Miami museum. I think these taken before the hurricane? The recovery of this museum from the destruction would make a good article.

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/Gold_Coast

As I recall, former Port Huron & Detroit business car CASTLEBLANEY was damaged in Andrew a while back (originally of C&O heritage), given to Gold Coast by Catherine Duffy-Houghton some years back. Any idea if she survived this double shot?

TJ Gaffney

In the photo gallery that was link, there's a curious looking streamlined doodlebug. Can anybody provide more info regarding this?

God Bless,
Gerald W. Kopiasz

Gerald,
When I check the referenced page, if the brown object I see at the top of column 2 is what you are refering to, I might know a little.
That one is a Fiat rail bus, complete with a rack drive, and it has spent many of its recent years at TVRM in Chattanooga. Stored for a private owner. But gee, I did not notice it last saturday, which maybe selective omission as its just not my taste.
Hope that helps. Mike.

They use a blimp hangar as their home at the old Richmond Naval Air Base south of Miami near the Zoo. The size of the hangar must be seen to be comprehanded. Their only operating engine is the Crown and it is run on air - some marine engineers passing through a few years ago estimated about $35000 to retube and certify the boiler for steam use and they have chosen not to invest in it acroding to what I was told on an inspection trip a couple years back.

FEC Pacific 153 has recently completed a beautiful cosmetic restoration, of course they have the Ferdinand Magellan and the old display car from the 1950's still intact which made me feel very pleasantly nostalgic.

There is an interesting assortment of other stuff around the place and it is well worth a visit. Shame the Zoo and CGRR can't seem to complement each other, they could use the ridership and the Zoo could use a railroad.

dave

I visited the museum site just after Andrew blew through which tracked almost a direct hit on their site. Well, not the next few days since the entire area was closed off for perhaps two months, without a permit or legitimate business.

What a mess, aside from the debris, even months later. Several cars sustained damage and more than one were rolled on their side from the winds. As I recall, member/caretaker, wife and dog rode out the blow holed up in the Magellan. That armor plated beast barely moved in those winds.

Neither of the last two storms tracked that close to the Gold Coast operation, and neither matched Andrew's intensity. But here comes Ivan.

Bob Kutella