Illinois Railway Museum is America's largest railroad museum. As the displays are housed in many buildings in a park setting museum opening is seasonal. For dates of opening check our website
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4.5/5 · 309 reviews
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May 8, 2025
A must for rail fans. Large grounds with extensive displays. Multiple opportunities to “ride the rails.” Friendly knowledgeable staff. We attended Pullman Days. Very fun! We were there 5 hours and st…Full review by jcharles60
Apr 12, 2025
The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM) has an excellent collection of Midwestern themed railroad cars & other items, some still operable. The extensive grounds has both outdoors & indoors barns organized …Full review by christopherbO9687MP
Jan 1, 2025
Super disappointing experience with the Happy Holiday Railway. We understood that this was NOT the Polar Express but the decorations were literally falling off the walls of the old, dirty Metra train…Full review by Jennifer C
Do they ever start the diesel locomotives for customers to hear?
A:
> They have 45 Diesel locomotives listed in their roster. Do they actually have that many on hand? There really are that many on the property. It is definitely bigger in scale than other …
> They have 45 Diesel locomotives listed in their roster. Do they actually have that many on hand? There really are that many on the property. It is definitely bigger in scale than other museums. However, probably only a quarter to a third of them are operable, and on any given day only one or two are operating. If you're after as many operating diesels as possible, look on the calendar for Diesel Days, usually sometime in August. They operate MANY units that weekend - in 2017 they ran about a dozen ranging from a 45-tonner to a B40-8 and the Nebraska Zephyr.
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