museum is closed until April.

C&NW Historical Society Archives

Open on select weekend days and during certain IRM event days, the Chicago & North Western Historical Society Archives Building is operated by and home to the Chicago & North Western Historical Society (C&NWHS). It is located on IRM’s historic Main Street, just around the curve from the Model Railroad Exhibit. The C&NWHS has a small display room housing museum artifacts, the C&NWHS Wall of Memories, and retail goods. There is no additional entry cost for IRM visitors on days the display room is open to the public.

The Society celebrates and preserves the history of the Chicago & North Western and family roads such as the Chicago Great Western, Minneapolis & St Louis, the Omaha Road, and the Fort Dodge Des Moines & Southern. The C&NW ran through nearly 5,000 towns in the Midwest including Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Omaha, Nebraska; and Rapid City, South Dakota. 

The C&NWHS Archives Collection, which is housed in the remainder of the building, covers the history of an entire railroad. The Archives Collection primarily consists of an estimated 10 million pieces of paper from drawings and maps to day-to-day correspondence, some as old as the 1860s. Approximately 500,000 photos can be found in the Archive Collection. The Society is also home to the Bill & Judy Wimmer Timetable Collection covering railroads spanning the entire United States.

The Chicago & North Western Historical Society Archives is open to researchers by appointment only. Contact the C&NWHS Archives here.

Learn more about the Chicago & North Western Historical Society here.

Illinois Railway Museum

The Illinois Railway Museum, as you see it today, is the result of decades of effort by a dynamic group of dedicated volunteers. All of the buildings, track, locomotives and cars were assembled here at Union on what was once farmland. Our main line trackage was laid on the vacant right-of-way of the Elgin & Belvidere Electric railway. Why would rational adults freely contribute so much of their time and treasure to creating this repository of railroad history?

To answer this question, we must remember that at one time in our nation’s past the railroad industry was the largest private employer. With so many families supported by one enterprise, the widespread interest in that industry is understandable….manifesting itself in special interest groups devoted to various activities such as taking railroad pictures or publishing books on railroads, building railroad models or just “riding the rails,” The Illinois Railway Museum is probably the ultimate railroad historian special interest group. Originally formed to preserve one important piece of rolling stock, it has evolved into an educational and historic preservation organization recreating possibly the largest operating demonstration railroad showcase on the North American continent.

We welcome all to our Museum and encourage you to join in our education, restoration and preservation efforts. Only one prerequisite is recommended, a sincere interest in some aspect of railroading.

Learn more