Route Proposal: The Illinois Railway Museum

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by GP40Man5528, Feb 4, 2018.

?
  1. YES!

    6 vote(s)
    46.2%
  2. nah

    7 vote(s)
    53.8%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. GP40Man5528

    GP40Man5528 Active Member

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    THE ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM
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    An ariel view of the museum. The IRM owns about 5 miles of working mainline track to run small excursion trains.

    HISTORY
    The Illinois Railway Museum is one of the largest Railway museums in the world. But it wasn't always so big. The museum originally started out as a group of 10 people in the 1940s in an effort to save an Interurban car from the then defunct Indiana Railroad. They're efforts later payed off as the were able to acquire car #65. In 1953, the group of volunteers opened as the Illinois Electric Railway Museum. At first, they operated trains on a small mainline in North Chicago, IL. but later on around 1964, the group was able to acquire about 5 miles of track from the Elgin an Belvidere Electric Railroad as well as about 200 acres of land in Union, IL. The whole collection was later moved to the new complex and that is where the museum resides today. And since the move to Union, the museum has grown immensely with an impressive collection of rail equipment. And each year they are able to present this equipment through exciting events. And even to this day, the museum is still looking to grow. One project they are undertaking is their attempt at making a full roundhouse with a massive 130ft turntable. They also plan to recreate a 1950s era Main Street scene for the main entrance.

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    Burlington Northern executive unit #3 is seen at Union preparing to depart as a CNW commuter excursion train backing down the line.

    TRAIN SIM WORLD RENDITION

    The museum owns about 6 miles of mainline in total. The main trackage is their 5 mile long demonstration mainline. This is where the museum operates their main trains: Their larger passenger and interurban trains. A typical train on the mainline will run to the end of the line and the be sent backwards to the museum again. The remaining mile of track is a small loop of track to operate their street cars on. The street car loop runs around the museums facility stopping a few small stations. Another part of operation is an old CTA style station to run their subway cars with. They also have overhead wires above the roads to run trolley buses as they have a small collection of trolley buses. And of course, the museum has a bunch of display barns to display the rest of their collection. One of the more notable barns is barn 9. Barn 9 stores their amazing collection of steam and diesel locomotives. From the largest steam locomotive in Illinois to the beautiful Nebraska Zephyr, barn 9 has it all. Right next to barn 9 is the steam shop. This is where the IRM Steam Team maintain the extensive collection of steam locomotives. Whether it be cosmetic restoration or full on restoration, the steam team can handle it.

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    Here we see the two flagships of the museum. Frisco 1630 and the Nebraska Zephyr are seen here side by side.


    INCLUDED EQUIPMENT

    The museum has an absolutely massive collection of equipment. But there can only be so much in a pack. So here is the equipment I propose:

    FRISCO 2-10-0 #1630
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    The Frisco 1630 is a popular attraction when the museum decides to run it. Built by Baldwin in 1918, this locomotive was originally built to run in Russia, but due to the Russian Revolution, 1630 and 200 other 2-10-0s were kept in america and sent to US railroads. One of the railroads was the Frisco. The 1630 was first sent to the Pennsylvania Railroad and had a small career on there until it was finally sent to the Frisco. On the Frisco, it served in dual service very well until 1951 when it was sold to Eagle-Pitcher. There, the locomotive pulled ore trains to a smelter. After about 13 years of operation on the Eagle-Pticher, it was finally sold to Illinois Railway Museum. Today, the 1630 is a regular part of the museums special events.

    THE NEBRASKA ZEPHYR
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    The Nebraska Zephyr was one of the many "zephyr" trains of the CB&Q Railroad. Beginning service in 1947, the Nebraska Zephyr pulled trains from Chicago to Omaha, NE. When the railroad discontinued passenger service with the creation of Amtrak, one of the sets of cars was sold to the Illinois Railway Museum along with E5 locomotive #9911. The surviving set of cars was nicknamed "The train of the Goddesses" as each car is named after a goddess of Roman mythology. Today, the Zephyr is a popular attraction and is also a regular part of the Museums special events.

    CNW F7 #411 & CNW Commuter Cars
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    The CNW 411 can be seen a few times throughout the museums operating schedule. Built in 1949, the 411 pulled some of commuter trains on the CNW's Chicago commuter route. In the 1970s, 411 was retired and was not seen for a few years until it was fully restored and sent to the Illinois Railway Museum. It has been a regular part of operations at the museum since then. The 411 is most commonly seen carrying 3 CNW Bi-Level coaches. These cars are numbered 1,6, and 151. Car 151 is a cab car.

    CA&E Interurban Cars
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    The IRM owns a massive collection of CA&E cars. Numbers 36, 308, 309, 319, 321, 409, 431, 451 and 460 are common sights when the museum is operating.

    CTA Street Car 3142
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    Built by J. G. Brill Company in 1923, CTA 3142 is the only survivor of it's kind that ran through the streets of Chicago. The car was retired in 1958 when it was bought by the Electric Railway Historical Society. The car sat there for many years until the ERHS collection was taken over by the Illinois Railway Museum in 1973. Today, the 3142 runs quite frequently on the street car loop the museum operates.

    CTA 2200 Series Cars 2243, 2244
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    The 2200 series cars of the CTA have been around for many years. Built in 1969, the 2200 series cars served the CTA Subway systems until 2013 when a farewell trip was made for these cars. Today, cars 2243 and 2244 as preserved at IRM and can be seen throughout the year pulling a couple trains.


    ROLLING STOCK (PASSENGER)
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    The museum owns a massive collection of passenger cars. And a lot are used regularly to pull the museums excursion trains. Combine cars such as CNW 7700 and ATSF 2544 can be seen commonly on these trains. As well as some old Rock Island commuter cars, Lackawanna coaches, and DM&IR car #84.
    (To learn more about the passenger car collection, visit this page: http://www.irm.org/roster/coaches.html)


    ROLLING STOCK (FREIGHT & CABOOSES)
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    The museum occasionally operates a caboose train. So the freight department maintains a small fleet of cabooses to call out when they run the caboose train. They also own GPEX milkcar #1021. This car operates as an auxiliary water tender for the 1630. Which is why this car can be seen a majority of the time behind 1630. (To learn more about the freight car collection, visit this page: http://www.irm.org/roster/freight.html)


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    ATSF 4-8-4 #2903 has been awarded the largest steam locomotive in Illinois. Today, the steam team at IRM occasionally maintain it for static display.

    FINAL CONCLUSION

    The Illinois Railway Museum is a very diverse place for almost any railfan. Whether you like steam, diesel, or electric, the museum is able to offer all of those experiences. Generations old and new love coming here to soak up all the history the museum is able to offer. The public has the option to ride on the historic equipment or walk through barn after barn marveling at the amazing display's. And the concept of a museum like this would be really neat to have in this game. Which is why the Illinois Railway Museum would be a great fit for Train Simulator World.

    For more information about the museum, to get a membership, or to make a donation to a piece of equipment, visit: http://www.irm.org/

    (If anyone would like to request another locomotive for this proposal, you are more than welcome! :))
     
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  2. Yosef

    Yosef New Member

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    thomas days
     

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