According to the Ozark Mountain Railcar equipment brokerage website, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami is offering rolling stock that includes FEC Pacific-type steam locomotive No. 113 and two EMD cab units. Museum Board President Jeff Brown says in an interview with Trains Newswire that the sale of the equipment is part of the museum’s transition to a mixed-use events venue for weddings, gatherings, motion picture productions, and other activities. He said the transition is a way to keep the museum open and operating.
“We decided that the best thing to do would be to, in future, to start marketing our property,” Brown said. “We have decided that we’re going to become a special events area. We’re going to maintain the collection — the prime items that we have — and we’re going to sell the excess equipment.”
Not for sale is another FEC Pacific, No. 153, which makes it unnecessary for the museum to keep sister No. 113. The two locomotives are not operational. “We don’t need another steam engine that’s identical to that one (No. 153),” he said. “And there’s a little key to that one (No. 113) being sold: It will only be sold to somebody that can prove they have the funds to restore this engine and operate it, or we’re not going to sell it. It’s not going to go sit in somebody else’s back yard. We want it to run.” Brown said the museum has two parties interested in the locomotive. He added that California Zephyr passenger cars Silver Crescent, and Silver Stag, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidential office car Ferdinand Magellan are also not up for sale.
Brown said the sale of the equipment listed on Ozark Mountain’s website is also part of an effort to update the museum’s passenger car fleet with stainless steel Budd coaches. He said in order to get new cars, mostly from Ozark Mountain Railcar, the older cars will have to be sold. Brown said many of those cars up for sale have been used little and are not visually appealing.
He said the condition of the cars was a factor in the museum losing the licensing to conduct Polar Express events. “We just have too much junk,” he said. “People complain about the junk … that’s never good PR when the newspaper comes out to do an article on us and they make a remark about all the rusted junk. It just gives us a bad reputation, so we’re trying to clean that up, as well.”
Brown said the is struggling to cover $30,000 in monthly operating expenses. He said the museum also saw a drastic decline in revenue with its 2018 Polar Express event from the year before. One reason Brown cited for losing the event license was the condition of some of the equipment at the museum.
Brown said by transitioning to an era of marketing the museum property, the museum will be better able to cover the monthly expenses. “We’re not going out of business. We just have to clean this place up a little bit,” he said. “We have to sell the equipment to get the new equipment, that’s just the bind we’re in right now, because there’s just no money in the bank.”
Brown added that rumors that CSX planned to sell or abandon the rail line adjoining to the museum are not true, and he denied any connection between the sale and that rumor. A CSX official also confirmed that the railroad has no plans to sell or abandon the line, which is the Homestead Spur off the Miami Subdivision.
Don’t know about selling but I can confirm that the track coming to Homestead is indeed out of service. All crossing gates have had their crossing arms removed and the lights now face upward. There is track damage in the Homestead area that has not been repaired in over 6 months. CSX has basically railbanked the line. The last hope for the branch was FP&L possibly building a coal fired plant at Turkey Point. Instead they went with two more nukes and extension on their licenses for the two nukes that are already there in operation. The last loads out of Homestead were loads of rock that were transloaded on the one leg of the wye at Homestead. Last inbound load was likely delivered to a fertilizer supply house abut two miles from here.
As for the museum, when certain management types run off members who were keeping the place alive, this is what happens. They have spent money on equipment they shouldn’t have and failed to maintain stuff that was historical.
I went to the Museum several weeks ago but realizing that its regular season hadn’t started yet. When I pulled up I was sure I was in the wrong place. It looked like a total dump. I was waiting for Fred Sanford to come out and greet me. After driving 4 hours I was very skeptical. I had to ask a young lady if I was even in the right place and that is when she explained to me that they opened the following weekend. My point is, first impressions are everything. You need your place to look nice and inviting and advertise as much as you can.
Its another sign of the times and era we are living in. Not only are passenger trains and railroads in general struggling to stay afloat due to lack of interest and general apathy amongst the general public today regarding railroading and trains it is affecting tourist railroads and railroad museums as well. Today’s generation is not interested or cares about any trains or railroads period. While a small dedicated group of railfans, train lovers and hobbyists are valiantly struggling to keep railroading and the rich history of trains alive and going, it cannot be just to fall on the backs of these chosen few to keep it going. While it is true that many of these museums and tourist railroads are biting off more than they can chew and be able to keep their collections and rolling stock in decent and operable condition, they are bucking up against general disinterest, lack of public support and a new
modern and younger generation who regard anything that is not technologically modern or not internet themed it is outdated and ancient and should notbe regarded as worth the time, interest or money invested. Until there is a new interest or revival in the history and hobby of railfanning, trains and railroad museums we will see more and more of railroad mueums shrinking or selling off their collections or shutting down completely. Maybe museums and collections dedicated to the growth of social media, the internet, video games or new iPhone models will be a bigger attraction and money maker than looking at a an old dusty collection of trains from the
Stone Age as many of today’s generation see trins. I know that this might sarcastic to some readers but it is the
stark reality of today’s world and generation. and no Im not condemming or being critical of today’s technology or
era but we do need to show some respect andconsideration of history and the great inventions and achieviements of the past and one of them was the railroad and those trains which linked this great nation and moved millions of people and fueled the growth of commerce and trade and made life better for all
You know, during the 18th Century Frederick the Great, the “Soldier-King” of Prussia once said…
“He who attempts to defend everything, defends nothing!”
A guess a good corrolary to that, as far as museums go, would be…
“He who attempts to save everything, saves nothing.”
Haven’t seen this museum since the early 1980’s and it struck me as similar to other operations that simply tried to save as much equipment as possible from the scrapper, thus the amount of what became “junk.”
Checking Google Earth and some YouTube videos, there appears to be absolutely no customers on the line which is a dead end spur. Why would CSX keep it open?
No, we can NEVER have too many steam engines!
Maybe there’s someone out there with deep pockets or a well-heeled railroad that needs a pet steamer.
We can only hope.
This museum is dealing with the same problem a lot of rail museums have and that is having a lot of equipment that they don’t have the money to take care of. Here in CA both the Cal state museum in Sacramento and the street car Museum in Rio Vista have a lot of equipment in disrepair and not enough money to take care of. Best of wishes to the folks in Florida
Are we nearing a glut of operable steam locomotives?
Yes, there are some who will say, “We can never have too many.”
However, each in-service locomotive needs to be financially viable, i.e., generate a boatload of free cash each year. How much? I’ve heard $35,000 to $100,000, depending on the locomotive’s size. Tall order.
When I saw the “113 for sale” thread on the “Steam and Preservation” section of the Forum I thought something like this was going on.
Well, best of luck to ’em!