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The Museum is open for Bunny Trolley Hop.

Matching Donation for Diesel Preservation Offered

We are excited to announce that a matching donation opportunity has been offered to the Illinois Railway Museum. This offer goes toward raising money for indoor storage of diesel locomotives in our collection. The opportunity is a dollar for dollar match of up to $50,000 for donations to the IRM Diesel Department Indoor Storage Fund. This offer doubles the effectiveness of every dollar donated for diesel indoor storage up to that amount.

Indoor storage of railroad equipment is absolutely vital to its long-term preservation, and raising money for constructing storage buildings has long been a priority of the museum. This fundraising effort will help construct barn space to house and preserve diesel locomotives in IRM’s historic collection including:

  • Armco Steel E110 (Lima, 1951)
  • Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe 543 (Fairbanks-Morse, 1956)
  • Burlington Northern BN1 and BN2 (EMD, 1956 and 1954)
  • Chicago & North Western 6847 (EMD, 1974)

And many other diesels in the museum’s collection are also candidates for indoor storage, depending on the success of the fundraising effort.

The next storage barn at IRM is tentatively planned to be Barn 15. Donations toward indoor storage space of historic railway equipment preserved at the museum will fund construction of this building. With your support, IRM will build Barn 15.

Donations to qualify for the matching donation can be made by check to the Illinois Railway Museum, with “Diesel Indoor Storage Fund” on the memo line. Donations can also be made online at www.irm.org/donations/indoor-storage. Please make sure to select the Diesel Department option when donating online.

Thank you for your support.

Learn more about the Barn 15 project here.

Construction of Barn 13 in 2015

Image: Construction of Barn 13 in 2015