At the end of the year, Winnipeg’s railway history is going to be harder to access — at least for a while.
The Winnipeg Railway Museum, which has highlighted the city’s rail heritage for three decades, said Tuesday that it will be shutting its doors at VIA Union Station until it can find a new home.
Midwestern Rail president Gary Stempnick said the section of the train station that has been home to the museum will no longer be available beginning in 2022 due to ongoing construction upgrades and safety concerns, so the search is on for a new home for its extensive collection of artifacts.
“We’d like to maintain our presence in the downtown area, near The Forks, with a wonderful community of other museums,” said Stempnick.
“We’d like to build the type of museum that enhances the experience of visitors here and acts as an attraction to draw even more people to the area.
“This may take some time but, when we can, we hope to display our collection of railway artifacts to the people of Winnipeg once more.”
The museum, which includes railway artifacts from the 19th century to the present day, will remain open until Dec. 31 at its current downtown location.