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Gold Coast Railroad Museum - "History in the Making" - Pg. 5 |
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WHAT? MOVING AGAIN: In 1983, the Florida Department of Transportation notified the museum that plans were being finalized to build an east-west expressway to be know as I-595. The elevated route would run through the museum's location. Once again the museum had to look for a new home. In Dade County, the National Park Service (NPS) was looking to acquire land on the bottom of Biscayne Bay for a National Monument. It was learned that the federal prison adjacent to the new MetroZoo had surplus property it did not need. Through the assistance of U.S. Representative Dante Facell, a land "swap" was arranged. The NPS got the bay bottom it wanted and Dade County got 56+ acres of park land to be leased to the Gold Coast Railroad. It was a portion of the same property that the museum had occupied in the 1960's at former Naval Air Station Richmond. Once more the museum was on the move. Packing began and with all the museum items loaded onto flatcars, gondolas, and into boxcars, the train was assembled. Pulled by a Seaboard Coast Line (SCL) diesel-electric locomotive, the Gold Coast "Special" train headed south, back to its old home. BACK HOME AGAIN: So in 1984, the next "new" home for the museum would be the areas of hangars #1 and #2 of former airship base. Over the years since the museum had moved away, many shrubs, Florida Holly, and grasses had taken over the old hangar floors. These were scraped away and three additional tracks were constructed into the concrete pad of what was hangar #1. Rail was re-established to connect to CSX's mainline at the western end of the property. A large "butler building" was erected over a third of the length of the four tracks now in hanger #1's floor. In 1904, the "Princeton Station" had been built on the mainline of the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) between Miami and Homestead. In the 1950's it had been moved and preserved at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. The station was now to be relocated to the Gold Coast's new home. As the roof was too high to make the road trip, a new roof was constructed on the station after arrival at the museum. The station became the entrance and museum store for the "new" Gold Coast. An "old time" patio clock was acquired and added a nice look to the museum. Using steam engine #113, a steam trip to the city of Homestead was operated with the hope of making many more in the future. Insurance costs "killed" those plans, but the museum did have enough track to operate short trips on their property. For a year or so, Civil War re-enactors would occasionally "detain" the trains and look for traitors, valuables, and money. |
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