Monticello Railway Museum, North Campus Paxton Depot - IC RR Collection

05/25/2021

The Monticello Railway Museum's main campus in Monticello is now open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays. Please check out our new and improved website at www.mrym.org.

Plans to open the Paxton North Campus to the public one Saturday a month this summer are in the works. With the ICHS/MRM consolidation completed, we look forward to re-opening our new campus in Ford County. Please stay tuned to this page for updates.

Monticello Railway Museum WELCOME ABOARD!Welcome to the Monticello Railway Museum, a non-profit, all-volunteer organization in central Illinois with an operational railroad and yard open to the public. We offer train rides on Saturdays and Sundays from May through September, as well as a number of...

05/12/2020

https://www.news-gazette.com/obituaries/charles-werner/article_d3b93e76-9415-11ea-80c2-5cb9017beffb.html

PAXTON — Charles Frederick Werner, a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, went to be with his Lord and Savior at age 80, on Sunday (May 10, 2020) while at his

05/11/2020

It is with deep regret that we have learned that Illinois Central Historical Society volunteer and officer Chuck Werner passed away at his home on the morning of Sunday, May 10, 2020.

Chuck was much more than just a member of the society; he held several positions that included director, treasurer, magazine editor and many others. He and his brother are the reason the IC archives exist in Paxton at all. He was inspired by the prospect of saving an old railroad building in his hometown, and he helped make it happen. Chuck put in the heavy lifting (literally and figuratively) and put his considerable skills to good use in the construction, maintenance, and operation of the building for the past 30 years. One cannot even begin to reckon the value attached to all the time he volunteered freely and generously, simply because he loved the Main Line of Mid-America.

The Paxton Depot was one of Chuck's outstanding life accomplishments, and it will serve IC historians for years to come, thanks to him. It's not an exaggeration to say that the IC's historical archives would not exist as we know it, were it not for Chuck Werner.

Our condolences to his wife Mary and to the rest of his extended family.

John Sciutto photograph

02/22/2020

https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/depot-ready-to-welcome-guests-again/

PAXTON, Ill. (WCIA) — A relic in Ford County is starting to open its doors to the public again. The Paxton Depot was bought by the Monticello Railway Museum several years ago. After some touc…

10/16/2019

Volunteer David Berndt is shown carefully inventorying one of the Illinois Central Railroad valuation books circa 1917. The Collection of Interstate Commerce Commission documents, was completed between 1915 and 1922. This important resource documents railroad infrastructure (railroad track, right of way, buildings and other property) during that time period

10/16/2019

Archive manager Kirk Reynolds shown carefully aligning then scanning one of the thousands of documents located in the Frank E Willis archives of the MRM/ICHS. The scanner used is a 42” Contex HD Ultra.

For the past few weeks, Kirk has been focusing on scanning Illinois Central railroad train sheets that documented train movements of various districts of the railroad

07/31/2019

Nice Article about MRM and ICHS in today’s Ford County Record. Interview featuring Kirk Reynolds Archive Manager of MRM and ICHS

PAXTON — The Illinois Central Historical Society’s railroad museum and headquarters will remain in downtown Paxton — and will eventually be open regularly again to the public — despite plans