Communications director Frank Hicks tells Trains News Wire that the museum has been working towards that goal for “about 55 years, depending on how you look at it.” The organization took out their first mortgage when it moved to Union in 1964 and purchased a 26-acre plot around the depot.
The museum paid off the mortgage on that first plot several years ago, but then took out several more mortgages for the purposes of “land acquisition and to establish buffer space between ourselves and residential areas.” This last mortgage, Hicks says, was for an 89-acre parcel acquired in 2009. IRM was able to pay it off after receiving a sizable bequest earmarked for land acquisition.
“Being debt-free fees up more money on month to month basis that we can put towards operations or restorations,” Hicks says. “We are grateful to our many donors who allowed us to get to this point.”
Hicks says that the museum has not directly transferred the mortgage payments to other projects, but having those funds available will allow them to put more emphasis on building a visitors’ center and recreating a historic Main Street with tracks running down the middle.
“The Main Street (project) will allow us to operate our streetcars in an authentic setting,” Hicks says of the two-block long stretch of historic buildings and facades. “The visitors’ center will be its cornerstone. We have worked with an architect to develop plans, and we are just now starting fundraising for that project.”
For more information on the Illinois Railway Museum and its holdings, go to www.irm.org.
Tom E. Dailey Foundation
NRHS Heritage Grant Program
AMAZON SMILE
John H. Emery Rail Heritage Trust
Whole Foods Market 5% Donation Days
Congratulations, Illinois Railway Museum!
I visited IRM in 1969 as a teenager. An official or volunteer was kind enough to give me and my father a ride on a streetcar over a stretch of track with catenary. The ride was rough due to the poor alignment of the track. However, the ride was enjoyable; and, I am grateful to the operator for providing us the adventure.
I was just up there for Diesel Days last August. Well worth the 13 hour drive to get there. In addition to one of the few museums that has old GE’s on display and running, the cafe has a grilled chicken sandwich that is to die for!
What would be great to see would be a large rail loop finished around the southern perimeter of the property that would start and end at the Station. That would complement the long stretch of straight track that they currently operate on.
I can’t deny that I’m jealous of everyone in NE Illinois/SE Wisconsin, who has this great museum in their backyard. I wish the museum near me were this professional, but alas, it’s a dumpster fire. IRM is always worth the trip and I cannot offer enough congratulations to the whole staff.
IRM is on my list of places to see. Maybe I will get up there soon.
Congratulations, IRM! As good as you are at managing funds, assets and budgets, maybe you should run the State of Illinois’ finances.
For long-term success it is essential to have complete control over the site, which means ownership. Other operations have run into major difficulties, often fatal, when forced by the actual property owner to vacate. Just moving the equipment can be very expensive and beyond an organization’s means. Sometimes their equipment survives. If a new home cannot be found quickly, a scrapper may be called in to clear the site.
Congratulations.
IRM if you haven’t thought about when you construct this recreation of main street have the buildings feature actual shops and restaurants..Just my two cents
Wow. They bought a big chunk of land to create a “buffer space” between the museum and future housing developments. Now THAT’S thinking ahead. Sort of a NIMBY-free zone. That investment will pay dividends forever.
George, I visited the IRM a couple years ago while on vacation from NJ. It’s fantastic. Plan on spending the whole day. Lunch is available onsite. I rode the steam train once and the electric EL train twice, plus the trolley, all included. I also loved the signal display, has to be the best one anywhere.