The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Miami, Florida, adjacent to Zoo Miami.

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. It became a Florida state railroad museum in 1984 when it received statutory recognition by the Florida Legislature as meeting the four statutory criteria, including: 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 historic railroad cars like the Presidential Pullman "Ferdinand Magellan” and engines like the Florida East Coast "153.” The museum strives to teach railroad history using artifacts, movies, and railroading materials. The museum includes many interactive displays. The museum's train rides allow guests to board vintage trains and get a taste of the past. On Most Saturdays, guests can ride in standard gauge railway cars and can also ride in the cab of the train's locomotive. The separate narrow gauge Edwin Link Children's Railroad also offers rides. Located at a latitude of ~25.62 degrees north, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum possesses the southernmost active railroad trackage in the continental United States.

Exhibits

One of the most important exhibits is the Presidential Car Ferdinand Magellan. The museum also has a collection of model railroad equipment.

Locomotives

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

Steam locomotives

Diesel-electric locomotives

Other locomotives

East Swamp & Gatorville Railroad narrow gauge Locomotive #3. Built by Crown Metal Products; donated by Edwin Albert Link. Originally coal-powered, but now runs on compressed air.

Freight and Passenger cars

The Freight Cars, Passenger Cars & other Cars on display include:

Rolling stock

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum has over 50 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