Illinois Railway Museum - Use in Film

Use in Film

Due to its proximity to Chicago and its extensive collection of historic railroad equipment, IRM has been used in several films. The most apparent may be in the 1992 film A League of Their Own, starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna; the museum's depot was used for several small town depot scenes and the Nebraska Zephyr and only surviving EMD E5 were used for scenes of and on the train. IRM equipment was also seen in the movie Groundhog Day, which featured the museum's EMD SD24 diesel locomotive. Additionally the museum's grounds and some of the passenger cars, were used in the movie The Babe, starring John Goodman. In late 2005, the Burlington 9911A and several coaches operated to Chicago for filming in Flags of Our Fathers, a Clint Eastwood film. The initial sequence of The Express was shot at IRM.

Many television shows railroad sequences have been shot at the IRM. For example, scenes depicting steam era operations in the late 1920s were shot for The Untouchables series (1993).