Severe Flooding at Whitewater Valley RR in Indiana

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2026 4:13 pm

Reports are coming in, with photos, of damage to the Whitewater Valley Scenic RR in Indiana from currently-ongoing flooding. From Noah Smith on the Facebook group Ahead of the Torch:

Quote:

The Whitewater Valley Railroad Museum in Connersville, Indiana, has been hit by catastrophic flooding unlike anything this area has experienced. The museum has canceled all operations and events until further notice as they begin dealing with the aftermath.
Much of the railroad is still underwater, and unfortunately the areas where the water has receded are revealing just how serious the damage is.
Historic railroad equipment was sitting in water that reached up into the cars, leaving irreplaceable equipment, structures, and railroad property exposed to prolonged flooding. As the water continues to recede, more damage will undoubtedly come to light.

The supplied images are grim. The first view looks down the tracks towards their main shop from 1st St. in south Connersville, about a half-mile south of their Connersville depot:

And more rain is reportedly on the way. Another online report from "The 765" FB account:

Quote:

CONNERSVILLE FLOODING UPDATE — 1:10 A.M.
Flooding continues to impact Connersville early Thursday morning. The Whitewater River is now at approximately 18.85 feet, which is just below the 19-foot threshold for major flooding. It is still forecast to rise to approximately 23 feet. Fayette County is now in a Red Travel Status due to flooding. Red Travel status means emergency traffic only.

Link to fundraising effort (not yet confirmed as official or approved):

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-fo ... ood-relief

Ryan Scott · **Joined:** Wed Aug 25, 2004 10:46 pm **Posts:** 149

Indeed the WVRR has significant damage to our equipment and infrastructure as a result of this event. We have several pictures from our neighbors that are included in the post above. Many thanks to them for their support, and we are thinking of them and their families tonight. As an all volunteer not-for-profit organization, many of our membership live between 45 minutes and 2 hours away, so our ability to react quickly to such an event is limited. As a 31 year member of the organization, the pictures are difficult to look at. A few of us are planning to gather tomorrow to try to assess damages directly and provide a formal press release.

Here is a link to our website: https://whitewatervalleyrr.org/

More to come, and thank you in advance for your support.

Ryan Scott

John Risley · **Joined:** Tue Aug 24, 2004 10:34 pm **Posts:** 966

Brings back very bad memories of the flooding at North Freedom, Wi when the Baraboo river flooded Mid Continent museum. We had at least 4 ft of water in the engine house and machine shop. Then a week later it flooded again. Drained water from all sorts of locomotives, machine tools, air compressors. Everything was full of water. What a mess it was. My condolences to the WVRR.