WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Winnipeg Railway Museum, which had faced relocation, will be able to remain at the city’s Union Station.
The museum has signed a 25-year lease with VIA Rail Canada to remain at the downtown building, the Winnipeg Free Press reports, as long as it addresses fire code issues in its portion of the structure that opened in 1911.
The museum was told last year that it would be responsible for more significant work to meet building codes as part of renovations by VIA, which the volunteer organization said it could not afford [see “Winnipeg rail museum faces closure, relocation,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 12, 2021].
Spokesman Gordon Leathers said the museum, which closed last December, will remain shuttered until late next year until major roof repairs are complete. In the meantime, it has updated its website to offer a virtual tour.
Among the museum’s artifacts is the Countess of Dufferin, a Baldwin 4-4-0 built in 1872 that was the first steam locomotive in Canada’s prairie provinces.
