The Doerr Photo Collection - Grounds and Miscellaneous

The family of the late Ron Doerr, who volunteered at IRM for a period in the 1980s, has donated his photo collection to the Museum. These undated photos mostly appear to have been taken in the mid-1980s. Please help us by commenting with any insights into the pictures - dates, points of interest, people's names, etc. Thank you!

This page includes photos of the IRM grounds and miscellaneous images, in no particular order.

Click here to return to the Doerr Photo Collection index page.

 All pictures are copyrighted by the Illinois Railway Museum and may not be reproduced without permission.

#029 - Central Avenue is seen looking east about where the east end of Barn 6 is today. The tarped hulk to the left may be the 4001, and it looks like the 141 or F305 may still be off to the right under a tarp. In the distance a C&NW Geep pulling a caboose can be seen about to pass the substation.

#030 - Another view that's changed just slightly. These cars are parked where the diner annex is now. The old "dog stand" is visible to the right, while over the black pickup on the left can be seen a glimpse of the "Hooverville" that used to occupy the southeast corner of Central and Railroad Avenues.

#045 - Looking west on Central Avenue. I think that door in the signal shop that's open was just recently removed and plated over. CGW 4061, CE 4, MN&S 21, and ARMCO E110 are visible on the car line. Is that the Bay City crane off to the right?

#046 - The GG1 and the "big hook" on the north track of the steam leads, with GTW 6323 behind them

#062 - And the view looking southeast from the Depot Street car line crossing. Before the playground occupied this area, the handcar was on display here.

#065 - It's hard to tell where we are, but the double overhead betrays that this is almost certainly the west end of Yard 5 looking north from the north side of Barn 7. I wonder if that's my father's red Dodge Omni on the left next to the pickup?

#090 - This, and the following three, are more C&NW photos than IRM photos, but they're still slightly interesting after this much time has passed.

#091 - The GP15-1 and caboose with a 4000 in the foreground. I believe this is the east switch.

#092 - Here's the C&NW train at the East Switch. There's a lot less vegetation between IRM's mainline and the Belvidere Sub than there is today!

#093 - And here's a better view of the train. I'm guessing this is a welded rail train? If so, would this have been when the Belvidere line was going through its big upgrade, or would this have just been a normal track maintenance project?

#095 - Here's a nice view looking east from the north side of Barn 7 as the Zephyr passes Electric Park. Today, of course, you'd be looking right at the south side of Barn 6 if you stood here.

#105 - The Great Yellow Fleet, or something. I recall being told that at some point we picked up an oddly large fleet of railroad work trucks. I think this is looking southwest across the Yard 10 throat.

#114 - The pile driver is shown with its idler and, in shadow on the right, the tender we assigned to it (but which was not its original tender). That tender is now the 1630's auxiliary water car. I think this is on the turntable leads.

#128 - We're looking west along the Electric Car Shop. The South Shore cars at left were longtime residents of track 51, and the 52 also spent quite a while on display at 50th Avenue as it's shown. I'm pretty sure that car is George Clark's, based on the "IRM 1956" license plate.

#135 - We're looking at Yard 5 from roughly the northwest corner of Barn 7. The cars are parked where Barn 6 is today. It looks kind of like the end of the pile driver poking out from behind that reefer, but I'm not certain.

#157 - Steamland, circa 1985 B.A. - Before Asphalt.

#160 - Over the end loader can be seen 50th Avenue and the late, not-so-lamented "dog stand."

#168 - A view of the steam servicing area from in front of Barn 7. The diesel hood to the left of the boxcar appears to be off the Minnesota Transfer RS-3.

#175 - A view of 50th Avenue back when there was no diner annex, and when the field west of Railroad Avenue was full of corn. At the time, this crossing was protected by Griswold signs.

#181 - Off to the right is Barn 7, on the left is Barn 2, and the field is where Barn 6 is today. The Des Moines trolley bus is in the far right background. I'd guess that URTX reefer off to the left, behind the red Jeep, never moved between when this photo was taken and October 2022.

#183 - This view has certainly changed. We're at Central and Depot, back when three of the four corners of this intersection were empty.

#184 - This was likely taken at the same time as the previous two images. The line of reefers is on track 43, and appears unchanged from what sat in that spot until October 2022. Barely visible behind them is Muni 1183, which was stored just east of the barn on track 42 for a while in the mid-1980s.

#185 - Barn 3 used to have a baggage cart in front of it, loaded with baggage no less. Who knew?

#186 - A view of Steamland, similar to photo #168 but with a larger pile of dirt.

#191 - This view can't have been possible for too long. We're basically standing outside the door to the office, looking at where Yard 5 is now. For a number of years there were car bodies stored here, including North Shore 202, Michigan Electric 28, CSL 4001 and 9020, and the Fitchburg & Leominster "black box." This photo was taken during the interval between the relocation of those bodies and the installation of Yard 5. In the distant background you can see the Hornet stopped at Electric Park, the Des Moines trolley bus, the "Terrarium" in front of the bus barn, and the AT&SF stock car on the Yard 7 lead. What's that weird little white car?

From Richard Schauer: Behind the Terrarium (Milwaukee Twin Coach gasser) is Dayton Pullman 435.

#192 - Nice AMC Eagle! We're looking at the south of the office building, of course. This may be the day of the Trolley Pageant, or the picnic ground could just be unusually busy.

#200 - This is a view that didn't exist for very long. We're outside the door to the office looking at Yard 5. This is after the streetcar bodies were removed but before the yard was built, though it looks like some grading is being done. A few cars are visible over in Yard 7 including the Cleveland PCC, the Kansas City PCC, and the portable sub.

#215 - I have no idea whether we owned this or whether it was something we borrowed or rented. My guess is that this is at the throat to Yard 10 but I don't know. ...hey wait a second, is that the "Chair of Mathematics?" (That link says the "Chair of Mathematics" was in one of the Lake Shafer cars, but I'm not so sure - I remember it just hanging out in a corner of the car shop, a lot dirtier than it appears here.)

#216 - Part of the maintenance vehicle fleet is in the foreground, about where the member's bathroom entrance is today.

#224 - This would be a nice photo of Barn 8, it's just a few years too early. It looks like GB&W 109 and a Rock coach are in Yard 7

#248 - We're looking southeast down the steam leads with various steam engines visible, plus a brown Datsun pickup truck in the middle foreground.

#310 - It's the early days of "Doug Oaks Boulevard," the road alongside the north side of Barn 4 (and along the south side of Barn 3) with the signal display.

#311 - I believe that some of these signals are still on display at this location.

#312 - Notice anything odd about this photo of Barn 7? Well, okay, where to begin. We're looking east from about where the North Shore neon sign is today, and for one thing, Barn 7 is too short. It's brand new here, but before too long was extended further east. Additionally, you can see CSL F305 and West Towns 141 still sitting on an isolated section of north-south track past the east end of the barn. Before too long those cars were put on rails and moved into Barn 7. Of course Barn 6 doesn't exist yet, nor does today's Barn 8.

#313 - 50th Avenue, back in the days when it had a view out onto a cornfield instead of out onto the a-building Main Street scene.

#314 - The west side of 50th Avenue, presumably during its initial restoration following the move to this site (for a time after arriving at IRM, it sat on the south side of Central Avenue)

#315 - Old Glory files over East Union Depot. The building had been repainted from white with green trim into brown with cream trim by this time.

#317 - The 50th Avenue platform as seen from the Central Avenue streetcar stop

#318 - If you thought that the oil sheds behind Barn 4 are unsightly, they've got nothing on the Hooverville that used to be located on the south side of Central Avenue right across from 50th Avenue. I believe this was cleared around 2000 or so as part of the urban renewal project that culminated in the Diner Annex being built about where the photographer of this picture is standing.

#319 - Here's a view of the Buildings & Grounds barn back in the 1980s when it was new.

#320 - I'm not sure what the story is with this C&NW road grader parked alongside Depot Street, roughly in front of Barn 7. I'm not even sure whether we own a road grader these days.

#321 - Spaulding Tower was moved to IRM in pieces in 1988, so this photo probably dates to around 1989-1990, give or take.

#322 - A shot of 50th Avenue looking northwest, right through where the O'Mahony Diner now sits. Fans of 1970s-1980s cars and trucks, enjoy.

#323 - Here's another shot of the "great yellow fleet" of work trucks, which I believe were all acquired at the same time. I think this shot is looking southwest across the Yard 10 lead.

#326 - CSL 3407, a White, was - I believe - our first motor bus acquired for preservation (we got several Milwaukee buses in the 1960s which were mostly used as sources of engines to power the overhead wire until we built a proper substation). It arrived in 1986 and is shown parked along Railroad Avenue next to 50th Avenue, apparently undergoing work.

#336 - This two-unit AAR rail detector car set is one of our more unique pieces, and may be the only example of this type still in existence (several railroads had these as well, I believe). Unfortunately it has never received much attention. It's shown here at the east end of Yard 10, just to the southwest of Barn 8 (today Barn 9).

#337 - ComEd locomotive crane 19 arrived in 1985. Behind it is the "Dover Straight," at the time still lettered as EJ&E work car 8726.

#340 - This is the south end of the steam shop, back before either of its extensions. The "hot water bottle" is on the left.

#342 - C&WI 1917, shown here, was a locomotive crane roughly similar to ComEd 19. However as I understand, it was very deteriorated and I don't believe it was operational. It was scrapped sometime in the 1980s, I think.

#480 - Welcome to IRM! The year is uncertain but it looks like the depot is half in old white-and-green paint and half in brown (or maybe primer). North Shore 251 and 714, plus a 4000, are on Station Track 1, while MN&S 21 is on the west wye at the edge of the frame.

#482 - I think we're at Seeman Road looking west, with an isolated piece of panel track sitting about where the equilateral East Johnson Siding switch is today. More or less. Ballast and line poles in the background attest to the eastward progress of the main line.

#483 - In the foreground is the Depot Street car stop platform, before it acquired a canopy of course, while in the background kids play on the handcar sitting on a piece of concrete-tie panel track along the north side of Barn 3. That tree is quite a bit bigger today.