Illinois Railway Museum Discussion

IRM is having its annual Snowflake Special CTA Charter Train on Sunday, March 27th. Tickets are $42 and can be purchased on the IRM website, http://www.irm.org. This year's trip will operate over sections or the entirey of the Blue, Pink, Green, Brown, Red, and Orange lines. Funds generated from this trip will be put toward the future purchase of a pair of 2200-series "L" cars, which is the rolling stock planned to be used for the trip.

IRM normally does not operate for the public on Saturdays in April, but last Saturday the Museum hosted the annual meet of the Illinois Traction Society and operated most of the Illinois Terminal cars in the collection. Those that did not operate were pulled outside for photos. Pictures and some short videos are linked on the Hicks Car Works web site here: http://hickscarworks.blogspot.com/

Webmaster Jamie Kolanowski has been experimenting with time lapse video to capture a day's webcam action on a 10 minute video. That day's action is here: http://www2.irm.org/cam/timelapse.html?date=04-30-2011

My son and I enjoyed this year's trolley pageant yesterday. It's always fun to see the pantograph cars lower and raise the pans and coast through the trolley wire "special work".

Late in the afternoon, we had a surprise "rare mileage" treat. We were out on a four-car (three motors plus the restored 1907 trailer) CTA set. They're high platform cars. The ladders were on Track 1 but the track was plugged with equipment waiting to be put away after the parade. At first, they were going to put on Track 2 which would have meant moving the ladders so then the dispatcher had a better idea and sent us around the wye to 50th Avenue (relocated and restored wood-platform CTA station). First time I've seen 50th Avenue used for anything other than static display cars and first time I've seen "revenue" moves on the west leg of the wye (the east leg is part of the streetcar loop).

I wish I had been able to get to the IRM Trolley Parade on July 4. This was the 30th anniversary of the event and certainly the biggest and best so far! A total of 47 pieces of electric traction equipment operated in 26 "trains"--many were three and four car MU consists.

Several videos have been posted on YouTube. I think this one is overall the best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4obHhiLDJE

The Leviathan 63 steam locomotive is scheduled to operate at IRM several weekends. August 7th, 13th, 14th, September 3,4,5, 17, 18.

http://www.irm.org/events/Leviathan63.html

Hi, Im new here and I was wondering if IRM has any plans on extending the Mainline from Union IL to Huntley IL? Ive been to IRM many times and I always wondered if they planed on one day have a rail connection between the two cites. Has the museum ever thought about this?

Matt3985 wrote:Hi, Im new here and I was wondering if IRM has any plans on extending the Mainline from Union IL to Huntley IL? Ive been to IRM many times and I always wondered if they planed on one day have a rail connection between the two cites. Has the museum ever thought about this?

It has always been IRM's long range plan to operate as far as Coyne Station road just west of Huntley. However immediately past the current end of track there is a major stream crossing with hundreds of feet of flood plain and wetlands. Getting across that will be difficult and expensive, so any extension east is currently low priority and probably a long way in the future.

Last weekend was the annual Member's weekend at IRM. One of the treats was the first operation at the Museum of Chicago "L" car 1797, an ACF product of 1907. It ran for the public with 1268, a trailer from the same ACF order. Both were beautifully restored over the past few years primarily by member Tim Peters. The 1797 last operated in 1958, several years after the wood cars were removed from CTA service, when it ran under its own power with several other CTA woods over the CNS&M interurban to the original IRM site in North Chicago, IL

Twp short videos have been posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_SFSDVbt3s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2yTXMto52E

polybalt wrote:

Matt3985 wrote:Hi, Im new here and I was wondering if IRM has any plans on extending the Mainline from Union IL to Huntley IL? Ive been to IRM many times and I always wondered if they planed on one day have a rail connection between the two cites. Has the museum ever thought about this?

It has always been IRM's long range plan to operate as far as Coyne Station road just west of Huntley. However immediately past the current end of track there is a major stream crossing with hundreds of feet of flood plain and wetlands. Getting across that will be difficult and expensive, so any extension east is currently low priority and probably a long way in the future.

I see. Because I thought of having two stations at each end of the line would be a better option then just to have one boarding location at Union. Plus if lets just say when IRM does cross that stream near the End of ROW, are their plans to build a wye or a run around track to turn the locomotive so it wont have to run backwards down the line on the return trip. Plus are there any plans to extend the line north to or thru Union or possibly beyond? I know all of these events seem will not happened any time soon but is there at least a plan? Plus I know your answer about the line extending to Coyne Station road but why cant you go all the way to Huntley? Is there any remain railroad depot there plus does Huntley have any interest of having the museum trains operating into there town? Plus one more question, Ive been a fan of IRM for many years but I have not visited it much lately since 2004 which was Frisco #1630's last year of operation and Ive only been to IRM only twice since then. Is Steam likely going to return to operation next year. I miss their steam locomotives operating and Ive been following the progress of the restoration for years and I wish I could come down and help If I could find the time and also money to donate but Its been like 7 or 8 years. Any word for any steam to return to IRM for 2013 (and I am not talking about visiting Steam Locomotives)

The motivation for a museum to extend the line is W-H-Y.
First the expense to build, then the expense to maintain.
Next what benifit do they get beyond it being nice to go there ?
If 99% of the folks who will pay to ride will come to the main museum property anyway
the answer is simple ... don't bother doing it.
Also, IRM already has a connection to the world, so there is another reason not to bother.

Lastly maintaining a line has costs in ties, rails, etc., and labor.
So you need to balance the ride you provide (time to do it) against the cost to maintain it.
For many museums about a mile & one-half is just about right ... IRM has much more then that already.

IRM is sponsoring a fantrip on the CTA Rapid Transit system this March 27. This year's trip will have an 8-car train made up of married-pairs of each of the four types of d.c. propulsion car still in service. Details are at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqIQrDBJgjM

This is a great introduction to the fascinating CTA system for those of you from out-of-town. Proceeds will be used to fund acquisition of these car types for the Museum as they become available. IRM has examples of every order of steel cars ever purchased for the "L", starting with the first steel cars from 1915 . They also have a good cross section of wood cars dating back to 1898.

Sorry! Wrong link to the CTA fantrip details. Look here: http://www.irm.org/events/snowflakespecial.html

Wrong date! It's Sunday, March 24.

Was there for the May 11th Cub Scout Day ... lots of scouts & tours behind the scenes.
Enjoyed the very detailed talk in the steam shop ... apparently one may come out this year.

Hi, I'm going to Chicago for a week in August and was planning to come here for the first time. As I don't drive, I plan to take a taxi from either Crystal Lake or Woodstock. How much is the taxi fare typically (not asking for an exact amount, just a ballpark figure)? Thanks for any help.