We love the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. We were not sure what to expect before our first visit. Once we went, we became huge fans and repeat guests at this riveting train museum. Illinois Railway Museum is a great place for train lovers, history buffs and families looking for a fun place to spend time together. We want to share our experience to help guide you through your own visit. So, full steam ahead!
What is the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois?
The Illinois Railway Museum is a not-for-profit organization that restores, preserves, displays and even runs trains! The museum itself is on a great big campus with massive barns each large enough to store and display many train cars and locomotives. The campus is ringed by a streetcar line, and another five mile track extends from the campus and through the surrounding land. Depending on the schedule during your visit, you will be able to explore stationary trains and ride others: all for the cost of admission.
The cool thing is that this organization is volunteer owned and run. Your ticket helps keep it going, and the people working on the trains are volunteers who really love trains. It is awesome.
What We Do on a Visit to the Illinois Railway Museum
Before we visited for the first time, I was nervous that the museum would be a desolate campus dotted with closed and rusting train cars. I was so wrong! This is a vibrant place with so much to see and do.
Ride the Streetcar
My family’s favorite thing to do at the Illinois Railway Museum is ride the streetcar. On different visits, we have encountered different streetcars from various decades. They have all been lovingly and charmingly restored down to their woven wicker seats or vintage soap ads.
We like to hop on the streetcar and admire the various locomotives and train cars we can spot from the windows. In our experience, the volunteers on the streetcars are happy to share their knowledge and point out interesting sights. We especially love their authentic attire and ticket-punches.
When we are ready, we hop-off at a stop that strikes our fancy, and then we explore the trains up-close. We know that we can catch the streetcar again on its next loop around. Unlimited rides on the streetcars are all part of general admission to the museum.
Explore the Barns
Do not let the name fool you, the only horses we are visiting at the Illinois Railway museum are iron ones. The barns are the gigantic buildings housing the locomotives, passenger cars, streetcars and other impressive machines. Not every barn is open every day. But for the ones that are, you can walk between the rows and rows of everything from giant steam locomotives to elegant dining cars to Pullman sleepers.
Check-out the museum map to figure out which barns you may want to visit. They are generally organized by type. We particularly like visiting Barn 3, because it has passenger cars that you can usually walk through (rather than next to), and it is fun to get a tiny chance to experience what train travel was like during its heyday. The platforms on the back of the fancy parlor observation cars make for a great photo setting!
Climb Aboard the Train-Themed Playground
Beside Barn 3 is a train-themed playground. While we would probably not make the trip out to Union, Illinois just for this playground, we do spend some time here on every visit. It is the best place for getting some wiggles out, and there are nearby picnic table where we like to eat our lunch. Plus, we can watch the trains chugging along on the main line and streetcars on their loop all from the play structures!
And… Climb Aboard a Real Train!
In addition to the streetcar track we mentioned earlier, the Illinois Railway Museum also maintains a five-mile long main line. If steam or diesel trains are operating during your visit, this is where they will be running. You board the train cars near the authentic depot on the northwest side of the campus.
From there, you will have an approximately thirty-five to forty-five minute ride that will take you out into the surrounding countryside and back. You do not need a separate ticket for this, it is all included in your general admission, but be sure to check the schedule. These trains do not run nearly as frequently as the streetcar. That brings us to our advice on finding the operating schedule and our other top tips for visiting the Illinois Railway Museum.
Top Tips for Visiting the Illinois Railway Museum
We hope that we have convinced you to visit the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. To make your visit as smooth as possible, keep reading for our top tips.
Check the Operating Schedule
For a number of reasons, you will want to check the Illinois Railway Museum operating schedule before your visit. You can find it on the website right here.
With the exception of some special events, the Illinois Railway Museum is closed to guests for most of the cold months. You will want to take close look at when the museum is open. Plus, the calendar shows you the hours and admission price for each particular day.
Importantly, it also shows you which trains are running that day. If your little ones (or big ones) have their hearts set on riding a steam train, you will want to know which days the museum is running those. It changes from day to day!
Remember, on general admission days, you can ride in any operating trains (and street cars) without paying extra! It’s a great deal.
Consider Visiting During a Special Event
The Illinois Railway Museum hosts lots of special events. Some require a special event ticket, but most are covered by general admission, and some even offer special rates for special folks. For example, mothers are free on Mothers Day when accompanied by a fare-paying child or adult.
The most famous of these events is probably Day Out with Thomas, during which Thomas the Tank Engine and his buddies visit and offer rides (this event requires special tickets).
While we love Thomas, Percy and the whole crew, we actually prefer the other special event days that are covered under general admission. We have never encountered overwhelming crowds on these days despite some awesome experiences being on offer. Once, we got to ride the gorgeous Nebraska Zephyr. But our favorite special event was the Railway Post Office Weekend, when we got to see mail bags being hooked and kicked from speeding trains by real pros. (Really, that’s how mail was moved for years!)
Bring Your Own Lunch
You are welcome to bring your own food to the Illinois Railway Museum. We like to pack our lunches and bring water bottles for everyone in our crew. (Alcoholic beverages are prohibited.)
There are plenty of picnic tables on the museum campus, and we love picking a table with a great view of the trains and streetcars zipping by. We often choose the tables next to the playground on the north side of the museum. From there, we can access the restrooms in the nearby depot if we need them.
If you prefer to buy your food at the museum, check-out the cute 1930s Central Diner. Just be sure to check the hours before your visit. The Central Diner is not always open when the museum is open.
Bring a Backpack or Convenient Bag
The Illinois Railway Museum campus is quite large, and we like using the streetcar to get around. For this reasons, we like to carry our water bottles and other supplies with us so they are accessible at any point. There is really no place to leave items at the museum, so we try to make sure we have a comfortable way to carry anything we bring.
Alternatively, you could plan to leave some items in your car (if you brought one) and visit the parking lot as needed.
Consider Stroller Alternatives
A visit to the Illinois Railway Museum can involve a lot of walking. If you have little ones, you might consider bringing a stroller. However, you will want to keep in mind that you cannot bring your stroller on the trains or streetcars, either stationary or moving.
If you use the streetcar to get around the campus like we do, you may realize your stroller is on the opposite end of the Illinois Railway Museum just when you need it. If practical, you may want to consider stroller alternatives like a baby carrier.
Check for Admission Discounts
You might be able to save money while visiting the Illinois Railway Museum with just a little planning. First, some days are less expensive than others, and some special events offer free or discounted admission for select groups of people. You can check the museum website to plan around ticket prices. You might also find that a family admission package or a membership is right for you. Our favorite way to save money on admission is with our local library.
We visit our local library to get two-for-one discount passes. If you have a card at an Illinois library, you might be able to get a Museum Adventure Pass too. We encourage you to check out this service: we have saved a lot of money by making use of it here and elsewhere.
Getting to the Illinois Railway Museum
Good news: parking is free at the Illinois Railway Museum. There lot on the west side of the campus near the museum entrance. You can find directions to the museum on their website here, or you can enter their address into your preferred mapping service: 7000 Olson Road, Union, Illinois, 60180.
If you would like to take a train to this train museum, you can also find information on the museum website about transportation from nearby Metra stations.
Thank you for reading this guide to visiting one of our favorite spots: the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.
We hope you have found this post helpful and that you are inspired to make your own visit. You can find other articles about our favorite family-friendly stops in Illinois here. We have articles like Visit Brookfield Zoo Chicago for Free This Winter and New Shedd Aquarium Exhibit Dazzles: Wonder of Water. For some at-home family fun after a big day at the Illinois Railway Museum, see our movie night guides like this one for Inside Out 2. Finally, please consider subscribing to our free newsletter below to get our latest posts right in your inbox. Now, that’s the end of the line folks!
