IRC is an organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Grainger College of Engineering.

We were founded in 1912 at a time when an interurban line ran across the main quad and a roundhouse was being moved out of downtown Champaign. Through the years IRC existed as a hobby organization alongside university research that shaped the North American rail network. Briefly in the 1960's we had a fleet of real equipment and held excursion trips, which will be described on our history page. Ever since the 1970's we've had HO scale trains on campus and railfanning trips nearby. In the late 2010's the modeling side of this took the form of interchangeable modules.

Today, IRC has a collection of HO scale modules built to the FreeMo standard – self-standing sections of track with standardized endplates. Our layout can be set up in a variety of configurations, even brought outside or to events, and we attend meets where us and others contribute track to a larger route. New modules can be built when current students graduate, allowing customization.

At IRC, students can learn to manage their own project and work with others, using concepts from real-world engineering. Take a project from planning and design to hands-on woodworking, scenery, and electrical wiring. Use knowledge of track plans, track geometry, and rolling stock, and run trains on your work when it's finished. Manage the logistics of transporting and assembling a route. Learn how to find and photograph real trains in fields and small towns using old-fashioned cameras, radios, and maps, or new equipment like PTC. Students can develop lasting friendships and meet new people.

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