Winnipeg Railway Museum secures home hub

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This article was published 07/11/2022 (1152 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The trains are back on track at the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

The volunteer-run organization has signed a 25-year lease with Via Rail, the owner of the downtown train station that houses the museum.

“It’s a feeling of relief,” said Gord Leathers, who directs public relations for the museum. “It was a real shock when we were told we had to close.”

In December 2021, the museum got the news it would have to move or close for good, after renovations by Via triggered other building code requirements to the train shed housing the museum’s collection of locomotives, rolling stock and other railway-related artifacts.

Now, the national passenger service has said the Winnipeg museum can stay, as long as it addresses fire code issues in the 100-year-old-plus building.

The lease “will give us a sense of stability for the future,” Leathers said.

It will take until late next year, however, before the museum can reopen. Via Rail yet needs to do extensive repairs to the roof.

“That’s longer than we hoped,” Leathers admitted, adding VIA Rail has been a good and reasonable landlord. “There were years when they didn’t charge us any rent.”

Meantime, the museum (owned by Midwestern Rail Association Inc.) has revamped its website to make it easier for visitors to use. “If you can’t come to us, we can come to you,” Leathers said.

Volunteers are also planning ways to make the museum more engaging when it can finally reopen.

“We are developing an interpretive exhibit plan,” said Leathers. “We want the museum to be more than just a collection of nice railway-related things. We want to organize it so it better tells the story of what the railway meant to Winnipeg.

“We have a good board that is working on fundraising. That’s keeping us going.”

One unknown is what the City of Winnipeg might do with the future rapid transit route, which is slated to use the space occupied by the museum in the station.

“It’s unclear to us what that might mean,” said Leathers, noting the city still needs to do a feasibility study and he’s not expecting it to derail plans in the short term.

“There’s still lots of work left to do on it,” he said. “I don’t know how long that might take.”

The museum, which houses the Countess of Dufferin, the first locomotive in the province, along with other iconic railway-related items, was opened in 1992. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, about 10,000 people visited each year.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca