Illinois Railway Museum

Illinois Railway Museum

Illinois Railway Museum

Museum

The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, 55 miles (89 km) northwest of downtown Chicago.

The last EMD RS1325 in revenue service, and one of two built for the Chicago & Illinois Midland Railroad. Today No. 30 is located at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL.

Rock Island Railway No. 938 is a class P-33 4-6-2 steam locomotive built in 1910 by Alco for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. Today No. 938 is on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL.

Chicago & North Western 7009 is the only preserved example of an SD50 diesel freight locomotive. This model was built in La Grange, Illinois, through most of the 1980s by EMD, with over 400 examples being constructed. C&NW 7009 was sold to a locomotive leasing company in 2001 and retired from active service in 2006.

Graysonia Nashville & Ashdown No. 26 is a small freight engine built by Baldwin in September, 1926 (Baldwin serial 72826) for branch line use on the GN&A, a short line in Arkansas. This wheel arrangement was among the earliest used for freight engines, with the first 2-6-0s built around the time of the Civil War. By World War I, large railroads were mostly eschewing Moguls in favor of larger engines but the type remained moderately popular with smaller short line railroads. The line was dieselized in 1951 so it went to the Nebraska Kansas Railroad in Superior, NE. After that line sidetracked it in 1958, it was bought by W Calgren for display in Concordia, Kan in 1960. By 1973, the 26 had been moved to Union, IL, where it joined the Illinois Railroad Museum roster where it currently remains awaiting restoration.

From a recent visit to the Illinois Railway Museum.
<p>Baldwin 1943 Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe 2903 4-8-4 Northern.
</p>
Take a peek at all the pixels

From a recent visit to the Illinois Railway Museum.
<p>Baldwin 1926 Public Service 7 0-6-0T Switcher. An actual tank engine.
</p>
Take a peek at all the pixels

From a recent visit to the Illinois Railway Museum.
<p>Alco 1942 Grand Trunk Western 6323 4-8-4 Northern.
</p>
Take a peek at all the pixels

From a recent visit to the Illinois Railway Museum.
<p>EMD 1953 Chicago & North Western 515 Diesel-Electric E-8A.
</p>
Take a peek at all the pixels

Taken 9/4/23, Shay #5 is being readied for the next Caboose Train departure near the Union Depot at the Illinois Railway Museum

St. Louis & San Francisco 1630

Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric locomotive 4927 at the Illinois Railway Museum

A Baldwin 2-8-0 type steam locomotive built in 1916 for the Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railway now sitting on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL

Burlington & Missouri River Engine 637, Chicago Railroad Fair

Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois, 1988; digital copy of print. Complete indexed photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.

Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois, 1988; digital copy of print. Complete indexed photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.

Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois, 1988; digital copy of print. Complete indexed photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.

Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois, 1988; digital copy of print. Complete indexed photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.

Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois, 1988; digital copy of print. Complete indexed photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.

Memorial Day Weekend at IRM

Southern Pacific No. 975 at the Illinois Railway Museum in 2022

Burlington Northern Railroad 3 (EMD E9AM) at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois

Amtrak 945 (EMD AEM7) at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway 92 (EMD FP45) at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois

Illinois Railway Museum

Ex-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_Edison" class="extiw" title="en:Commonwealth Edison">Commonwealth Edison</a> EMD SW1 switcher locomotive 15 at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Chicago Burlington & Quincy 3007 a 1930 Baldwin 4-6-4 Hudson steam locomotive at the Illinois Railway Museum

Saturday at IRM

Illinois Railway Museum

20080621 39 Illinois Railway Museum Union Pacific 428 boiler work

a visit to the Illinois Railway Museum on Memebers Showcase weekend, 2016

(From the IRM info plate)
<p>Norfolk & Western 2050
1923 Mallet Articulated (2-8-8-2)
</p><p>Mallets use boiler steam twice, in two sets of cylinders. Exhaust from the rear pair of cylinders is reused in the larger front pair, to extract maximum energy. Mallets can also operate in "simple" mode, with fresh steam to all cylinders, to start heavy trains. Each set of an articulated's drivers is carried in a separate frame, connected at a center pivot.
</p><p>Largely due to its efficient Mallet articulates, N&W, was the last major railroad to fully dieselize; it buylt 2-8-8-2's in its own shops until 1952. N&W 2050 hauled coal in West Virginia until 1959, then was used for several years by Armco Steel as a portable steam boiler before placing it in storage. Armco donated the locomotive to IRM in 1976, and it arrived at Union in 1978. N&W 2050 is one of only two 2-8-8-2's remaining.
</p><p>Builder: American Locomotive Co.; No. 64070
Rear Cylinders: 25" diameter by 32" stroke
Front Cylinders: 39" diameter by 32" stroke
Driver Diameter: 54"
Fuel: Coal (22 ton capacity)
Compound Tractive Effort: 114,155 pounds
Simple Tractive Effort: 136,935 punds
Weight (less tender): 539,000 pounds
Weight on Drivers: 485,200 pounds
</p>
Boiler Pressure: 270 psi

South Shore Line #34 in Michigan City in August 1980

Milwaukee Road 118c

An interurban electric train built in 1917--we got to take a ride around the Illinois Railroad Museum in it.

Detroit, Toledo & Ironton No. 16 is a 4-4-0 American type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1915. Today, the locomotive is still part of the IRM's collection, and is on display in Barn No. 9 at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

Memorial Day at IRM

Memorial Day at IRM

Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Interurban Car 36 in operation at the Illinois Railway Museum.

Grand Trunk Western 8380, a 0-8-0 steam locomotive at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL. August 2014.

Chesapeake & Ohio No. 2707 is a "Berkshire" type 2-8-4 locomotive built for the C&O by ALCO in 1943. As of today, it is at the Illinois Railway Museum where it is on static display.

Coronet Phosphate #9 Porter steam locomotive. 2-6-2T. Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL, August 2014

Steam locomotive at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL, August 2014

Steam locomotive at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL, August 2014

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy 4963 is a preserved class "O-1a" 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1923 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. It is now on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

North Shore 160 via Skokie Valley Route to Mundelein

Metra 308 leading the way

<p>I wish I coud say tht I tried to get the blur on the left side but I was just lucky.
</p>
Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad 714 @ Illinois Railway Museum

20040911 26 South Shore Line Little Joe @ Illinois Railway Museum

Trolley retriever - a device that retracted the rope that permitted separation of the trolley pole from the overhead wire.

C&NW F7 411 built in 1949 at the Illinois Railway Museum

20040911 37 CA&E 309 @ Illinois Railway Museum

Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad 308 @ Illinois Railway Museum

This 1947 Dodge 4-door sedan was equipped with special wheels that rode on the tracks. It was used by Milwaukee Road officials to travel along the railroad. This car is a precursor to today’s “highrail” pickup truck, widely used by American railroads. It was retired in 1961 and purchased by the Mid-Continent Railway Museum. For many years the inspection car was on display on a short piece of track near the depot until it was sold in 2014 to the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL.

Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railway car #460 at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

Sitting in the storage leads at IRM on April 22nd 2024, 4601 waits for its turn for restoration. When funds via the IRM website have been raised, the engine will be repainted back into New Haven colors.

Norfolk and Western (N&W) 475 doing in-cab experiences at Leaman Place Junction on August 16, 2020.

GE 1944 United States Army 8537 Diesel-Electric 45 Ton yard engine.

We visited the Illinois Railway Museum over Memorial Day weekend, and I am incredibly slow going through photos lately. GE 1967 TTI 260 Diesel-Electric U28B.

Indiana Railroad 65 @ Illinois Railway Museum

19680922 33 Illinois Terminal RR cars Illinois Railway Museum

Illinois Traction System, later renamed Illinois Terminal Railroad, operated these cars and others like them on a network of routes extending from St. Louis to Decatur, Springfield, Peoria, Champaign-Urbana, and Danville. The brighter orange car was an interurban sleeping car, one of only a few to ever operate.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB%26Q" class="extiw" title="w:CB&Q">CB&Q</a> SD24 #504 at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Railway_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:Illinois Railway Museum">Illinois Railway Museum</a>.

UP 1848 at the the IRM

A train at the Cumberland Railroad station. The car reads "Western Maryland."

<p>Passengers boarding the restored <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroliner" class="extiw" title="w:Electroliner">Electroliner</a> at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Railway_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:Illinois Railway Museum">Illinois Railway Museum</a>
</p>
Photo by Sean Lamb (<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Slambo" title="User:Slambo">User:Slambo</a>)

Big-engine-face Milwaukee Road 265

MBTA GP9 #902 at the IRM

RI 4506 newly restored

Metra 614 pushes a soon to be outbound commuter train into Union Station under the position lights at Racine ave on a cold January day.

NEKP 14, Union IL

Georgia Northern Railway 102 (Alco (Richmond) #64280 of 1923) at the End-O-Line Railroad Park, Currie, Minnesota, USA

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_turbine-electric_locomotive" class="extiw" title="w:Gas turbine-electric locomotive">Gas turbine-electric locomotive</a>, Union Pacific 18 at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Railway_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:Illinois Railway Museum">Illinois Railway Museum</a>.

Illinois Central Railroad 201, a 2-4-4 at the Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois.

Green Bay and Western Railroad 2407, an ALCO RSD-15, at the Illinois Railway Museum

Tillamook Air Museum is an aviation museum south of Tillamook, Oregon in the United States. The museum is housed in a former US Navy blimp hangar, called "Hangar B", which is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world. Constructed by the US Navy in 1942 during World War II for Naval Air Station Tillamook, the hangar building housing the aircraft is 1,072 feet (327 m) long and 296 feet (90 m) wide, giving it over 7 acres (2.8 ha) of area. It stands at 192 feet (59 m) tall. The doors weigh 30 short tons (27 t) each and are 120 feet (37 m) tall. Hangar "B" is one of two that were built on the site originally, Hangar "A" was destroyed by fire in August,1992. (<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.tillamookair.com/">http://www.tillamookair.com/</a>)

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Pacific_Railroad" class="extiw" title="w:Union Pacific Railroad">UP</a> 6930, an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMD_DDA40X" class="extiw" title="w:EMD DDA40X">EMD DDA40X</a> preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum

BN #1 at the IRM

cnw 6847 roster shot

Steam train

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_Road" class="extiw" title="w:Milwaukee Road">Milwaukee Road</a> 760, the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/locomotive" class="extiw" title="w:locomotive">locomotive</a> built by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbanks-Morse" class="extiw" title="w:Fairbanks-Morse">Fairbanks-Morse</a>, preserved in operating condition at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Railway_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:Illinois Railway Museum">Illinois Railway Museum</a>.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo,_Peoria_and_Western_Railroad" class="extiw" title="w:Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad">Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad</a> number 400, an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALCO_RS-11" class="extiw" title="w:ALCO RS-11">ALCO RS-11</a>, on display at the Illinois Railway Museum, in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union,_Illinois" class="extiw" title="w:Union, Illinois">Union, Illinois</a>

Union Electric Co. No. 4 is an 0-4-0F steam locomotive it was built in 1946 by H. K. Porter in Pittsburgh, PA, for the Union Electric power plant in Venice, IL where it used to work as a switcher. It is now on static display at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL.

Chicago Aurora and Elgin interurban cars in operation in 2003. Photo by Frank Hicks

Preserved EMD E5 at Illinois Railway Museum
Photo by Sean Lamb (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Slambo" class="extiw" title="en:User:Slambo">en:User:Slambo</a>), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_18" class="extiw" title="en:July 18">en:July 18</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004" class="extiw" title="en:2004">en:2004</a>

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington_Northern" class="extiw" title="en:Burlington Northern">Burlington Northern</a> 5383, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_U30C" class="extiw" title="en:GE U30C">GE U30C</a>, operating at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Railway_Museum" class="extiw" title="en:Illinois Railway Museum">Illinois Railway Museum</a>
Photo by Sean Lamb (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Slambo" class="extiw" title="en:User:Slambo">User:Slambo</a>), July 18, 2004.

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