The Wandering Disciple

She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes....well not really.  In west central Florida its more like she'll be pushing through the swampland when she comes.  That's one of the many sights you will see aboard the daily train excursion at the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum in Parrish.  Here you can hop aboard the rolling train museum and take a ride through history on the tracks out to the Willow Train Yard and back to the depot in Parrish.  (Photo: October 18, 2009)

A locomotive from the Seaboard Airlines Railway is one of the many historic railroad items on display at the Florida Railroad Museum in Parrish.  It is here where you do not only see the exhibit, but you get the opportunity to ride the exhibits.  (Photo: October 18, 2009)

The familiar railroad sign leads visitors to the Florida Railroad Museum, formerly the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum.  The railroad museum in eastern Manatee County features a rolling stock of railroad history.  On select days, visitors to the museum can embark on an excursions through the Manatee countryside on a six mile stretch of track from Parrish to Willow.  (Photo: October 18, 2009)

A collection of railroad cars and locomotives sit idle at the Willow Train Yard. The rail equipment sit weathered in the lot as a reminder of a time when rail transportation was the backbone of America. The Willow Train Yard is part of the Florida Railroad Museum and can be viewed as part of a 13-mile round-trip rail excursion on the museum’s rolling train collection. (Photo: October 18, 2009)

Florida Gulf Coast 1835 is the work-horse locomotive that powers day excursions at the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum in Parrish, Florida. The locomotive was built in 1951 and served as US Army 1835 on the Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal in North Carolina. In 1993, the Department of Defense donated the locomotive to the Florida Gulf Coast Railroad museum where it is now used to pull train enthusiasts along a six mile stretch of track. (Photo: September 18, 2005)

Parrish, Florida: Nestled in quiet Parrish, Florida is a museum in which you do not only view the exhibits, you ride them as well. The Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum was founded in 1981 and takes guests on a 1 1/2 hour excursion on six miles of railroad formerly owned by Seaboard Air Lines. The Museum has a quite a vast collection of railway equipment. The collection revolves around their locomotives with Florida Gulf Coast 1835 (Former Army 1835) being the workhorse of the group. The locomotive collection also includes: Seaboard Air Lines 1633, Pennsylvania Railroad 8604, Florida Gulf Coast 100, Cargill 61 and BEDT 12 Porter. In addition to the locomotives, the museum has several trains cars from various classes including: Pullmans, Coaches, Baggage Cars, Freight/Cargo Cars and Cabooses. In addition to the weekend train excursions from Parrish to the Willow Train Yard and back, the museum offers several specialty train rides. In the past, the museum sponsored the following sp...