Remnants of Florida’s railroad heyday are scattered all over the state. Jacksonville’s Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, for example, started life in 1919 as the Union Terminal, gateway to the Sunshine State.
Other vintage train stations have been preserved in their near-original state:
- The Historic Venice Train Depot in Sarasota County dates back to 1927 and includes a vintage caboose, surrounding park and access to the 12-mile Legacy Trail. Groups of 10 or more are welcome for tours, with the venue also available for rental.
- Built in 1928, the Punta Gorda Train Depot is the sole survivor of the six depots built by the Atlantic Coast Line in Mediterranean Revival style. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the depot features the original segregated waiting areas and a modern antique mall with over 20 booths.
- In the Northwest Florida town of Milton, the West Florida Railroad Museum occupies the former L&N Depot built in 1909 and includes an L&N dining car—available for private parties and meetings—a Pullman sleeper car, a caboose, a number of out buildings including a bridge tender’s house, and a variety of memorabilia.
- The Archer Railroad Museum recalls the route created by David Levy Yulee from Fernandina to Cedar Key between 1857 and 1861. Meticulously preserved, this landmark has not been updated past 1910, returning the visitor to the days of frontier Florida.
- Located at a 1930 train depot, the Boca Express Train Museum in Boca Raton offers group tours of two beautifully restored 1947 Seaboard Air Line streamlined railcars; it also includes a 1940s Seaboard caboose and Baldwin steam engine.
- Among the artifacts at the Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden are a restored caboose and one of the finest collections of railroad china anywhere.
- The Dunedin Historical Museum, in the Tampa Bay area, houses permanent exhibits featuring the railroad and citrus industries.
- Guests “ride the exhibits” at the Florida Railroad Museum in Parrish, touring historic cars while learning the history of Florida’s railroads. A party caboose or the entire train can welcome groups for private events.
- At the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Miami, railroad engines, railroad cars and a model railroad are on display, along with rides aboard passenger coaches and locomotives. Groups can use private party space or train to be crew members.
- The 3,200-square-foot Railroad Museum of South Florida in Fort Myers includes several live steam scale locomotives and a host of artifacts. Train rides are part of the fun.
- The former train depot that was a stop for the famed Orange Blossom Special is now the Naples Depot Museum, housed in Naples’ restored Seaboard Air Line Railway passenger station and focusing on the history of transportation in Naples and Collier County. Group rentals are available.
- Not every old depot in Florida became a museum, though. The Old Orlando Railroad Depot, constructed in 1889, was transformed into the entertainment/retail center Church Street Station, a popular local watering hole that briefly closed but now has been revitalized with multiple dining and nightlife experiences, not to mention copious space for group gatherings.