I was sad to see this pop up today. I visited the museum a few years back, and they had very interesting historical displays about the Newfoundland Railway.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/stjohns-railway-museum-closed-1.5817847

Was there last year. They have an extremely good exhibit of cut away cars in use. This is a crying shame. Newfoundland had an extensive rail net that the national government got the province to trade for a highway system. Not much is left and this was the biggest part. The provincial government should step in and save this but in these times not likely to happen.

Or at least offer to turn it over to a non-profit organization to keep running.

I think there is more to this than just closing the museum to save money--note the mayor's quote in the article:
Breen told reporters on Thursday the space itself will not go to waste.

"We're looking at an opportunity to repurpose that building for public use," he said. "That decision should be announced shortly into 2021."
And:
Breen said he couldn't get into details about what will fill the space without discussing it with the city's "partners."

But, he said, it's "something that the city will find pretty exciting," and there's no consideration about selling the building.

"It's going to have a good purpose, I can assure you, into the future," he said.
"We have a very short list [of ideas] but we won't get into the ideas right now. I'd love to tell you. I'm bursting here to tell you, but our partners are still working out the details on that.

"We'll have something in the new year. I'm sure everyone is going to be interested."

So, folks aren't interested in Railroad history, eh? This smacks of a "behind the curtain" planning. And not mentioned, what will happen to the artifacts and displays??
IMHO, this STINKS!

There is much that stinks in that country these days... too bad the people are told to believe that it is "fragrant"...

Don't they have an NF210 and a coach on display? What will happen to them?

Chris

Is this the coach? It was seen in Pennsylvania this week: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2320589 ... 049874980/

Even before covid, Canada, as a viable entity, was circling the drain. There is a federal government run by imbeciles with corrosive left/green ideology.
We are beginning to see the hollowing out of museums and collections.The pace of this destruction will increase.

Weren't we talking about the threat to museums recently? Or maybe it's a "Mandela Effect" kinda thing...

There is a rumor it is headed to East Broad Top!

I removed an offensive post and the two replies to it.

I will bet money that the closure is not covid related. The city govt. simply wants to do something else with the building and is using covid and budget cuts as an excuse to do that. If this indeed was just a shortfall of money, then just close the museum down for a while. It is winter right now so that wouldn't affect the tourist season. Secondly, they are not selling the building, so they will still be paying the same overhead and utilities regardless. And third, any repurposing of the building is going to involve an outlay of money, and isn't having no money the excuse for the closure?

Something else is going on here and they are trying to fool everyone.

This is why everyone should think twice about getting involved with (local) public ownership of heritage sites. Politicians do not have our interests in rail preservation foremost in their minds and we should not entrust our irreplaceable artifacts and sites to a revolving group of people whose only qualifications are the ability to win popularity contests.

I tend to agree with Rick that it may be a better idea for most museums to not be directly owned by a city/state/federal government. The winds and whims of political thinking at any given moment could turn on the museum and it's base of supporters. There have been moves in recent years in some cities by municipal leaders facing financial crisis to sell off the assets of valuable art museums, much to the outrage of the wealthier and better connected patrons of that world. What chance would we in the rail preservation community have to save a bunch of "scrap iron" from liquidation?

We need the support of local officials and patrons, governmental, private and corporate, but avoiding outright ownership of the institution, or even the land it sits on, by government entities. Private, non-profit entities are probably the way to go, a mutually beneficial, but arms-length relationship with the polity being desirable. A relationship that always tries to maintain civil relations with those who could do them harm, or do them in.

Clarification:

The narrow-gauge CN/TerraNova "business car" seen in the photos above DID NOT come from the St. John's museum, but instead came from the rail station museum in Orangedale, Cape Breton, NS:

https://www.novascotiarailwayheritage.c ... gedale.htm

However: The fact that one of their prime exhibits has been retrieved from its "loan" (it was privately owned, not the Museum's) suggests they could be the next to be shuttered.

The rumor of it "headed to the EBT" is fueled by two supposed facts: the car is headed to Philadelphia, according to the Orangedale museum--the home of EBT Foundation head/underwriter Bennett Levin--and the car is reportedly owned by Henry Posner--another EBTF head/underwriter. These rumors are speculative and not confirmed. But, hey, stranger things have happened/are about to happen.........