The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, adjacent to

Zoo Miami The Miami-Dade Zoological Park and Gardens, also known as Zoo Miami, is a zoological park and garden near Miami and is the largest zoo in Florida. Originally established in 1948 at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Zoo Miami relocated in 1980 as M ...

Description

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum was founded in 1956. The museum was built on the former Naval Air Station Richmond. With over three miles of tracks, the old base was an ideal place to build a railroad museum. The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is one of three Official State Railroad Museums in Florida.Florida Statutes, Section 15.045
/ref> It became a Florida state railroad museum in 1984 when it received statutory recognition by the Florida Legislature as meeting the four statutory criteria that: its purpose is to preserve railroad history, it is devoted primarily to the history of railroading, it is open to the public, and it operates as a non-profit organization. The Gold Coast Railroad Museum promotes historical trains and railroads. It houses over 30 historic trains including classic railroad cars like the Western Pacific "Silver Crescent” and engines like the Florida East Coast "113.” The Museum strives to teach railroad history with the use of artifacts, movies, and railroading materials. The Museum includes a number of displays that are interactive. The Museum's train rides allow guests to board vintage trains and get a taste of the past. On certain days, guests can ride in standard gauge railway cars and can also ride in the cab of the train's locomotive. The separate

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

Edwin Link Children's Railroad also offers rides.

Exhibits

One of the most important exhibits is the Presidential Car ''Ferdinand Magellan''. The museum also has a collection of model railroad equipment. File:The Gold Coast Railroad Museum 02.jpg, The Presidential Car ''Ferdinand Magellan'' File:Gold-Coast-Railroad-Museum-1.jpg, Florida East Coast 153 File:FEC 1594 EMD E8A.jpg, EMD E-8A of Florida East Coast Railway No. 1594 File:Gold-Coast-Railroad-Museum-2.jpg, EMD GP 7m of

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast L ...

No. 1804 File:Gold-Coast-Railroad-Museum-3.jpg, Collection of classic model trains & prototypical scale models

Locomotives

Several of the diesel locomotives are operational and active. Some of the locomotives on location are:

Steam locomotives

*Florida East Coast 113 * Florida East Coast 153

Diesel-electric locomotives

NASA Railroad The NASA Railroad is a Class III industrial short-line railroad at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The railroad consists of of track connecting the mainline of the Florida East Coast Railway and trackage at the Cape Canav ...

Alco S-2 #2 *Gold Coast Railroad Museum RS-1 #106 * Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad E-9A #9913 * Florida East Coast Railway E-8A #1594 *

GP-7 #1804 *

Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...

FP-10 #4033 *

Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad was a railroad connecting Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C. The track is now the RF&P Subdivision of the CSX Transportation system; the original corporation is no longer a railroad comp ...

"Slug"

Other locomotives

East Swamp & Gatorville Railroad narrow gaugeCrown Metal Products Locomotive Roster
/ref> Locomotive #3 (built by

Crown Metal Products Crown Metal Products was a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock based in Wyano, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Ken Williams in 1946 and initially sold pot cleaners and then electric fence wires and other products. In 1959, the compan ...

; donated by

Edwin Albert Link Edwin Albert Link (July 26, 1904 – September 7, 1981) was an American inventor, entrepreneur and pioneer in aviation, underwater archaeology, and submersibles. He invented the flight simulator, which was called the "Blue Box" or "Link Train ...

; originally coal-powered, but now runs on compressed air)

Freight and other cars

The freight cars and other railroad cars on display include: *US Dept of Interior-Bureau of Mines Helium Field Operations - Helium Transportation Car MHAX #1202 *Frisco Line Railroad Gondola Car #60053 *Port Everglades Railroad Flatcar #1103 *Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Steam Crane #765157 *Burro Crane #15 *Southern Railway Boxcar #260909 *Southern Railway Boxcar #27416 *Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Boxcar #126307 *Belcher Oil Company Tank Car #105 *Belcher Oil Company Tank Car #121 *United States Army Side Dump Ballast Car *United States Army Flatcar #35703 *Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Caboose #0322 *Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Boxcar #593188 *NASA Shuttle Rocket Booster "Skirt" car #NALX 171

Rolling stock

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum has over 40 pieces of railroad rolling stock and equipment. They are currently in the process of selling of some of the equipment to continue to operate a financially stable museum.

Model railroading

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum exhibits include a number of model railroads in many scales, including N, HO, O27, and G scale. The collections and equipment on display have been donated or loaned to the Museum for the public's enjoyment.

Publications

*Steam N' Steel Newsletter - published monthly *Model Railroad Magazine - published online

References

External links

Official web site
{{authority control Railroad museums in Florida Museums in Miami Model railway shows and exhibitions 2 ft gauge railways in the United States Museums established in 1956 1956 establishments in Florida