The Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami preserves a piece of presidential transportation history with its railcar Ferdinand Magellan. The car takes its name from the explorer and was used as a presidential vehicle. It belonged to a railway tradition in which a train could provide secure, private and carefully managed accommodation for a head of state. The car’s presence adds a political story to a collection of more than forty historic railcars and other pieces of equipment.
The size of a presidential car is only one part of its history. A long journey required spaces for the president and staff to work, rest and meet people along the way. The route also had to be organized through existing railroad operations. During a visit, consider the equipment that had to travel with the car and the amount of coordination involved in getting a presidential party from one city to another. The museum’s collection makes this form of official travel easier to imagine at full scale.
Florida East Coast steam locomotive No.153 brings a different part of the state’s railway history into view. The engine represents the work of a regional carrier whose lines helped connect communities along Florida’s Atlantic coast. Look at the engine and its tender together and consider the facilities that once supplied and maintained steam power. Comparing a locomotive with passenger cars nearby also helps separate the requirements of moving a train from those of accommodating the people aboard it.
The museum dates to 1957 and occupies part of the former Naval Air Station Richmond property near Zoo Miami. Tracks left on the site provided room for preserving equipment, a practical advantage for a collection whose vehicles are difficult to move and store. Florida recognized the Gold Coast as an official state railroad museum in 1984.
The collection contains vehicles with distinct histories, so allow time to explore beyond Ferdinand Magellan.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in Florida
- 1885 Brooksville Train Depot Museum — Brooksville: Depot and local history museum
- Boca Express Train Museum — Boca Raton: Historic depot and passenger-car collection
- Central Florida Railroad Museum — Winter Garden: Railroad artifact museum
- Florida Railroad Museum — Parrish: Operating railroad museum
- Naples Depot Museum — Naples: Depot and transportation-history museum
- Railroad Museum of South Florida — Fort Myers: Railroad interpretive center
- Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum — Plant City: Depot museum and railroad collection
- West Florida Railroad Museum — Milton: Depot and railroad museum
- All 9 railroad museums and sites in Florida
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Southeast — the trains you can ride in the region