Canada's 'Railway City' wants passenger trains back. Like in much of the country, it's not so simple

September 20 | Duration closed caption 1:02 Wil Zufelt stands among the remnants of what was once one of Canada's busiest railway hub. He says St. Thomas, Ont., needs to save what's left of its railway history before more of it disappears. Social Sharing To an outsider, the 3.2-hectare sea of grass surrounding the Elgin County Railway Museum in the heart of St. Thomas, Ont., might look like an urban park. That's not what Wil Zufelt sees.

"You say green space," he said. "We're actually sitting in the middle of a brownfield site that was left behind from the railroads."

Built in 1913, the hulking red-brick building was once the Michigan Central Railway Locomotive Shops, where locomotives were maintained and overhauled by a staff of 400 workers. It's one of three survivors of a sprawling railway complex that once had 112 buildings.