Florida Railroad Museum

Florida Railroad Museum

File:Parrish FL Florida Railroad Museum01.jpg
Reporting mark	FGCX
Locale	Manatee County, Florida, USA
Dates of operation	1981–
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters	Parrish, Florida

The Florida Railroad Museum (reporting mark FGCX) is a railroad museum located in Parrish, Florida at 12210 83rd Street East.

The museum operates a heritage railroad and offers roundtrip tourist excursions along 6 miles of a former Seaboard Air Line Railway route in Manatee County from Parrish north to Willow, returning to Parrish.

The museum was founded in 1981 as the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum and has been operating weekend excursions out of Parrish, Florida since 1992. The museum is also active in the ghost town of Willow, Florida, 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 U S 301. The Florida Railroad 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. The rail is 85 lb and jointed. It is class I track.

The Florida 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 that: 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 10am to 4pm year-round. The train departs from Parrish at 11am and 2pm on these days, the excursions from Parrish to Willow last about an hour and a half roundtrip.

Rolling stock

Locomotives

Builder	Model	Year built	Type	Current number	Former numbers (if applicable)	Operational status
EMD	FP7	1952	Diesel-electric	VLIX 904	GO Transit 904	Stored, no prime mover.
EMD	GP7	1951	Diesel-electric	FGCX 1835	US Army 1835	In service
EMD	GP7		Diesel-electric	FGCX 1822	US Army 1822	Stored, used for parts
EMD	GP10		Diesel-electric	FGCX 8330	UP 183B, IC 8330	In service. Built as GP-9 B-unit. Rebuilt to GP10 by Illinois Central Paducah Shops
ALCO	RS-3	1951	Diesel-electric	Seaboard Air Line 1633	New York Central 8277	Under Restoration
ALCO	RS-3		Diesel-electric	PRR 8604	Pennsylvania Railroad 8604	Stored, used for parts
GE	44-ton switcher		Diesel-electric	FGCX 100	US Navy 65-00345	In service
EMD	NW5		Diesel-electric		Cargill 61	Static display
Porter	0-6-0T		Steam	BEDT 12		Static display

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	In service
Pullman	Pullman		Sleeper	TBA	Formerly owned by RBBX circus. To be used as crew quarters for crews who stay overnight.	Under Restoration
Pullman	Pullman	1954	Passenger	Cape Tormentine	Originally operated by Canadian National Railway and later Via Rail Canada.	In service
	EMU	1930	Passenger	FGCX 3518	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad 3518; New Jersey Transit 3518	In service
	EMU	1930	Passenger	FGCX 3572	Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad 3572; New Jersey Transit 3572	In 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		Ticket office
N&W	Caboose	1942	Freight	Norfolk and Western Railway 518415		In storage
B&O	Caboose	1945	Freight	Baltimore and Ohio Railroad C-2417		In storage
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

See also

• Gold Coast Railroad Museum
• Orange Blossom Cannonball

External links

• Official site

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons