The Illinois Railway Museum is making available a number of surplus items in an online auction, including an ex-Chicago & North Western steam locomotive tender, a pickup truck, tools, light fixtures, pieces of furniture, historic railroad items, and artwork. These items were acquired by IRM via purchase or donation and

A collaborative venture between the Illinois Railway Museum, IRM’s Strahorn Library, and the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University has resulted in the “Don’s Depot Rail Photos” website being restored. The original Don’s Depot website was created by the late Don Ross and hosted thousands of railroad, train, and transit

At the 2024 fall conference of the Heritage Rail Alliance (HRA), held in Springdale, Arkansas, the Illinois Railway Museum received two HRA Achievement Awards. The first award, in the Significant Achievement-Archives category, was presented jointly to IRM and to the Chicago & North Western Historical Society (C&NWHS) for the construction

An exhibition of renowned photographer David Plowden’s photographs has opened at the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM). Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden was produced by the Center for Railroad Photography & Art (CRP&A) working with Plowden. More than 50 photographs trace the waning days of the steam

The Illinois Railway Museum is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant of $25,000 by the John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust. The grant will fund restoration work on Milwaukee Road lightweight coach 649, including electrical and air brake work necessary to make the car operational. Milwaukee

The Illinois Railway Museum is running a “Snowflake Special” excursion on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) on Saturday, April 6, 2024. Join IRM in a tradition of museum-sponsored excursions dating back to 1958! Beginning at Forest Park Station on the Blue Line, our excursion train will travel to the south,

Roughly five years after the start of fundraising, Milwaukee Road “Buffeteria” dining car 126 arrived at the Illinois Railway Museum on January 31, 2024. The Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, or Milwaukee Road, built car 126 in its shops in Milwaukee in 1948. Originally the car was a

The Illinois Railway Museum has received delivery of two bi-level cars, also known as gallery cars, originally from the Chicago & North Western (C&NW). These two cars are coaches that operated in commuter service out of Chicago for more than four decades. Both were built by Pullman-Standard. The older of

Historic Pullman heavyweight sleeper-buffet-lounge-solarium car “Palm Lane” arrived at the Illinois Railway Museum’s railroad interchange track on its own wheels on September 15, 2023. This rare example of a “sunroom” solarium observation car was built by Pullman in 1929 and placed into service in January of that year. Its initial

IRM is pleased to announce a series of unique offerings and experiences during its annual Museum Showcase Weekend, September 16th and 17th, to commemorate the organization’s 70th anniversary. This year’s Showcase Weekend will feature constant train operations between 10:00am Saturday and 6:00pm Sunday, including the first time IRM has ever