Field Report: The Elgin County Railway Museum

Click on each picture for a closer look!
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St. Thomas, Ontario is located just south of London, Ontario. Railways have been a significant part of St. Thomas's history since 1856 with the completion of the London and Port Stanley Railway. Since then a total of 26 railways have passed through the town. With its rich rail history, St. Thomas has designated itself the "Railway Capital of Canada".
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The Elgin County Railway Museum was incorporated in 1988 as a registered non-profit charity for the purpose of preserving and restoring the railway heritage of St. Thomas and surrounding area. They are located in the 1913 former Michigan Central Railroad Locomotive Shops next to the Canada Southern Railway which was built in 1872 as a shortcut through Canada from Chicago to New York. They have acquired a fine collection of railway engines and rolling stock as well as other artefacts. They also have restored a signal tower on the site. The site also house a massive Canada Southern Railway Station (see picture at lower right) which is being restored by another organization.
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Each year the museum has held two weekend Rail Heritage events which I have attended and thoroughly enjoyed.
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Until recently, the facility was owned by the CNR and the museum was only a tenant. The facility was not being maintained and the roof had deteriorated dangerously resulting in the closure of most of it to the public. There was a major rail yard outside their facility. But the CNR was beginning to remove the yard resulting in a further threat to the viability of the museum.
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The good news is that the volunteers who run this museum have successfully raised funds for the past few years by holding "Thomas the Tank Engine" events over the past five summers which have been enormously popular with tens of thousands of people turning out. On December 31st, 2009, they had sufficient funds as a result to purchase the building and 15.5 acres of land from Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways.
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But challenges remain. They still have to buy the rails from the railways from CN at a cost of $99,500. They also need to raise $1.5 million dollars to replace the museum's roof. The roof is complex and consists of a series of 300-lb. (136-kg) concrete slabs suspended from steel beams.
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For more news about the museum, read this article in the St. Thomas Times-Journal by clicking here. For more about the museum, visit their website. The images shown here were taken in August of 2004 at their Iron Horse Festival.
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Posting and Pictures by Russ Milland
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