1904 Baldwin 2-4-2T (#24404) at the Historic Village in Pensacola, FL

 

1912 ALCO 2-8-2 (#51817) in Pensacola, FL

 

1919 Baldwin 2-6-2 (#52261) in Century, FL

 

1915 Vulcan Iron Works (Wilkes-Barre) 2-8-0 #2411 in Gulf Hammock, FL

 

1913 Porter 4-6-0 #5484 in Dade City, FL

 

1917 Baldwin 2-6-2 in Port St. Joe, FL

We took a day trip to the beach and hit up three places I knew had a train: Marianna, Blountstown, and Port St, Joe.

Here's a video:

1911 Baldwin 4-6-0 in Blountstown, FL

  We took a day trip to the beach and hit up three places I knew had a train: Marianna, Blountstown, and Port St, Joe.

Next up was Blountstown:

1920 ALCO 0-4-2T in Marianna, FL

 We took a day trip to the beach and hit up three places I knew had a train: Marianna, Blountstown, and Port St, Joe.

First up is Marianna, FL

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, FL

 We got a chance to go see a presentation on the Disney railroad, which also gave us an opportunity to revisit the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, FL. Well at least we knew they would be open as opposed to last time.

Here's a video of the visit if you want to check that out:

1919 ALCO 4-6-2 in Jacksonville, FL

We swung by Jacksonville, FL to see this 1919 ALCO 4-6-2, which was weirdly just sitting in the middle of a parking lot of the convention center.

**Update**

This train has been acquired by the US Sugar Railroad in Clewiston, FL. They plan to restore it to operational condition and use it on their railroad. Unfortunately we haven't visited there...yet.

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A Visit to the Kirby Family Farm in Williston, FL

In one of our many trips back and forth to Alabama from central Florida in 2019, we detoured off the highway to see what we could find at the Kirby Family Farm. There was no one around and the gates were wide open so we went in and looked around. We were hoping to find someone to give us some info (and permission) about the place, but it was deserted.

These were the trains we saw:

Vulcan/Custom Fabricators: diesel-hydraulic, from Great America (#19), Santa Clara, CA then Williston Crossing RV Resort, was a 2-4-0.

1910 Porter 2-4-0 (#4643): Named Beatrice, built as a 2-4-4RT, rebuilt as a diesel hydraulic, from Opryland, Nashville, later Astroworld, Houston, then Six Flags America, Mitchellville, MD.

Crown Metal Products (Elizabeth): named Sam Houston while at Six Gun Territory (1964-1984), Silver Springs, then displayed in Atlanta

1954 Baldwin RS-4-TC: USAF #1248. Construction number 61203 is from the Baldwin Small Locomotive Division that still used the Whitcomb builders numbers.

Plymouth mining locomotive.

P.S. I emailed the owners from their website and told them I had stopped by and did some pics/video. They said it was cool, so thumbs up on not getting arrested for trespassing.

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1914 Baldwin 2-6-2 in Zolpho Springs, FL

 

This is the last train of that road trip, and hopefully the last one lost to data crashes. We stopped to see this 1914 Baldwin 2-6-2 in Zolpho Springs, FL.

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1905 Baldwin 0-6-0 in South Ft. Myers, FL

 

Yet another train lost to the hard drive crash. YouTube saves the day again. This is a 1905 Baldwin 0-6-0 in South Ft Myers, FL.

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1920 Baldwin 2-6-2 in Naples, FL

Another train where I lost all the data. Glad I had uploaded to YouTube though. This is a 1920 Baldwin 2-6-2 that the guy was nice enough to let us see. Later on we go to see the refurbished car at the museum.

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1922 ALCO 0-4-0T+T at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum

Tell me if you've heard this before: 

Sarah and I went to a train museum. 

It was closed.

It rained.

1913 Porter 4-6-0 in Dade City, FL

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On our last stop of the day, and with the sun quickly setting, we made our way to the Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade City. On display out front was a 1913 Porter 4-6-0.

1907 Vulcan 0-4-0ST in Zephyrhills, FL

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As we started circling back from Tampa, we found a 1907 Vulcan 0-4-0ST right outside of Zephyrhills, FL. It was in a fenced in "park", but there was no way to access this train from the other side. This loco has a greatly documented history that you can check out here.

1913 Baldwin 2-6-2 (#40861) in Bradenton, FL

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As we continued on with our trains scavenger hunt in and around Tampa, we found a 1913 Baldwin 2-6-2 at the Manatee Historical Village in Bradenton, FL. This train was affectionately called "Old Cabbage head" from the shape of the stack.

The Florida Gulf Coast RR Museum in Parrish, FL

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Continuing with our train scavenger hunt (we had already visited the Mulberry Phosphate Museum), we made our way to Parrish, FL to the Gulf Coast Railroad Museum. I was excited about this place looking at the website (found here), but once we got there I was a little disappointed. There was only one steam train on display, not three, and no Baldwins. Apparently many of the trains listed were kept at the shop in another town during the week to protect them from vandalism. However, this place was free to visit and look around so that made things a little better.

Mystery 1880's Manchester 4-4-0 Locomotive Dug Up in Mulberry, FL

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This train was found accidentally after it had been buried in the ground for more than 100 years. The story about its discovery is here. It is now on display outside the Phosphate Museum in Mulberry.