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  Location within Florida  Gold Coast Railroad Museum (the United States) | |
| Established | 1956 |
|---|---|
| Location | Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 25°37′02″N80°24′03″W / 25.6172°N 80.4007°W |
| Website | gcrm |
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum( reporting mark GCOX) [1] is a railroad museum located in Miami, Florida, adjacent to Zoo Miami.
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. [2] 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 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge Edwin Link Children's Railroad also offers rides. [3]
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.
One of the most important exhibits is the Presidential Car Ferdinand Magellan. The museum also has a collection of model railroad equipment.
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Several of the diesel locomotives are operational and active. Some of the locomotives on location are:
East Swamp & Gatorville Railroad 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge [5] 4-4-0 Locomotive #3. Built by Crown Metal Products; donated by Edwin Albert Link. Originally coal-powered, but now runs on compressed air.
The Freight Cars, Passenger Cars & other Cars on display include:
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. [6]
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.
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Silver Service was a brand applied by Amtrak to its long-distance trains running along the United States East Coast between New York City and Miami, Florida. It comprised two trains – the Silver Meteor and Silver Star. Since November 2024, the Silver Star has been temporarily combined with the Capitol Limited to form the Floridian, a Chicago–Washington–Miami route. The Silver Service brand was subsequently quietly discontinued for an indefinite period at the same time.
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The Silver Star is a temporarily discontinued long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 1,522-mile (2,449 km) route between New York City and Miami via Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; and Tampa, Florida.
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The Champion was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Florida East Coast Railway between New York City and Miami or St. Petersburg, Florida. It operated from 1939 until 1979, continuing under the Seaboard Coast Line and Amtrak. It was a direct competitor to the Seaboard Air Line Railway's Silver Meteor, the first New York-Florida streamliner.
The South Wind was a named passenger train equipped and operated jointly by the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and the Florida East Coast Railway. The South Wind began operations in December 1940, providing streamliner service between Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida. This was one of three new seven-car, all-coach streamliners operating in coordination every third day along different routes between Chicago and Miami. The other two longest enduring Chicago-Florida trains were the City of Miami and the Dixie Flagler. The South Wind remained in service through the creation of Amtrak in 1971.
The Gulf Wind was a streamlined passenger train inaugurated on July 31, 1949, as a joint operation by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The Gulf Wind replaced the heavyweight New Orleans - Florida Express on this routing. The Gulf Wind was a limited stops train and offered amenities such as dining cars and Pullman service. The train left Jacksonville at night and arrived in New Orleans in the evening, as the Express had done.
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The Sun Lounges were a fleet of three streamlined sleeper-lounge cars built by Pullman-Standard for the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) in 1956. The cars featured a distinctive glazed roof area meant to capture the ambience of a dome car in a lower profile, as tunnels on the East Coast of the United States prevented the use of dome cars there. The Seaboard employed all three Sun Lounges on its flagship Silver Meteor between New York City and Miami, Florida. The cars later saw service with the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL) and Amtrak. Two of the three survive in private ownership.
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