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Eric Bunnell's People: Railway museum pondering its future

Six months after Elgin County Railway Museum shuttered its heritage home in St. Thomas in early January, ECRM is looking to the future.

After consulting with members and the public, the museum has narrowed possibilities for reopening and is investigating an option.

Eric Bunnell's People: Railway museum pondering its future Back to video

“Over the past six months, we’ve had a series of meetings with our membership to discuss what we want to do,” ECRM president Scott Sleightholm says.

“We went through a process of ideas and suggestions, and an unbinding pool a few months ago of options what we do with the museum, and routes the museum would like to go.

“We have narrowed it down to one idea that we currently are exploring the feasibility and getting more details, the cost analysis, on that.

He says releasing details while the option is under investigation, would be premature.

But, he also says, “. . . we are making some great progress.”

Scott says the museum does want to reopen the historic MCR shops off Wellington St., closed after the city ordered a structural investigation following a fall inspection. The building’s east roof, over an area not open to the general public, was a focus and the museum was allowed to present its year-ending Christmas Tree ­Spectacular.

Scott says it’s not just a simple matter of repairing the 1913 structure.

“It is more complicated than just fixing a broken building. Original ideas out there of fixing the building, we were looking at different options where it was between $13- and $40 million.”

The pause in museum operations is allowing the organization to consider how it is fulfilling its mission.

“Our goal is to ensure that future generations can learn the railway history that put St. Thomas on the map. What that looks like, is what we are working on right now. It’s an exciting time. It’s annoying that we are here. But it’s exciting time.”

A committee is reviewing artifacts in the museum’s collection, including 24 pieces of rolling stock, and ECRM also is looking at a more interactive way of telling the community’s railway story.

“About two years ago, now, we met with Lord Cultural Resources, who is basically a world-renowned museum organization helping museums to step into the future. They reconfirmed a lot of stuff we were........

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