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

UNION, IL — The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) will host a major retrospective exhibition, “Under the Wire – The Art and Life of Mitch Markovitz,” showcasing more than 50 years of original paintings and posters by acclaimed artist Mitch Markovitz. The exhibit opens Sunday, April 12, 2026, with a public

Construction work on Barn 15 is complete, and on Friday, February 27th, the Museum received the occupancy permit for the building. Over the weekend, IRM volunteers began switching equipment into the barn, starting with passenger cars and diesels. The completion of Barn 15 comes 10 years to the month after

The safety of our guests, volunteers, and staff is our top priority, and the expected conditions would make travel and event operations unsafe. We know this is disappointing news, especially during such a festive season, and we truly appreciate your understanding. Next steps: Fear not, you can still visit Happy

On Saturday, November 1st, join the Illinois Railway Museum on the Fall Colors Express. This day of excursions on the Chicago ‘L’ system is being hosted by IRM and the Chicago Transit Authority’s Heritage Fleet Program. Three excursion trips over the course of the day will feature CTA 6000-series ‘L’

The SD70MAC was the first production AC traction locomotive in the US Burlington Northern Santa Fe 9400, the SD70MAC diesel locomotive that pioneered AC traction for freight service in the United States when it was built in 1993, has been donated by BNSF to the Illinois Railway Museum for preservation.

UNION, IL: Dynamic Rail Preservation (DynaRail) and the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) are pleased to announce that DynaRail has donated the two ex-Amtrak diesel locomotives under its care to IRM. The locomotives are Amtrak 231, an F40PHR built in 1977, and Amtrak 644/BNSF 6976, an SDP40F built in 1974. Number

Every day a steam engine operates, a little bit of wear occurs. It is our fundamental belief that we have an obligation to the future to put more life into Frisco 1630 than we take out of it through regular operation so it can operate far into the future. Every

Because of a mechanical issue discovered this spring while preparing Frisco steam locomotive 1630 for 2025 operations, the Museum has made the difficult decision to remove the locomotive from service immediately. The Museum will now begin a federally mandated 1472-day inspection so 1630 can be repaired and returned to service.

The Strahorn Library of the Illinois Railway Museum is pleased to announce a new podcast series titled “How Vast the American Railways.” The first episode was made available on April 30, 2025, and new episodes are expected to be made available on a regular schedule. The podcast will take deep