Union Electric 4 is the museum’s only example of a fireless steam engine. Fireless engines, which were uniformly switchers, were designed for use in industrial areas where there was a significant fire risk. Rather than having a firebox, which could create sparks, they instead were “charged” with superheated water from

Rock Island 938 is an express passenger engine built for hauling heavy passenger trains at high speed. The 4-6-2 Pacific wheel arrangement was very popular for mainline passenger engines between 1910 and about 1930 and 938 is an exemplar of the type. At the end of its service life it

J. Neils Lumber Company 5 is the museum’s only geared locomotive. It is a Shay, designed with three cylinders mounted vertically on the engineer’s side that power a drive shaft running the length of the engine alongside the wheels. This allows all wheels to be powered using bevel gears. Shays

Southern Pacific 975 is a heavy freight engine and one of only five American 2-10-2 engines preserved intact. This wheel arrangement was popular around World War I but was later supplanted by 2-8-4 and 2-10-4 engines that were faster and more powerful. While 2-10-2s were called “Santa Fe” types, the

Commonwealth Edison 5 is a heavy switcher built to haul trains of coal cars at low speed around power plants. It likely spent its entire career working at the Calumet Generating Station, located on 100th Street at the Calumet River in South Chicago. It operated at IRM during the 1970s

St. Louis – San Francisco Railroad (“Frisco”) 1630 is the museum’s most famous steam engine. A “Russian Decapod,” it was built in 1918 for export to Russia but was embargoed when the Bolshevik Revolution took place. Instead the newly-completed engine was sold to the Frisco, which used it in both

Public Service 7 was the first steam engine ever acquired by IRM. It is a tank engine, meaning it carries coal and water in tanks attached to the locomotive rather than in a separate tender. It was built for hauling cars around the power generating station in Waukegan, IL. Builder:

Norfolk & Western 2050 is the only articulated steam engine preserved at IRM and one of only two 2-8-8-2 Mallet locomotives in existence. It is a United States Railroad Administration (USRA) standard design and saw use in low-speed drag freight service in the mountains of Virginia. It is a compound

American Creosote Works 7 is the smallest steam locomotive in the IRM collection and the museum’s only piece of equipment built by the Vulcan Iron Works. It is a tank engine, meaning it carries coal and water in tanks attached to the locomotive rather than in a separate tender. Vulcan

Chesapeake & Ohio 2707 is an example of a typical “Super Power” locomotive built towards the end of the steam locomotive era. It features a large firebox and combustion chamber to provide more heat and, thus, more steam and more horsepower. Engines of this type were generally known as Berkshires