Reviews of Elgin County Railway Museum (Museum)

Jane Yang

Love this Museum and it’s professional & knowledgeably tour .

Rilee Steckler

Attended a wedding here. Absolutely beautiful venue!!! We really enjoyed checking out the inside of the trains while we were there.

Bree Dulmage

Wonderful staff! Awesome pieces!

Maude Stephany

Had a great time at the Beer-lesque and Carniv-ale! We'll definitely be back next year!

Jim Van Meggelen

St. Thomas was a critical component of passenger rail in this part of the world, and this museum is an important part of what is left of that legacy. What this museum lacks in funding, they make up for in heart. There's much here to love, so if you're willing to forgive the obvious financial challenges they face, I think you'll find your time and money were well spent. I'm giving 5 stars because of value for the money; they're not asking a lot of money to visit, and they're doing a lot with very little. Well worth it if you're in the area.

Ben Kalika

Great place to see preserved locomotive equipment.

Black Stone

Good Displays and the History of St Thomas Railway..

Ilpo Lehto

Even as a work in progress there is plenty to see and do. Regular special events move through the museum and there is the store.

YAN YU

Amazing place to see old steam engines and learn about railway history of Ontario. Nearby “Day out with Thomas” annual event, we got free admissions when purchased the Thomas event!

Trevor Kerr

Some amazing exhibits with very knowledgable volunteers.

Art Mackiewicz

Awesome place for railway enthusiats. They open next week on May 12th. Support them with donations. All are welcome

Wesley Branton

Beautiful building. Some trains that you can enter and explore. Others that can only be viewed outside. Good for train lovers of all ages.

Jeff Thiessen

A work in progress. Interesting exhibits and surrounding area. It will be neat to see what they make of it in the years ahead.

Sly S

Place has great history and lots of trains to see and climb into. Do not select option to use USD on their charge machine. They add 4% convenience fee, I could of just used my US card that has to foreign transaction fee but I figured it's more convenient for them to charge USD from US card. Nope, it's only to make extra money.

Tim Mason

Very interesting. Lots to see. Items in various stages of restoration. Model of the area, with running model trains, in one of the rooms. Steam engine, diesels, rolling stock, various other historical and current railway-related items. Friendly, helpful staff.

Sherry Chambers

Very interesting to remember how St. Thomas got the name of Railroad City.

SUSANA PEREIRA

Lots of energy in this place! Glad I had the chance to experience it tonight!

Greg Decock

Awesome display,, friendly knowledgeable tour guides!

Paul Mitchell

If you have any interest in trains then go visit the museum.

Chris Rose

Its obvious that a lot of work and care has gone into the museum. Its been wonderful to see as section after section and exhibit after exhibit has been completed and opened. Keep up the good work, you're doing St Thomas proud!

Jeff Schmidt

Good place to visit and enjoy the added festivities.

Hiroshi Toriyabe

It's a very interesting and fantastic museum. If you like trains, you will enjoy a lot. Highly recommended if you are coming through St. Thomas area.

Nathan Bertrand

Always worth a day! The staff are enthusiastic and knowledgeable and the displays are awesome.

Brandon Norman

Lots of great info and local history here

Mike Davis

Great place for the little ones to learn a little railway history

Heather Allan

My 5 year old son loved this more than riding the Thomas train! We spent a lot of time here

Evan Wang

Well preserved museum transformed from old engine shop with many locomotive collections.

LR

Took the kids here for a rainy day adventure. The experience was OK. The trains were definitely cool, as was the model train room, but for the money spent, I felt like if you don't already know the history of St. Thomas and the railway, that it doesn't hold much of an experience. On top of that, and because they are self guided tours, it really is up to you to educate yourself. I would have enjoyed some more context for the price we paid to enter. I took another star off because when we went out to the parking lot, there were discarded needles and viles right next to where we parked. I am not sure where the responsibility lies in terms of cleaning this up, but can guarantee that is the 1st and last time that I bring family from out of town to the downtown St Thomas area.

Peter Pasieka

Great museum, just like many in Canada it needs more money to be top notch. Could use more real trains and full size exhibits.

kira hydra

It has lots of train stuff as you would expect.it has lots of information regarding them and the history around St.Thomas

Andrew Bembridge

Great museum collection, friendly staff!

Heidi Klein

Appreciative of the living history explained.

Nancy Cox

Winter soldier museum

Mark Fawcett

The museum is just huge. A marvel of engineering. The train engines are enormous.

M Larson

Have been for the museum, which is fantastic, but last visit was for Beerlesque, a steampunk burlesque celebration of local microbreweries. Very cool event, great tie-in to the location! Maybe move it a month later next time?

Laura Forkes

A wonderful collection of railway materials and the personnel were so informative and kind. A great place to visit the past and view the railroading life back then.

Mike D

Good place to learn about trains

Greg Ward

This is a phenomenal experience for people of all ages. The volunteers are also great with kids. Highly recommended.

Gosia M

Neat place to visit. All sorts of trains to see.

CR Travelbug

Attended the Beerlesque show. Nice to see this caliber of entertainment in St. Thomas. Beer tasting samples led us to some new favorites. They could have done a better job with the lighting and more food vendors. The railway museum is coming along; a work in progress from what I understand. It's a huge building so they need to do more to make it seem less cavernous. I doubt they have a huge budget though so it's understandable if that takes a few years. Again, it's really nice to have something like this in St. Thomas. I think it helps to keep tourism dollars local.

Brian Wilson

It's a great museum for railway enthusiasts.

Alex Cobalt

Huge museum! Turned out to be way larger and better than I had anticipated. Many trains you can actually go through, things are well restored. The tour guide gave us a 2hr tour and was highly knowledgeable with everything in the place (and any questions we had), then we explored on our own. Would recommend for any families, friends, or couples looking for something inexpensive and cool to check out!

Jason Silva

Nice friendly people great for kids

Steven Rubacha

Great venue for an event!!

Ashley Kiefer

Pretty cool place to bring the grandparents or kids who love trains. Very interesting things around. If it's cold outside, it will be cold inside as well so dress accordingly

Random Andrew

Amazing place to see a few chunks of history, well done!

Chris Reeves

Great tour from Brianne that because there were only two of us was more like a conversation. The museum features lots of examples of local rial history and we learned a lot. It is too bad a section was off limits due to repairs.

Barry Shave

Must see museum, so much to see . Thanks to Emily for the informative tour.

Judith Naylor

Very interesting industrial site, with a good selection of engines on display. They are refurbishing the engines are quickly as they can, so many are off limits for close inspection

Willa Pierce

For a train buff it is a treasure grove. The miniature railway display is wonderful.

Jack Shannon

I really great place to go to go back in time over half a century ago. They are in the process of restoring the original train station. This station used to be one of the busiest stations in all of Ontario because of the trains running as far as Chicago. A good place to take young children to see the huge locomotives and the wonderful model railroad in the museum.

Brian Neufeld

A must see for anyone interested in rail history.

Brian Neufeld

A must see for anyone interested in rail history.

Rector St John London

Great history and really big trains

Surbhi Sareen

Rich History.. Loved the place.. They were about to close but as we told them that we came from Toronto, they gave us special tour and time.. Loved the hospitality..

Andy Crawford

Nice to see more access to collection.

Andrew Verteramo

If you love the rail road, rhan this is a must see

RailwayCityRails

By far one of the best, if not THE best rail museums I've ever been to. The volunteers and staff are always friendly and ready to help while showing off the museum's collection. They are all very knowledgeable so any questions will be answered. Based in the 1913 Michigan Central Railroad shop, the building has had part of its roof recently repaired and replaced so visitors can get right up close to the many one-of-a-kind locomotives and cars on display. Kids and adults can explore the steam locomotive, caboose and baggage car. Visitors can also attend the History in Motion model train room. It is a great outing for the family or for the railfan!

Paul Van Hardeveld

Great museum, loved the trains.

Edward Childerhose

Great MEMORIES

Margaret Walker

Great staff, great place!

Brad Medhurst

Awesome place, staff very informative and have a great knowledge of the rail history in St Thomas

Brad Fuller

This is a walk back into the history of St. Thomas. The museum has lots of old engines and railcars and an old steam engine.

Theije Bernaards

(Translated) a nice museum and well worth a visit (Original) een leuk museum en zeker waard om er eens naartoe te gaan

mile57.2 galtsub

Awesome place.

Matthew Funstin

Museums have exhibits. And funding. This has neither.

Johanna van Wyk

Very interesting to see the old locomotives

Mark IT

Fantastic place to view our heritage. Amazing old trains, equipment and pieces of our history's

King of spookiest Railfanning

Amazing place for kids and the staff are amazing as well.

Daryn Dyer

Canada would not have been possible without trains, this is a must see for Canadian history buffs. Note: it is a work in progress, but it has the makings of a worth while historical sight.

Tammy MacRae

Went there for a craft show that was worth checking out .

Wayne OShell

Always an enjoyable visit with my grandchildren and family.....a very pleasant staff with lots of railway history......

Tristen Proctor

It is really cool to see the massive steam engine on display and climb all over it and just look at the sheer size of it but a lot of the museum is blocked off for renovations right now

George Bell

Interesting place

Bonnie Boutet

Lots to look at. Small museum

Naomi Griffin

Lots of fun

Sparkle Tony

Wonderful collection of trains, train cars and associated items from the past.

G Mail

Nice

Pam Cook

Fun place.to take the whole family, like a trip through time

Jeff McCallum

This was a great tour. It was interesting and very unique.

Jack DeJong

good to see our country's history being preserved !

Jodie B

Great place for train lovers!

Shawn M

This place is really fascinating. What a time it must have been in the late 1800s to see this town.

Jessica Hubert

My son is obsessed with trains! Great for kids and adults alike if you want to know more about trains in Canada. Beautifully restored steam engines, memorabilia and round house. I will go again!

Alexander Walker

What a beautiful musuem! So informative. The staff really know what they're talking about.

John S

Well presented museum of Canadian railroad history. Well worth a visit.

Christine Smithrim

A very cool place and much bigger than I expected. Limited hours so check before you go. History of rail in St Thomas and Ontario. With trains you can go on and a model set up.

len nix

Great model RR display!

Larry Quenneville

Interesting history of St. Thomas and its train history.

Rob Matic

Was there for the "Touch a Truck" event. It was ver disorganized. Advertised as $5 admission but the total for 3 of us was $14.51( told them to keep the change) lineup was long, people were sent to a secondary desk which wasn't equipped to take payments, so people were sent into the gift shop to pay... which was also run by the same person taking payments at the main entrance. There was supposed to be a race car there ( there wasn't) No fire truck, no ambulance, no army vehicles. Very underwhelming compared to previous years. Also, no popcorn for sale while there had been in the past.

Sarah Bechard

Attended with 2 adults and 4 young children (3 of which are under 4 years old). The trains and antiques were very interesting. Very cool to be able to go into some of them. The model trains were really well done. Could have used some more steps and benches for the kids to stand on so they could see. We had to keep rotating picking up kids and they lost interest quicker than if they could have seen it all on their own. Overall a great experience

Robert

The outside of the building doesn't look the nicest, inside though it's awesome. There is railroad memorabilia everywhere. The train cars and engines that they do have have been beautifully restored and are all on display. I couldn't believe the size of the old steam engine, it's definitely worth checking out.

Mike C

Awesone Experience!

Hongbin Li

Bring railway history back to life

d m

Old antiquated equipment, beasts of the rail

Andrew Penny

Great venue and a lot going on! I will be back!

dafe1

Good experience!

Jeffrey Young

Train Museum was great for my kid who loves trains, it's nice having the model train room and being able to see the large up close locomotives.

Carolyn Doyle

Very nice and very informative. A good place to see

Ashley Proulx

Beautiful place for weddings

Billie Newell

Didn't know there were that many trains to see. Awesome.

Jeff Calcutt

All about trains, will go Back again

diesel Syndrome

Loved the history and the "old timers" that walked you through it. Unfortunately they are lacking some serious funds and the building has gone down hill and some projects most likely will never be completed. It would be a shame to loose this valuable piece of history, but without support it will fall victim more lost pieces of history. Great place to visit and spend a few hours looking back into some local history.

John Maloney

When I can get here, I enjoy seeing both my grandfather and fathers memorial plaques upstairs. They are doing a fantastic job restoring this station. It would be awesome to see it again with the covered veranda. If you get a chance do the tour of both the station and the museum.

Leanne Rex

The ride on the open air train car was thrilling. The grandkids were so excited and when we stopped we all got to pick a pumpkin. Very interesting vintage train cars to look through as well.

Jessica Meszaros

Not much to see

Doug Withenshaw

Nice local historical building

Sandra Dubrosky

So interesting. Fabulous wedding venue!!!

Melissa Mills Cruickshank

We went for a Yuk Yuks night. The atmosphere was amazing, however with it being so hot, it would have been nice to have more fans distributing the air around the room.

Karim El-Sherif

Loved it. Got a tour here. Very informative. Fun. No pressure to donate.

randall banning

Found it extremely interesting. The steam locomotive is massive when you stand beside it.

Gina Paradis

My grandson and I loved it! The gentleman were very willing to answer a 6 yr old's many questions! We will return.

Rusty Allen

Simple, yet informative

Bob Nicholls

Pretty cool place to visit!

Andy Robertson

Lots of history here, great place to visit!

joshua adams

Wedding was beautiful

Dunwaukin Farm

We dropped into the museum to have a look around on a Saturday. Best tour ever! The volunteer took us through the history of every engine, pointed out equipment, talked about things as mundane as the wooden floors and how they were better than concrete for working. Great work. Thank you

Mohammed Al-Hafiz

Had a nice experience with my daughter, it was like a stepping into the past.

Omar E

Great staff!

Teranche “Teranche” Avant

(Translated) Grrrrrrrrrrreat !!! (Original) Grrrrrrrrrrreat!!!

Henry Fawrls

Great arena to play in!

Doug Clements

My son loves it! People are extremely friendly and very insightful.

Leslie McAdam

Visited June 02 2018. Was fourth visit in 2 years. Children aged 6,4,3 thoroughly enjoyed. Was pleasantly surprised this visit to be helped by a Summer student (wish I knew her name). She was spectacular and connected well with the boys. The museum has recently opened more exhibits that we enjoyed. Will be back.

Catalina Albarracin

Little one loved it and I did too. Not much of a fan of the price. Also, I was a little confused on how or where to get in.

Kimberly Bennett

Interesting and great railway pieces to see

Beth Coxen

An amazing little gem in our hometown

Greg Robertshaw

Very friendly staff and volunteers, excellent displays of railway history, amazing locomotive repair facility.

Dan Gulyas

Very knowledgeable people. Great history

aaroncrabbe

Had a great time. They are working on new trains so it looks like it will be even better in the future!

Julie Willigenburg

It would be nice if the website was updated to let the public know that the museum is closed to the public due to Covid 19. A few customers showed up, just as we did from miles away, just to find doors locked! The website states it’s open, and so do the signs on the building! Poor customer service!

Dennis Malott

Very informative. Interesting history

scott hindley

Excellent historical site! Great value!

Carolyn Addy

Great historical place

Matthew Hileman

Amazing exhibits to see, loved it more than the kids did

R Snider

Bathrooms hadnt been cleaned since June 15? Gross! There was mouse pooh all over the train set. 4 teenagers "working" but nothing is getting done? Hubby loved the big trains on display however and enjoyed it.