Florida Railroad Museum

Florida Railroad Museum
Established	1981
Coordinates	27°35′24″N82°25′25″W / 27.59000°N 82.42361°W
Type	Railroad museum
Website	frrm.org

Last updated March 04, 2025

The Florida Railroad Museum( reporting mark FGCX) is a railroad museum located in Parrish, Florida. The museum operates a heritage railroad and offers round-trip tourist excursions along six miles of the former Seaboard Air Line Sarasota Subdivision in Manatee County between Parrish and Willow.

History

The museum was founded in 1981 as the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum, and has been operating weekend excursions out of Parrish since 1992. The museum is also active in the ghost town of Willow, where it has maintenance facilities. At Willow, there is a railroad spur that leads east off of the mainline to a Florida Power & Light Company plant. CSX Transportation provides rail service to the plant. The area of Willow is accessible from Willow Road east off of US 301. The museum has a fence around its facilities at Willow and cameras for security. It has constructed a new depot at Willow within this secured property.

The railroad line that the Florida Railroad Museum uses is a very small part of a 55-mile route that was built south from Durant to Manatee County and into Sarasota with construction starting in 1895. It was first incorporated in 1902 as the United States & West Indies Railroad and Steamship Company. It became the Florida West Shore Railway on May 9, 1903. On November 4, 1909, it was acquired by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company. In 1967, the merger of the Seaboard Air Line and the Atlantic Coast Line created the Seaboard Coast Line. The Seaboard Coast Line would later become a part of the Family Lines System. This would lead to the Seaboard System and that would become a part of CSX Transportation in the 1980s, although the segment from Durant to Willow was pulled up in 1986. The line is currently part of the CSX Palmetto Subdivision's Parrish Spur. It is Class I track with jointed, 75-pound rails.

The Florida Railroad Museum is one of three Official State Railroad Museums in Florida.^[1] It became a Florida state railroad museum in 1984 when it received statutory recognition by the Florida Legislature as meeting the following four criteria: 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. It is open Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. year-round. The train departs from Parrish at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on these days, and the excursions from Parrish to Willow last about an hour and a half round trip. The museum also offers specials events throughout the year such as Day Out With Thomas, Pumpkin Patch Express, and North Pole Express.

Rolling stock

Locomotives

Builder	Model	Year built	Type	Current number	Former numbers (if applicable)	Operational status
EMD	CF7	1950	Diesel-electric	IMCX 204	ATSF 238L (F7), ATSF 2472 (CF7)	In service; primary road power.
EMD	FP7	1952	Diesel-electric	VLIX 904	GO Transit 904	Stored, no prime mover.
EMD	GP7	1951	Diesel-electric	FGCX 1835	USATC 1835	In service; primary road power.
EMD	GP7	1951	Diesel-electric	FGCX 1822	USATC 1822	Stored, used for parts for GP7 1835 due to being in less good condition upon arrival with 1835.
EMD	GP10	1954	Diesel-electric	FGCX 8330	UP 183B, ICG 8330, IC 8330, G&O 8330	Out of service; primary road power. Original Paducah prime mover suffered failure in Dec 2018. Returned to service in Dec 2024 following installation and testing of a replacement 567 prime mover. Out of service again due to #4 traction motor failure.
ALCO	RS3	1951	Diesel-electric	Seaboard Air Line 1633	NYC 8277, PC 5518, AMTK 133	Out of service; on display in Willow yard.
ALCO	RS3	1955	Diesel-electric	PRR 8604	PRR 8604, PC 5404, AMTK 114	Stored, used for parts initially for RS3 1633
ALCO	S-2M	1946	Diesel-electric	CYDZ 251		In service; primary road power and/or switch power.
GE	44-ton switcher		Diesel-electric	FGCX 100	US Navy 65-00345	Out of service awaiting possible repair to #1 prime mover.
EMD	NW5		Diesel-electric		Cargill 61	Static display in Parrish, used as occasional part source for the operational EMD locomotives on the roster.
Porter	0-6-0T		Steam	BEDT 12		Static display in Parrish.
BLW	0-6-0		Steam	Frisco 3749		Static display. Once appeared in an MGM movie, The Wings of Eagles, starring John Wayne.^[2]^[3]
BLW	2-6-2		Steam	Cummer Sons Cypress 104		Static display in Willow. Formerly on static display in Leesburg, FL

Cars

Builder	Model	Year built	Type	Current number	Former numbers (if applicable)	Operational status
Fruit Growers Express			Refrigerated box car	ex-TPIX 250	TPIX 250	Static display
			Tank car	ex-SAL?	SAL?	Static display
ACF	U-12	1962	Covered hopper	TBA	Atlantic Coast Line 10304; CSXT 651873	Static display
Pullman	Pullman	1926	Passenger	Kentucky Club	Mt. Langford; Kentucky; Royal American Shows 51	Traded w/ Kentucky Railroad Museum for Seaboard Air Line coach #821.
Pullman	Pullman		Sleeper	TBA	Formerly owned by RBBX circus. To be used as crew quarters for crews who stay overnight.	In service in Willow Yard.
Pullman	Pullman	1954	Passenger	Cape Tormentine	Originally operated by Canadian National Railway and later Via Rail Canada.	Traded along with the Kentucky Club to the Kentucky Railroad Museum for Seaboard Air Line coach #821.
	EMU	1930	Passenger	FGCX 3518	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad 3518; New Jersey Transit 3518	Out of service
	EMU	1930	Passenger	FGCX 3572	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad 3572; New Jersey Transit 3572	Out of service
	Baggage-RPO	1925	Passenger	Southern Railway 142		Stored
	Coach	1914	Passenger	Illinois Central Railroad 2682	Royal American Shows 2682	Stored, partially restored
	Coach	1950	Passenger	FGCX 2002	Union Pacific 5416, Alaska RR 5416, New Georgia 2002	In service
	Caboose	1929	Freight	Texas and Pacific Railway 12070		In Service
N&W	Caboose	1942	Freight	Norfolk and Western Railway 518415		In Service for special events.
B&O	Caboose	1945	Freight	Baltimore and Ohio Railroad C-2417		Originally on static display in Willow. Now sold to a church group.
Pullman	Pine-series	1953	Passenger	Short Leaf Pine	Louisville and Nashville Railroad #3464	Under restoration
Bethlehem Steel	Coach	1938	Passenger	Atlantic Coast Line Railroad 1116		In storage

Gallery

EMD GP7 #1835
EMD GP10 #8330
EMD CF7 #204
ALCO RS3 #1633

References

↑ "Chapter 15 Section 045 - 2012 Florida Statutes - The Florida Senate" . Retrieved May 14, 2015.
↑ "Frisco Survivors" (PDF). All Aboard, The Frisco Railroad Museum, July, 1988 (accessed on CondrenRails.com). Retrieved October 14, 2020.
↑ "Non-active Steam Locomotives". Florida Railroad Museum. Retrieved October 14, 2020.

External links

Media related to Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum at Wikimedia Commons

Official site

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[RR-1] "Chapter 15 Section 045 - 2012 Florida Statutes - The Florida Senate" . Retrieved May 14, 2015.

[Frisco3700-2] "Frisco Survivors" (PDF). All Aboard, The Frisco Railroad Museum, July, 1988 (accessed on CondrenRails.com). Retrieved October 14, 2020.

[Florida-3] "Non-active Steam Locomotives". Florida Railroad Museum. Retrieved October 14, 2020.

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