Elgin County Railway Museum

{{coord|42.7768|N|81.1827|W|region:CA-ON_type:landmark|display=title}}

{{Infobox museum

|name = Elgin County Railway Museum

|image = Elgin County Railway Museum 2.JPG

|established = 1988

|location = St. Thomas, Ontario

|type = Railway museum

|director =

|curator =

|visitors =

|website = [http://www.ecrm5700.org/ www.ecrm5700.org]}}

The Elgin County Railway Museum is a rail transport museum in St. Thomas, Ontario.

The museum and most of the collections are housed in the former Michigan Central Railroad locomotive shops. Built in 1913, the shops were part of more extensive servicing facilities on the Canada Southern Railway. The museum acquired the facility in 1988 when the last owners, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, left the area. The museum finally occupied the building in 1988. In 2009 15 acres of railway lands were acquired.http://ecrm5700.org/

The museum uses trackage from the museum that runs west and then south of the Museum. The line is used for the annual Day Out with Thomas ride.

The nearby BX Tower was preserved and occupied by the museum but owned by the City of St. Thomas.{{Cite web|url=http://ecrm5700.org/bx-tower/|title = BX Tower Print – ECRM}}

Collection

The museum collection includes five locomotives:{{cite web |url=http://www.ecrm5700.org/roster.htm |title=Roster |accessdate=2010-09-18 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718012140/http://www.ecrm5700.org/roster.htm |archivedate=2011-07-18 }}

Canadian National Railway #5700 "Hudson" - Montreal Locomotive Works K-5-a steam 4-6-4 locomotive
Wabash #51 - GE 43-ton switcher
Canadian Pacific Railway #8921 - Montreal Locomotive Works RSD-17 (the only one ever made)
London and Port Stanley Railway #L1 - GE boxcab electric freight locomotive c.1915
Canadian National Railway #9171 - EMD F7Au (built as EMD F3 as GTW #9013, converted 1973, retired 1989){{cite web |url=http://cnlines.ca/CNcyclopedia/loco/loco_r.php |title=CN Locomotives - Retired - CN Lines SIG |accessdate=2009-07-07 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913184851/http://cnlines.ca/CNcyclopedia/loco/loco_r.php |archivedate=2009-09-13 }}

Several passenger and freight cars are also preserved, either inside the building or outside:

Canadian National Railway Jordan Spreader #51041 - Built by St. Thomas Canada Southern shops
London and Port Stanley Railway Port Stanley Incline Cars
Norfolk & Western Railroad Caboose #555020 - built by International Car Company of Kenton, Ohio c.1976
Grand Trunk Western Railroad Caboose #77137 - Port Huron MI built
Canadian National Railway Baggage Car #7074 - built by National Steel Car c.1953
New York Central Railroad 10-5 Sleeper #10075 "Cascade Lane" - Pullman Car Company c. 1939
London and Port Stanley Railway Electric Interurban #14 - Jewett Car Company c.1917

There is also an H0 scale model railroad that recreates scenes from the area.

Images

File:Elgin County Railway Museum 1.JPG|Exterior of museum on west side, showing doors leading to transfer table

File:Elgin County Railway Museum 3.JPG|Interior of museum, facing south

File:RSD-17 Elgin County Railway Museum 1.JPG|Close-up of CPR RSD-17

External links

[http://www.ecrm5700.org/ Elgin County Railway Museum website]

References

Category:Buildings and structures in St. Thomas, Ontario

Category:Railway museums in Ontario

Category:Museums in Elgin County