In the News

Photo by Bob Weder

Schedule for 2020 finalized

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™,

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Museum acquires private car Pawnee

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”

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Happy Holiday Railway

Power outage on November 30th

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

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Milestone reached for TP&W 800

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

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IRM acquires 1979 streetcar from Toronto

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

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Christmas train at the Illinois Railway Museum

Happy Holiday Railway expanded for 2019

One of the museum’s most popular events, Happy Holiday Railway, is being expanded and improved for 2019. The boarding area has been moved from alongside Barn 9 to the historic 1851 East Union Depot, the oldest railway station in use west of Pittsburgh, following building improvements made since the beginning

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Interurban car returns home to Illinois after 57 years

A piece of Illinois history has returned to the Land of Lincoln after an absence of more than half a century. The Illinois Railway Museum is pleased to announce that Chicago Aurora & Elgin 453, an historic electric interurban car built in 1945, has returned to its home state of

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North Shore Electroliner reassembled

On September 17, 2019 the Illinois Railway Museum reassembled the iconic North Shore Electroliner after a three-year period of rebuilding work on the articulated train’s trucks and motors. The train’s four cars were lifted from their temporary “shop trucks” and placed on their original trucks by a crew of museum

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Historic program to be held at IRM September 21st

Join author and historian Barbara Warner Deane at the Illinois Railway Museum on Saturday, September 21st at 1:00pm for a historical presentation and discussion about the canteens run at railway stations across America during World War II. The presentation will center around Deane’s new book, The Whistle Stop Canteen, which

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Cab rides and Take the Throttle trips to be offered during Diesel Days

The Illinois Railway Museum has added a series of unique and immersive experiences to the 2019 Diesel Days event. Museum visitors will be able to ride in the cab of a diesel engine during a trip over the museum’s demonstration railroad, experiencing the sights and sounds of a full-sized locomotive

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