Carbondale Depot Museum

About Carbondale Depot Museum

The Carbondale Depot Museum preserves the 1903 Illinois Central Railroad passenger station and tells the story of railroads in Carbondale history. Visitors take interpretive hands-on tours through a real locomotive, caboose, and train depot to experience what railroading was like. The museum displays railroad artifacts and exhibits explaining the role railroads played in developing the city. On the grounds, a retired GP11 diesel locomotive number 8701 sits on display track beside the building, along with a caboose and a statue of a passenger train conductor on Main Street. The brick station building was renovated and expanded in 1930, then restored by the Station Carbondale organization beginning in the 1990s and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The locomotive and caboose are open for group tours and student field trips by appointment. Display rooms inside the station open during regular business hours in Carbondale.