The Gold Coast Railroad Museum (Miami, FL) | 4K Full Tour & Travel Review
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum 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. 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 classic railroad cars like the Western Pacific "Silver Crescent” and engines like the Florida East Coast "113.” The museum strives to teach railroad history with the use of artifacts, movies, and railroading materials. The museum includes a number of displays that are interactive.
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#railroad
#museum
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#florida
#miami
#steamtrain
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. 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 classic railroad cars like the Western Pacific "Silver Crescent” and engines like the Florida East Coast "113.” The museum strives to teach railroad history with the use of artifacts, movies, and railroading materials. The museum includes a number of displays that are interactive.
#mikeinvadestheworld
#railroad
#museum
#travelvog
#florida
#miami
#steamtrain
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TravelTranscript
00:00For this video, I'm headed down to Miami to take you on a full tour of the Gold Coast
00:05Railroad Museum.
01:00For this travel review, I'm a bit conflicted.
01:08You see, I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, and I grew up with the Gold Coast Railroad
01:12Museum.
01:13But as an adult, I've traveled the country and been to just absolutely massive railroad
01:19museums in Pennsylvania, California, Texas, Illinois, and now the place doesn't quite
01:26hold up as I remembered it.
01:28So I've been going to Gold Coast Railroad Museum off and on for decades.
01:32I remember when it was originally located down by the Fort Lauderdale Airport, and then
01:37I think it was in the 1980s when it relocated to be right next to Metro Zoo in Miami.
01:43Now don't get me wrong, this is probably the best railroad museum in the entire state of
01:47Florida.
01:48It actually became the official railroad museum of Florida, I believe, in the early 90s.
01:52So even the state of Florida recognized it.
01:55There's really only one other major railroad museum in the entire state, and that one's
01:59located in Parrish, Florida.
02:01That one, I think, might have an edge over this one because they have excursions with
02:06real vintage trains, and they don't do that here at Gold Coast.
02:11So I've been to this museum probably a dozen times over the last 25 years, and my most
02:17recent visit was kind of depressing because the level of maintenance just wasn't there.
02:22And I realize it's difficult to keep up with a facility this large, and I think most of
02:26the staff here are volunteers, but the grounds look forlorn and kind of run down with a lot
02:32of mildew and dirt and debris on the sidewalks.
02:38Most of the rolling stock and trains were just kind of rusted out and definitely could
02:41use a fresh coat of paint in a lot of places.
02:44The only stuff that was in any kind of decent shape was under the overhang.
02:49A lot of the cars on the sidings and everything, they were really, really sad looking, worse
02:55than I can ever recall.
02:58Since my last visit, they apparently added some carnival flat rides, I guess to broaden
03:03their appeal to younger audiences, but you can tell they're just not keeping up with
03:07the whole property now because I think they've taken on more than they can handle.
03:11I think the core railroad museum is suffering because they're just trying to do too much.
03:16I think the bigger issue for this place too is, as a railroad museum, it's not that great.
03:22Once you've visited some of the bigger railroad museums up north, like Steamtown or the Railroad
03:28Museum of Pennsylvania, this one just looks small and sad.
03:33The main attraction here at the Gold Coast Museum is the Ferdinand Magellan, which is
03:37the private railcar of the President of the United States, and that's just not a really
03:43big draw for most people.
03:45When you hang out with railroad enthusiasts and model railroaders and everything, we always
03:49get excited about locomotives.
03:53It's always discussions about the big boys and the GG1s and the SD90 Max, and locomotives
04:01are what excite railroad enthusiasts.
04:03Rolling Stock never really does it for us.
04:05We don't be like, oh, look at that caboose.
04:07Hey, check out that amazing boxcar.
04:11That's not really a thing, and as an adult, that's kind of my biggest problem with this
04:14museum now, is they don't really have any impressive locomotives.
04:18There's nothing here to call home about.
04:21I mean, it's obvious that they're struggling financially.
04:23I mean, I pulled up and the parking lot was empty, and there really wasn't anybody in
04:27the entire museum the entire time I was here, and I was here during the peak tour season,
04:32so that's an issue.
04:35The other thing that I've noticed is the collection is basically stagnated.
04:39Last time I came in the 90s, they had pretty much the same locomotives and coaches here
04:43that they do now.
04:45They're not really rotating the stock.
04:47They really need something different and new.
04:51Maybe they should trade a piece with another museum somewhere, because the crowds just
04:57aren't coming to see any of this stuff anymore.
04:59So if you've never been to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum, there's this long access
05:03road where you basically drive up to the attraction, and it's off to the right-hand side.
05:08If you keep going straight, that's where you get to Zoo Miami, you know, formerly known
05:12as the Metro Zoo.
05:15I remember thinking to myself as I was driving to this museum, what a stark contrast, because
05:20you could see the hundreds of cars parked in front of the zoo, and I had the only car
05:25in the parking lot for the railroad museum, so it's just depressing that nobody's interested
05:32in, I guess, the history of this area anymore, especially when it comes to railroading.
05:36So what's the bottom line for the Gold Coast Railroad Museum?
05:39It's okay.
05:40I would say if you're within a half hour to a 45 minute drive, it's probably worth a visit.
05:47If you have a huge train enthusiast in your family, you might be able to justify a slightly
05:52longer trip.
05:53The admission price is pretty spot on, and if you've never visited this place before,
05:57then you probably won't notice that it's kind of stagnated with its exhibits.
06:01However, I don't think I would go as far as recommending this particular place.
06:07I just think there's better railroad museums in Florida.
06:11I think the one in Parrish is probably superior to this because they actually have actual
06:16train excursions where you can ride the trains, and that little kiddy train just doesn't cut
06:21it over here.
06:22Well, that pretty much wraps up all my thoughts on the Gold Coast Railroad Museum.
06:26For the rest of this video, I'm just going to play a little music to complete the video
06:29tour.
11:00Thanks for joining me on this tour of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum.
11:20If you enjoyed this episode of Mike Evades the World, don't forget to click on that follow
11:24button above.
11:25See everyone next week on Daily Motion.