The Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum occupies Plant City’s 1909 Union Depot, where two railroads served the same community. The Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line both used the station. Their presence helped connect the businesses of eastern Hillsborough County with a wider railway network. Local agriculture, lumber and phosphate mining all relied on the ability to move goods, and passenger travel linked residents with communities farther along the routes.
The station handled information as well as traffic. Mail reached Plant City through the depot, and Western Union’s telegraph service had a base there. Those functions help explain the building’s importance in the years before nearly instant communication became routine. A town resident could come to the depot to travel, receive something sent by train or send a message. The station remained in operation until 1971 and gained historic register recognition during the following decade.
The museum’s best-known outdoor artifact is a restored 1963 Seaboard Air Line caboose, No.5735. Its proportions recall a time when freight crews worked from a vehicle at the rear of a train. The museum also lists a 1942 Whitcomb locomotive. Comparing the two puts the work of hauling and handling a train alongside the needs of people assigned to it. Inside, memorabilia and other artifacts help connect those vehicles with the companies and local workers whose history the museum preserves.
Across from the depot is the train viewing platform. It gives visitors a place to watch contemporary traffic using the railway through Plant City. This is a particularly direct comparison with the caboose era. Freight operations have changed, and the appearance and arrangement of a modern train can differ considerably from the equipment displayed at the museum.
Begin inside with the account of Plant City’s railroad connections and move outside to the restored equipment and viewing platform. Freight trains run to operating needs, so use the platform as an opportunity to observe the setting as well as any passing traffic.
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
- Gold Coast Railroad Museum — Miami: Railroad museum and rolling-stock collection
- Naples Depot Museum — Naples: Depot and transportation-history museum
- Railroad Museum of South Florida — Fort Myers: Railroad interpretive center
- 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