Gold Coast Railroad Museum

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Gold Coast Railroad Museum
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Location within Florida
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Gold Coast Railroad Museum (the United States)
Established1957
Location Miami, Florida, U.S.
Coordinates 25°37′02″N80°24′03″W / 25.6172°N 80.4007°W / 25.6172; -80.4007
Website gcrm.org

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum( reporting mark GCOX) [1] is a railroad museum located in Miami, Florida, adjacent to Zoo Miami.

Contents

Description

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum was founded in 1957. 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.

Equipment

Gold Coast Railroad Museum/
Zoo Miami
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Standard gauge
train rides
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Edwin Link
Children's Railroad
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Miami Military Museum
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Asia Station
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Main Station
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Africa Station
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Amazon Station

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum has over 50 pieces of railroad rolling stock and equipment. Some of the equipment are in the process of being sold to continue to operate a financially stable museum. [4] Some of the equipment on location include the following:

Locomotives

Locomotive details [5]
NumberImageTypeClassBuilderBuiltFormer ownerStatus
1Diesel S-2 American Locomotive Company NASA Railroad Out of service
2 NASA Railroad 2 in red and silver livery (KSC-98PC-651).jpg Diesel SW1500 Electro-Motive Diesel 1970NASA RailroadOperational [6]
48 GCRM-48.jpg Steam 0-4-0 American Locomotive Company1922Winston Co.Static display
71Diesel S-2 (slug)American Locomotive Company1948 Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Out of service
106Diesel RS-1 American Locomotive Company1951 Savannah River Site Out of service
113 FEC-113.jpg Steam 4-6-2 American Locomotive Company1913 Florida East Coast Railway Static display
153 Gold-Coast-Railroad-Museum-1.jpg Steam 4-6-2 American Locomotive Company1922Florida East Coast RailwayStatic display
1594 FEC 1594 EMD E8A.jpg Diesel E8A Electro-Motive DieselFlorida East Coast RailwayAwaiting repairs
1804 Gold-Coast-Railroad-Museum-2.jpg Diesel GP7 Electro-Motive Diesel1951 Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Under restoration
4033 Seabord-4033.jpg Diesel FP10 Electro-Motive Diesel Seaboard Air Line Railroad Out of service; on display
9913Diesel E9A Electro-Motive Diesel1956 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Awaiting repairs

Other locomotives

East Swamp and Gatorville Railroad 4-4-0 #1865, December 2022 East Swamp and Gatorville Railroad 4-4-0 -1865 December 2022.jpg
East Swamp and Gatorville Railroad 4-4-0 #1865, December 2022

East Swamp & Gatorville Railroad 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge [7] 4-4-0 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: [5]

Model railroading

Collection of classic model trains & prototypical scale models Gold-Coast-Railroad-Museum-3.jpg
Collection of classic model trains & prototypical scale models

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

See also

References

  1. Railinc, Search MARKs Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine , accessed September 2009
  2. Florida Statutes, Section 15.045
  3. "Gold Coast Railroad Museum - Train Rides". Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  4. "Florida's Gold Coast Railroad Museum offers 20 pieces for sale in transition plan | Trains Magazine". Trains. August 13, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Our Railcars". Goldcoastrailroadmuseum.org. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
  6. James Dean (May 23, 2015). "NASA Railroad rides into sunset". Florida Today.
  7. Crown Metal Products Locomotive Roster