Quote:
Originally Posted by bomberjet
Regarding Union Station. The fact the museum is moving out is very good news for the RT plans. Step 1 if you will. I'm not up to speed on the spaces taken up by EC and RRC Polytech (get used to that one).
Hopefully the City is actually moving ahead with the downtown elevated portion in the near future. IMO that part is locked in, in terms of planning.
The rest of the outdoor site, specifically the outdoor parking lots, can be redeveloped. More specifically, the lot at York. The smaller lot to the south is going to be the RT area.
I wonder if hte museum can work with Prairie Dog to get something pulled together. PDC was/is looking for commercial opportunities. They looked at rail car storage and cleaning operations in the recent past. Developing a bunch of new track on their site. Quite expensive though for such a small operation.
|
From what I've heard, the Prairie Dog Central's parent organization the Vintage Locomotive Society has gotten pretty good at providing services to rail operators to sustain their historical preservation activities. Good on them for pulling that off.
It would seem like a logical fit to have the railway museum work with the VLS, but they have somewhat different mandates... one wants to run a museum, the other one runs trains. The trouble with combining the two is that the VLS facilities are way out past the edge of town. So it's not like VLS could really be that helpful the same way that they could if their facilities were located in a convenient spot.
As for EC and RRC's spaces in Union Station, they were in the station building itself, which is basically an old office building. CN and in later years VIA occupied it until the early 90s. It's probably not the most appealing building due to its age so finding new occupants could be a little tough.