Elgin County Railway Museum re-opening ignites momentum to develop railway lands

Hamilton Spectator

28-05-2025

The grand reopening of the 112-year-old Elgin County Railway Museum (ECRM) on May 17 seems to have added excitement and momentum to plans to revitalize and redevelop St. Thomas' derelict downtown railway lands.
Upwards of 2,000 visitors roamed the museum and its grounds at the reopening, with children enjoying a variety of activities and crafts, including a bouncy castle, while entire families also focused on interactive displays, artifacts and a collection of historic train engines and rail cars.
Just five years ago, ECRM counted itself lucky to get that number of visitors in a year's time. Annual attendance figures now top 25,000, with interest across southwestern Ontario generated by events such as the Christmas Night Markets in November and December.
Three years ago, ECRM's digital identity generated about 11,000 online views per year. Total views now exceed 1.3 million annually. About 275 businesses sponsored events at the museum last year.
The community is also eager to get onboard for festivities like those planned for May 24 when an historic London and Port Stanley Railway (L&PSR) electric rail vehicle – Car 14 – will be returned to service for the first time since it was retired in 1957.
Car 14 is scheduled to complete a ceremonial run on its old St. Thomas to Port Stanley route, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tickets for the ride are sold out, but many curious onlookers are expected.
'If you go back three years ago, nobody was talking about this property,' ECRM Chief Operating Officer Wil Zufelt said in a recent interview. 'Now everybody is talking about this property nonstop.
'It's because of emotions,' added Mr. Zufelt. 'People are in awe the first time they walk inside. You cannot not be.
'There are 18 doors on the east side,' he said. 'When I first walked around that area, when I was hired to take over three years ago, I thought, 18 doors and you never see them open. Now we opened up all the doors and let people in to see what's going on. History is supposed to be out in the public view where people can see it, not closed up behind doors. Everybody is ready, it's starting to become alive.'
St. Thomas' railway history dates back to the completion of the London and Port Stanley Railway in 1856. It culminates with railway developments in the late 19th and early 20th century, when up to eight different railway companies ran over 100 trains a day through what was then known as the 'Railway Capital of Canada'.
The railway lands in the city core are a prime example of the tens of thousands of sites across Canada – including some 25,000 in Ontario – that are classified as brownfields, or vacant and underutilized properties contaminated by past industrial or commercial activities.
Today, some estimates peg the cost to remediate St. Thomas' downtown railway lands soil at more than $5 million.
There are also questions around what needs to be done with the historic buildings on the site, how much restorations would cost and who will pay. Costs to restore the ECRM alone may exceed $40 million.
'There's a lot of work to be done before there are shovels in the ground,' said Mr. Zufelt, 'but you can see that building starting to change. The community wants to use the building, the property.
'The railway museum will always stay, it's always going to be the biggest part of that building,' he added. 'What you're starting to see is multi-uses for that building.
'It is the busiest property in St. Thomas now,' he continued. 'We host more events than anybody else. People want to use that space for a lot of different reasons. There's so much potential and it all starts with a secondary plan.'
St. Thomas launched a secondary plan review process earlier this year, inviting proposals for redevelopment of the downtown railway lands and also opening the door to public consultations on the city's future.
Reimagining of the brownfield – bounded by Talbot Street to the north, First Avenue to the east, Wellington Street to the south, and Ross Street to the west – will involve an extensive public consultation process and City council's eventual amendment of the official plan.
Secondary plans typically provide detailed policies regulating urban design concepts, including the creation of public spaces and parks.
Doug Tarry Homes Limited (DTL) and the McCaig family are the largest owners of property in the downtown railway district. Roughly speaking, DTL owns railway lands to the east of ECRM, while the McCaig family owns property to the west, including the large lot at the southeast corner of Talbot and Ross streets, as well as an area near the Joe Thornton Arena.
The downtown railway lands are overseen by The Railworks Coalition. Formed in 2018 to preserve and protect the city's railway assets, the coalition is comprised of three non-profits organizations: CASO Station (Canada Southern Railway Station) / North American Railway Hall of Fame; ECRM; and the St. Thomas Elevated Park (STEP). Board members of each organization are board members of the coalition. Mr. Zufelt is CAO of all three.
'If you look at the 16 acres that are here … ultimately, it's probably going to be the biggest development in the downtown core,' Mr. Zufelt continued. 'It's been started, it just takes a while to get the ball rolling.
'Obviously, for us, we want this building to be protected, this space, the look, the view,' he said. 'We want the rail heritage to be protected, which is very important, but what we most need is making sure we have enough funds in the development of a county railway museum.
'Restoration is what we're working on now,' added Mr. Zufelt. 'We'll probably be rolling out in the next four months, with consultations with the public, and having public gatherings, talking about what the museum could be.'
Mayor Joe Preston said the city must be careful not to limit the scope of its vision.
'We're on the edge of news coming out about the secondary plan,' he said in a recent interview. 'I keep thinking this is the secondary plan for the downtown lands, which is certainly the railway lands, in front of the railway museum, but it's not only that. It's all of the McCaig property, it's Balaclava school and what we're developing there.'
Balaclava school is being converted into 78 supportive housing units in a partnership between the City of St. Thomas and Indwell, a Hamilton-based supportive housing provider.
'This can become a bigger look at that area of downtown St. Thomas,' added Mayor Preston. 'I don't want to hold it up, I want to put shovels in the ground, let's go. If indeed it's going to end up being some good housing for us, let's get going.'