Illinois Railway Museum Blog

You may have heard that plans are under way for a new BARN at IRM to be located over Yard 14.  This is exciting news and a major undertaking.  Now that plans are official and approved by the Board we only need the money.  The actual construction cannot start until funds are on hand.  The process for this to become a reality is that space is 'sold' on a subscription basis.  That is, any car or locomotive can assure its long term term preservation under roof by subscribing to such space, currently priced at $215 per foot.

There are many worthy candidates and fan favorites that continue to live outdoors and deserve such protection.  The inexorable march of time and mother nature contribute to continued decay and it is a very real possibility that some equipment on site for decades will soon be beyond the resources of us to restore them.  THIS IS THE TIME TO STEP FORWARD.

Of course in my area we have several fragile wood bodied freight cars needing help, and there are also electric cars and passenger cars residing outdoors.  Any donation can be made to help this along and make it a reality.  A donation to a specific restricted car fund is fine, but there are other ways to get the most bang for your buck.  There are a class or family of restricted funds available for on line donation targeted to each specific department.  Such as fund RISWFC for freight cars, and RISWEC for the trolleys.

http://www3.irm.org/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_11&products_id=1536

These are not specific to any one car, but the Collection Curators can release these funds for Barn construction split among the candidates that are not quite fully funded, add to the existing balance to 'fill it up', to pay their way in.  So yes, a donation to these department funds gives the most protection for the greatest good.  There are many needs for money at IRM including the General Fund, Land Acquisition, and Mortgage Retirement.  But for me I am putting my checkbook on the line to donate to indoor storage funds at year end to make this a reality and give our core collection, the equipment, hope for the future.

As an aside there are also overdue TRACK SPACE levies which have not been cleared from the books.  You have heard me beg for money to help clear those off the books and thank you to those who have responded to that.  The importance of clearing these debts is that any car not having paid off TRACK SPACE is not ELIGIBLE to subscribe to the Barn Space.  First things first, let's all help where you can in any amount you can.  There is a similar family of funds, not yet available for on line donations, for clearing unpaid track space accounts.  For example, RTRKFC for track space donations to the Freight Cars.  Please mail in any donations to those, and specify your favorite department.