Muhammad Amanullah
Date: September 21, 2026 The True Post (Web News) —ST. THOMAS, Ontario — St. Thomas was once one of Canada’s most important railway centres, with more than 100 trains passing through the southwestern Ontario city every day. Today, the community still carries the identity of a “Railway City,” but much of the railway infrastructure that shaped its economy and urban life has disappeared, leaving behind abandoned tracks, former railway yards, empty industrial sites and a shrinking collection of historic buildings.
The remaining railway heritage is now facing another challenge: preservation.
At the centre of that effort is the Elgin County Railway Museum and the historic Michigan Central Railway Locomotive Shops, a 1913 building that once formed part of a much larger railway complex.
The former locomotive shops occupy about 3.2 hectares of former railway land near downtown St. Thomas. The site may now resemble an ordinary urban green space in places, but for Wil Zufelt, who heads Railworks, it represents a physical reminder of the industrial era that once defined the city.
A Railway Legacy Under Threat
The Michigan Central Railway Locomotive Shops were built in 1913 and were used for locomotive repairs, maintenance and major overhauls. At the height of the railway era, the facility employed about 400 people.
The building later became the home of the Elgin County Railway Museum, preserving locomotives, railway equipment, photographs and other artifacts connected to the city’s railway history.
But the museum is currently closed because of structural concerns. The city engineer ordered the building closed after an inspection found problems including bowing walls and an unsafe ceiling.
The museum says it is currently expected to remain closed until summer 2028 while building repairs are addressed. (St. Thomas Chamber of Commerce)
The building is one of only a small number of surviving railway landmarks from a much larger complex. Historical records indicate that the railway district once contained 112 buildings, while only three major historic railway buildings remain today. (Yahoo News Malaysia)
$8 Million Campaign to Save the Locomotive Shops
Zufelt and Railworks have launched an $8 million fundraising campaign aimed at saving and restoring the historic locomotive shops.
The proposal goes beyond simply repairing the building and reopening the railway museum. The vision is to transform the site into an active public and community space at the centre of downtown St. Thomas.
Zufelt has described the goal as bringing new life to the city’s core and making the historic building a central part of the community once again. (Ontario Chronicle)
The project reflects a broader question facing St. Thomas: how can the city preserve its railway history while also giving those historic sites a meaningful role in modern urban life?
When St. Thomas Was a Major Railway Hub
The city’s railway importance reached its height in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
By 1914, eight different railways converged in St. Thomas, with more than 100 trains passing through the city each day. Its location, roughly halfway between Detroit and Buffalo, helped make it an important railway junction for traffic moving between major American cities. (University of St. Thomas)
The city also played a role in cross-border railway traffic between New York and Chicago. The importance of those connections was reflected in the presence of a U.S. consulate in St. Thomas at one point.
Railway development had a major impact on the city’s growth. According to the Elgin County Railway Museum, more than 26 railways have passed through St. Thomas since the London and Port Stanley Railway was completed in 1856. The railways brought employment and helped establish the economic foundations of the community. (Elgin County Railway Museum)
A Railway City Without a Railway Connection
St. Thomas continues to promote itself as the “Railway City,” but the community today has no regular passenger rail connection.
The physical remains of the old railway network, however, can still be found throughout the city.
Old railway stations, abandoned yards, vacant lots, remnants of former railway buildings and railway spikes are reminders of the system that once connected St. Thomas to major Canadian and U.S. cities.
In some locations, sections of track remain visible before abruptly ending, with grass, parking areas or residential neighbourhoods occupying the space beyond them.
The city’s heritage planning documents also identify surviving railway tracks and remnants as important elements of St. Thomas’s historic character. (University of St. Thomas)
The Missing Link Between London and Port Stanley
One of the clearest examples of the city’s incomplete railway network is the former London and Port Stanley Railway route.
A section of the old line still runs past a restored station in St. Thomas before suddenly ending. The missing connection has been the subject of a federal transport order dating back to 1990.
Historical records show that the federal transport authority ruled in November 1990 that Canadian National Railway was required to maintain its connection with Port Stanley Terminal Rail. CN was also required to bear the cost of reinstalling a railway crossing that had been removed despite an earlier agency directive. (Exporail)
The physical connection was never completed.
Today, part of the former route is blocked by a fenced parking area.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has told CBC News that the 1990 order remains in effect and that CN’s obligation would still apply if the physical railway connection were established. CN did not respond to a request for comment by the time of the report’s publication. (Internationly)
A Story Repeated Across Canada
The situation in St. Thomas reflects a wider story that has unfolded in communities across Canada as railway infrastructure declined.
Historian Thomas Blampied, who has studied Canadian railway history at the University of Toronto, has described St. Thomas as an unusually visible example of what happened to communities after the railway era receded. (Internationly)
The city’s vacant railway lands, abandoned tracks and surviving industrial buildings show how deeply the railway system was once connected to local economic and social life.
The challenge today is not simply deciding which old buildings should be preserved. It is also about finding ways to connect railway heritage with the future of the city.
Preserving the Past While Building the Future
The Elgin County Railway Museum remains an important part of that effort. Its mission is to preserve and explain the role railways played in the development of St. Thomas and Elgin County.
The museum is housed in the historic 1913 Michigan Central Locomotive Shops, while other surviving railway landmarks around the city include the historic Canada Southern Station and the BX Interlocking Tower. (Elgin County Railway Museum)
The current $8 million restoration campaign is therefore about more than saving an old industrial building.
For Railworks, the objective is to restore a major piece of St. Thomas’s identity and turn it into a functioning part of the city’s downtown.
A century ago, the locomotive shops were surrounded by workers, trains and railway activity. Today, the challenge is to ensure that the remaining evidence of that era does not disappear completely.
For St. Thomas, the future of its railway heritage may ultimately depend on whether these surviving landmarks can be transformed from reminders of a vanished railway network into active parts of the city’s modern identity.
