The Wandering Disciple

All aboard, sit back and enjoy the journey as you ride on history. At most museums, you get to see history, but at the Florida Railroad Museum, you get to ride history. The travelling train museum departs daily from the Parrish Depot for a trip to the Willow Yard and back. Enjoy vintage train cars and the scenic Florida wilderness along the way.  This is a switching locomotive build for the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1919. It was purchased by the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Railroad in 1922 and remained in service with them until 1963. Today it welcomes visitors to the Florida Railroad Museum.  Taken: November 8, 2014 at Florida Railroad Museum (Parrish, FL)

FGC 100 sits along the tracks at the Florida Rail Road Museum. This General Electric Switcher was once a workhorse of the US Navy and was assigned to the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. It was added to the stock at the Florida Rail Road Museum in 1995 after being donated by the Navy. Today it is used to move the rolling stock of the museum on the tracks. (Photo: November 8, 2014)

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)

The Florida Railroad Museum train prepares to depart from the Parrish Station, taking riders on a trip through the Florida countryside.  The six miles round-trip excursions travels down to the former Seaboard Air Rail Line to the ghost town of Willow.  (Photo: October 18, 2009)

BEDT 12, a Porter 0-6-0T sits on display at the Florida Railroad Museum.  Building in 1919, BEDT spent its days moving freight cars on the docks of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  After ending its career, it was donated to the museum in 1982 where it was restored and placed on display.  (Photo: November 8, 2014)

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)

Florida Gulf Coast 100 sits on the tracks at the Florida Railroad Museum in Parrish.  FGC 100 is a GE 44-ton switcher that was once in service with the US Navy at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.  It was donated to the museum in 1995.  (Photo: November 8, 2014)

Wimauma, Florida: The second day of our camping trip at the Little Manatee River State Park started off waking up to a brisk 43 degrees in our tent. This was far cooler then the forecasted 55 degrees but thanks to our warm sleeping bags, it wasn’t that bad. We headed into town for a hot breakfast to help our bodies warm up and to give the energy we would need to explore the park’s trails. On the way into Sun City Center for breakfast, my wife spotted a bald eagle on the ground along the highway at the north end of the park. So we doubled back to get a photo of it. I kept a safe distance away from it so I did not spook it into traffic, but as I was photographing it, a hawk flew down and the eagle went airborne into the tree I was standing under. What an amazing experience. We decided on Sunshine Café for breakfast. It had really good ratings on Trip Advisor and it wasn’t too far away from the campground. My wife had an omelet, I had biscuits and gravy and my son had panc...

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 locomotive from the Seaboard Air Line Railroad is just one of many historic trains and cars on display at Florida Railroad Museum in eastern Manatee County. The museum boast a great collection of vintage rail items as well as a rolling stock that takes passenger on daily excursions. (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...