Two of the webcam on the Illinois Railway Museum website show water covering the property. While it may not be as bad as it looks, it can't help to have parts of your grounds underwater. Is everything okay?

We may have had as much as 5 inches of overnight rain in as many hours. At one point it was falling at the rate of 3.2 inches PER HOUR!! (We have an official weather station)

So, the museum is undoubtedly closed to visitors today, water in at least three of the buildings, perhaps 10-12 acres under water. At 11 AM the judgement was that the water was still rising - by 3 PM it had peaked and was starting to recede. It does not appear to have been high enough to get into any electric traction motors, but a near miss as 4 inches more would have caused a LOT of repairs.

This was undoubtedly one of those 100 year 'events' that repeats every 18-20 years. More rain forecast for tonight - keep your fingers crossed.

Bob Kutella

Bob,
Thanks for the update. I looked at the webcam and it was all over. Man the sandbags!

Tom C.