To our visitors, members and staff: The Illinois Railway Museum is now finalizing plans to reopen. Our absolute priority is everyone’s safety in these difficult times. We plan to open July 18-19 for members only and to both visitors and members beginning July 25-26. These dates are subject to our

Due to the great deal of uncertainty surrounding opening and operating our Museum campus consistent with public policy and health recommendations, the Illinois Railway Museum remains closed to the public until further notice and has elected to proactively cancel all previously-announced special events scheduled through September 15, 2020. The Museum

The latest addition to the Illinois Railway Museum’s historic collection, electric trolley bus 9809 from Dayton, Ohio, arrived at the museum on May 1, 2020. The type 14TrE2 trolley bus was built in 1998 by Electric Transit Inc, a joint venture between US defense contractor AAI and longtime Czech Republic

The Illinois Railway Museum has been awarded a grant of $25,000 by the John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust. This grant, which follows an initial grant awarded in early 2019, funds the second part of a major rehabilitation and stabilization program concentrating on the museum’s network of overhead trolley wire

Due to the rapid progression of the Corona Virus public health crisis in the State of Illinois and the Chicago Area, the Illinois Railway Museum will immediately undertake the following protective measures: The Bunny Trolley Hop event scheduled for April 4-5-11, 2020, centered around the Easter Holiday, will be cancelled

The Illinois Railway Museum is pleased to announce that it has finalized its 2020 operating schedule. The schedule is available at www.irm.org/calendar A list of special events planned for 2020 is on the museum’s hours and admission page. Popular family-themed special events including Bunny Trolley Hop, Day Out With Thomas™,

Union, IL – The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) is pleased to announce that it has acquired the historic Pullman private car Pawnee. The car arrived at the museum on its own wheels on Thursday, December 12th. This historic railroad car was built in 1930 and is the second-to-last traditional “heavyweight”

At about 4:45 p.m. on the evening of November 30th, at the peak of our Happy Holiday Railway event, Commonwealth Edison suffered a failure in their supply system that deprived the museum of electrical power. Power was not restored until approximately 8:00 p.m. While we were able to operate the

IRM is pleased to announce that it has achieved its initial fundraising goal for Toledo Peoria & Western 800, the Alco C424 locomotive acquired in 2018 from the Morristown & Erie Railroad. This initial goal, to raise $60,000 to fund the purchase of the locomotive and transportation to Union, was

The Illinois Railway Museum is pleased to announce that it has acquired one of the last traditional single-unit streetcars ever built for service in North America. This new addition to the museum’s collection allows IRM to trace the history of urban rail transport from 1859 all the way to the