Winnipeg Railway Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1994 |
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| Location | Union Station, 123 Main St, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Type | Railway museum |
| Key holdings | Countess of Dufferin |
| Collection size | 6 locomotives, plus rolling stock |
| Founder | David Harris, Norman Leathers, Roger Letourneau |
| Public transit access | Winnipeg Transit |
| Nearest car park | Privately operated, surrounding station |
The Winnipeg Railway Museum was a super cool place to learn about trains! It was a railway museum located inside Union Station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This station is used by Via Rail.
The museum was run by amazing volunteers from the Midwestern Rail Association Inc. This group is a non-profit organization that started way back in 1975. The museum was also connected with important groups like the CMA and the Virtual Museum of Canada.
Contents
Discovering Railway History
The main goal of the museum was to show off the history of railways in Winnipeg and Manitoba. They had a fantastic collection of old trains and railway items!
Some of the cool things you could see included:
- The Countess of Dufferin: This was a very special train because it was the first locomotive ever used on the Canadian prairies!
- Different kinds of old train cars.
- Cabooses: These are the cars at the very end of a freight train.
- A Jordan spreader from 1911: This machine was used to clear snow or spread gravel on the tracks.
- Stories and items about building the Hudson Bay Railway all the way to Churchill, Manitoba.
- Displays that showed how train technology works.
- A large HO scale model train layout.
In 2015, they even started working to fix up Winnipeg's last wooden streetcar. This streetcar, called Car 356, was going to be shown at the museum.
Where the Museum Was Located
The museum was set up on old train platforms and tracks that were no longer used. This meant you could walk right up to the real trains and railway equipment! There were also portable buildings with cool model-train sets inside.
To get to the museum from the Via Rail station, you used the same staircase that passengers once used when that part of the station was busy.
The Museum's Future
The Winnipeg Railway Museum closed its doors at the end of 2021. This was to get ready for some important renovations in Union Station. There are talks about possibly moving the museum to a new location in Winnipeg. This would make space for a new rapid transit hub station. For now, the museum's future is still unknown.
Cool Trains and Exhibits
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Locomotive on display
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Train and equipment
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Railway equipment
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Winnipeg Hydro train
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City of Winnipeg Rail Car
See also
In Spanish: Museo del Ferrocarril de Winnipeg para niños
