Whitewater Valley Railroad
Connersville, Indiana
New Museum Interpretive Center - Under Design & Construction

INTRODUCTION TO
THE WHITEWATER VALLEY RAILROAD

Although established in 1973, the Whitewater Valley Railroad of today has evolved dramatically from the early days of the organization.  Some of this is due in part to changes in Federal rules, some due to changes in the public’s expectations of railroad museums, and much is due to the constant growth in our membership and our member’s abilities.  At one time simply running trains at all was enough, but now our organization recognizes that it has a bigger role in the region.  Our present mission statement reads: “An operating railroad museum dedicated to the preservation of a historic branch line railroad, to the restoration of railroad equipment, and to the conduct of educational railroad programs”.

During the past ten years, the railroad and its supporters have focused primarily on the physical plant of the railroad.  This has included the installation of over 20,000 ties in the 19 miles of track operated, rebuilding of several heavily used grade crossings, and the replacement of every bridge deck on the railroad.  Improvements have also made related to the passenger experience most notably the new downtown Connersville passenger depot.  True restoration projects, such as our Nickel Plate Road caboose and Elgin, Joliet, & Eastern caboose, have also marked this decade along with national recognition (through a grant award) by the National Railroad Historical Society for the restoration of an historic Lima-Hamilton diesel electric locomotive.  The Canadian Pacific Railway also recognized the railroad’s efforts in preservation with the gift of a former Milwaukee Road SD10 diesel electric locomotive.

With many accomplishments made, it is clear the organization is moving forward and though it has taken many years to get this far, more can and will be done in the future.  New potential equipment donations are possible, some even quite valuable to the collection and community, but to convince their owners that donation to our organization is the right choice, to properly make them available to the public once restored, and how to protect them from the elements once restored, remains a challenge to the railroad that it is now trying to solve.