IRM Diesel Shop Rail Yard

A Living Railroad Museum

The Illinois Railway Museum in Union is the largest railway museum in the United States, preserving hundreds of locomotives, streetcars, and rail cars across a sprawling campus of tracks and heritage buildings.

Inside the Diesel Shop

This view centers on the Diesel Shop (West) yard, where retired diesel locomotives from storied American railroads rest on parallel sidings, some awaiting restoration and others already returned to operating condition.

A Working Rail Yard

Beyond the shop building, a web of switching tracks and signal poles stretches toward open farmland, a reminder that the museum's grounds once formed part of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad right-of-way.

Preserving Railroad Heritage

Volunteers and staff use this working yard to shuttle, inspect, and maintain the collection, keeping alive the craftsmanship of America's diesel and steam railroading era for visitors and railfans alike.