Gold Coast Railroad Museum Visit 2022
Published 5-12-2023
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Hello, readers. This is Ryan Casey, and welcome to Gold Coast Railroad Museum Visit 2022. I only made one out of town vacation trip in 2022, but it was a good one. My travels brought me to South Florida again, and this time we’re going to explore the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, Florida. This is the home of the “Ferdinand Magellan”, the Presidential Rail Car.
Pushing further south
On December 5th, 2022, my mother and I drove down to Miami to visit the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Fifteen years earlier, the furthest point south I had been in the continental USA was Deerfield Beach, Florida. Now, I went further south. Miami-Dade County is a huge metro area, and has places spread out. On the drive down, we saw Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins, and other casinos. But as we approached our destination, we also encountered the Miami Zoo. But if one makes a right turn right, they’ll be able to find the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Located on the site of Naval Air Station Richmond, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum was founded in 1984, and is an official museum registered with the Florida State Government. Due to it’s location in a warmer climate, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum is open during the week in addition to weekends, except Tuesdays and Thursdays. On weekends, depending on crew availability, the museum even runs a short standard gauge excursion train.
Entering the Museum
Upon arrival at the museum, we encountered a box car, and a huge communications tower, as well as a wooden caboose. The first thing we encountered was an aircraft hangar style train shed, which is hurricane-proof, and has four display tracks to see the trains from. Of the four main museum tracks, the trains that attract most of the most are Florida East Coast 4-6-2 Pacific number 153, and the Pullman Observation car “Ferdinand Magellan”, which is so important to US History that I wrote it’s own section further down the story. First, we examined the trains on track two. There is a former Southern Railway Baggage-Express car, which visitors can walk into and see a fine display of train whistles and bells from scrapped locomotives. A piece of rail from the Key West extension of the Florida East Coast Railroad is also on display here, and is credited with saving the life of an engineer during the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. one of only four Category 5 hurricanes to hit the United States. There is also a die cast plate of the Flying Scotsman locomotive in its London North Eastern Railway Green Apple livery hanging up nearby.
Moving on from the baggage car, visitors can enter the next coach. Seaboard Air Line combine car #259. This car is unique in the respect that in addition to being a split baggage and passenger car, it also had segregated seating areas, thus making it a “Jim Crow” car. “Jim Crow” cars like this were common on railroads that ran in the Southern States during segregation, and before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 came into effect. Public places had separate water fountains and bathrooms for white and non-white people, and on transportation, non-white folks had less seating than white folks. There are several more Jim Crow cars in museums such as the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum in Campo, CA, and the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC. Soon it was time to head over to the small platform to ride the small excursion train of the day.
Exploring the grounds by rail
Over on the south side of the train shed was the East Swamp and Gatorville Railroad, the GCRM’s daily excursion train which takes visitors to off limits areas of the museum grounds. It is a 24″ gauge railroad, and uses a Crown Metal Products 4-4-0 steamer #3, which is powered by compressed air instead of coal and water. Crown Metal Products also built small trains for Hershey Park and Knott’s Berry Farm. This little American was named like the General. commemorate the Great Locomotive Chase of the Civil War. As we got under way, the first sight to behold was an oversized flat car that once belonged to NASA. This specialized flat car once carried solid rocket booster pieces for the one hundred and thirty one missions that ever took place in the Space Shuttle Program, which lasted for over thirty years. Next was a set of Burlington coaches once used on the California Zephyr, as well as E9s, one of which is painted in its original CB&Q livery. This is the only railroad museum on the East Coast where anyone can find a large number of former CB&Q pieces. Then the little train went around the loop track and we encountered “The North Pole”. It was Christmas time but it felt like more like mid-summer.
The Ferdinand Magellan
Soon after the ride was over, we toured the most important piece of rail equipment at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Pullman car US no 1, the Ferdinand Magellan. Originally built in 1928 as an observation car, the Ferdinand Magellan was modified to become the private car of president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It had armored plating, and 3 inch thick bulletproof glass windows, weighing 200 pounds each. This coach was subsequently used by Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower during their presidencies. The Ferdinand Magellan went everywhere, and was transported by different railroad companies depending on where the president was headed, even going as far north as Ottawa, Canada. Winston Churchill even rode this coach with President Truman in the late 1940s. It was last used by Ronald Reagan as part of his 1984 re-election campaign. The first lady Nancy Reagan did not ride this coach, as train riding was “below her level”. In 1985, the Ferdinand Magellan was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service, the only railroad car in the Untied States to have this status. As a National Historic Landmark, this coach cannot be modified, unless a current sitting US President decides to use it. Why wasn’t this coach in the Smithsonian Museum? Because at the time, there was no room to put it.
Inside the Ferdinand Magellan
For an extra $5, one can visit this car and take an interior guided tour. Due to vandalism, this rule had to be enacted. Stepping into the coach, the first thing encountered is the galley. When the President used this coach, he had his own kitchen staff with a compartment for them just ahead of the kitchen area. Moving further in, the dining room can be seen, with original china dishes, wood panelling and furniture all around. When the late President Ronald Reagan used this car he joked that the furniture was bought at a yard sale. Walking further down the car, we encountered the bedrooms where the President and First Lady slept. Both were connected to a shared bathroom. The President’s bedroom featured one of FDR’s wheelchairs, and a toilet hidden within, while the rest of the bedrooms were standard. Finally, we stepped into the lounge area at the end of the coach. Originally, this area was air-conditioned by ice blocks, stored underneath the coach. When Harry S Truman was president, he got bad allergies riding this car because the fans drew air and pollen from the outside in, and the culprit was the ice blocks. By 1984, Ronald Reagan had the car modified to use air conditioning, and ultimately rendered the ice blocks obsolete.
Coupled up next to the Ferdinand Magellan, was a nicely restored Army Hospital Car, which contained artifacts found from the presidential rail car. Including a forty-eight star flag, a neck tie, several pieces of china dishes, and a blueprint of the car. Several programs about the president’s many rail journeys were also on display. Stepping off the Army Hospital Car, the next piece of equipment was FEC 1996, a coach which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Florida East Coast Railroad. This car is air conditioned and shows video presentations. It was donated as a gift from the Florida East Coast Railroad in 1996 after the Hurricane Andrew recovery efforts were finished.
The Rest of the Museum
Continuing past the FEC car, we encountered a nicely restored wooden caboose. Florida East Coast Number 715. Even though the coal stove was restored on this car, there was no need to use it in the hot and humid sub-tropical climate of Florida! There were also old pieces of Miami Airport equipment, but the pieces that attract most of the attention are former CB&Q E9M cab unit #9913 and former NASA SW 1500 #2. On weekends, the museum runs an excursion train and a hidden engineer-for-an-hour program with any one of these locomotives. The CB&Q unit had its sheet metal rusting through and does need body work. The NASA unit on the other hand seemed to be fine. Our final stop would be the model train house, and a replica of George Stephenson’s Rocket which once ran on two foot gauge track.
Thanks for reading!
To catch up on my previous post, click here: https://empireofrails.com/index.php/2022/04/20/catskill-mountain-railroad-delaware-and-ulster-railroad-rcdash9-videos/
To learn more about the Gold Coast Railroad Museum, click here: https://www.goldcoastrailroadmuseum.org/
