Illinois Railway Museum

The Illinois Railway Museum is founded in 1953 by ten individuals who purchase Indiana Railroad interurban car 65, originally operating as the Illinois Electric Railway Museum on the Chicago Hardware Foundry grounds in North Chicago. In March 1962 the organization adopts the name Illinois Railway Museum, and two years later, in March 1964, it relocates to Union, Illinois along the former Elgin and Belvidere Electric Company right‑of‑way. Passenger service commences on July 17 1966 with Illinois Terminal Railroad interurban car 415, followed by the first steam locomotive operation, J. Neils Lumber Company 5, on October 29 1967. A storage barn project begins in 1971 and is completed in January 1972; a one‑mile streetcar loop is built in 1981, and after paying back taxes the museum acquires 4.6 mi of track, celebrating a main‑line extension on May 31 1982 and completing the Kishwaukee Grove mainline in September 1991. The nonprofit, owned and governed by its members, expands its site with an additional 89 acre purchase in 2009, installs a 130‑foot Union Pacific turntable in 2016, and opens a Multi‑purpose Building housing the Model Railroad Display and Pullman Archive in 2021, cementing its status as the largest railroad museum in the United States.