The Elgin County Railway Museum is asking the City of St. Thomas for $1 million to help save its home, the 1913 Michigan Central Railway Locomotive Shops on Wellington Street. The request is on the agenda for tonight’s city council meeting, which starts at 5 p.m.
The museum has been closed to the public since January. In February, the City said it “cannot provide direct financial support for repairs to a privately owned facility,” as LocVox reported in September. The City offered technical guidance, regulatory help and “connections to potential resources where appropriate” instead. However, the museum’s new letter does not mention that February response.
The letter is dated October 6th and signed by Wil Zufelt as the museum’s CEO. It sits under Communications, near the end of the agenda, as a letter council has received. No staff report or recommendation on it is attached.
The plan is an $8.5 million project to restore about 18,000 square feet of the 52,000-square-foot building. The museum says it has already identified or secured about 73% of the cost, or $6.2 million, through its own resources, assets, partnerships and fundraising. Neither the letter nor the project brief breaks that down. No funder, asset or donation is named, and neither says how much of the $6.2 million is money in hand.
The museum would like the City’s $1 million paid over five to ten years. It says it is open to waiting until 2028 for the first payment. A slide at the end of the package puts it a little differently: $1 million “over 5 years starting in 2028.”
The City is not the only funder the museum is asking. It has applied to FedDev Ontario, the federal economic development agency for southern Ontario, for another $1 million. A public fundraising campaign is set to start in spring 2027. The letter says support from council, “whether through the current Council in 2026 or the newly elected Council in early 2027,” would give that campaign momentum. Voting for the next council ends October 26th.
The museum calls the project shovel-ready. Its project brief plans construction from April 2027 to March 2029. A timeline slide in the same package shows construction from March 2027 to June 2029, with a grand opening in June 2029. The museum’s website still says it expects to stay closed until summer 2028.
The restored building would be a year-round museum and community space, with room for events, programs and restoration work. The museum’s goal is 85,000 visits a year, up from the more than 57,000 it says came in 2025. Events, rentals, admissions and programs would pay for about 80% of its operating budget. The letter says the aim is a balanced budget, “so that we are not returning to the municipality year after year seeking funding for ongoing operations.”
The package also includes letters of support from MP Andrew Lawton, MPP Rob Flack, the St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Development Board, the chair of the City’s Municipal Heritage Committee, the Elgin Business Resource Centre and Doug Tarry Limited. Most were written in July for the museum’s FedDev application, and one for a different grant fund. None of them is addressed to the City.
Council meets tonight in its chambers at City Hall, 545 Talbot Street, and on Zoom.
Earlier coverage: Railway Museum Rallies Support for Its 1913 Home, but City Says It Can’t Fund Repairs
Sources: Elgin County Railway Museum letter and project package to council (October 19, 2026 agenda, item 25.b) · City of St. Thomas council agenda, October 19, 2026 · Elgin County Railway Museum news and updates
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