The city of St. Thomas, midway between the Detroit and Niagara Rivers in the peninsula of southwestern Ontario, has been a railroad centre of major importance since 1873, when the Canada Southern Railway first made its headquarters there. In 1883 Canada Southern was leased to the Michigan Central Railroad, and became a division of that line.

Freight and passenger car construction was carried out in the St. Thomas shops beginning in 1882. Passenger cars were originally standard wooden coaches of the period. Freight cars were MCR design, but custom built the company's Canadian division.
No new cars were built at St. Thomas after 1900,but the car shops remained very active as a repair facility until about 1958, when they were torn down by the New York Central, which had leased the Michigan Central in 1929.