Its a calm and nice place! We would like to get into the carriages behind the main exhibition. I wish the museum strength and resources to continue its development.

Neat stop for anyone interested in history! See the presidential rail train !! Used by FDR and Reagan. Stand where these great men gave speeches including Winston Churchill. Cool exhibit details the Navys Blimp program that was headquartered here.. super cool. Many train cars to walk through. Allow at least 1 hour. On the grounds of Zoo Miami.

Great little south Florida spot for some history. Kids love coming here for the big trains, train play boards and they also have train rides!!For the adults there are special night events where they host a ghost haunt event with South Floridas own, War Party Paranormal team!! Fun experience with them and also doing something out of the norm, check it out!!

Our son had a great time exploring the history of the trains and the rides. Our only concern was the maintenance and upkeep of the trains. Spider webs, a dead bird and poor housekeeping were the negatives during our visit today.

Very cool on display real railroad cars. Some cars are even open for you to tour on your own and walk around inside.

If youre fascinated by American history on trains and old cars from the early 1900s this place would be perfect for you to visit. Theres a Presidential train, US army hospital car, a California Zephyr (this was my favorite actually) and also an Atlantic coast caboose to the back. Inside the trains theres some of the equipment that was used back then on display and from the lounge cars, the bathrooms to the dining area everything looks and feels like the 1900s (not that i would know). A small entrance fee of $8 per adult were charged, kids 2-12 years is $6 and children under 2 years old is free but the general admission every first Saturday of the month is FREE! There was also a train ride we went on for $5 per person, wasnt much to see on that, the ride is basically a loop around the back field. Souvenirs can also be purchased at the front. The visit can be done in an hour but i do recommend this place!

A nice visit with a two and a half year old that just loves trains. They outdoor trains were closed off for now. Will return when they run the steam train!

Great place with a wide variety of historic trains. It was cool to see the presidential train and to learn about the history of the east coast railroad.

They have free admission on the first Saturday of the month. It was nice but hot. Most of the trains dont have air conditioning except for the Presidential Car.

Small, yet very cool. We came with a $13 Groupon for four people, which was an absolute steal. This place is awesome for history fans and kids. I did find that my 4 year old got a little bored after an hour. The trains look very cool, and the energy inside them really transports you to the early 1900s. If youve never been, its definitely worth seeing.

We took the kids on a Saturday morning. The tours are self guided. You can go inside the trains and take pictures. For one of the trains you have to pay for the tour. They also have an area to do private parties. It was nice. The kids like it and learn. The only thing we missed was the ride on a little train they have because it wasnt working that day.

Really enjoyed the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Take the private extra tour of the Pullman Presidential rail car... well worth the cost. Dont miss the model train building out back. The Naval Air Station was also Kewl!!!

Interesting experience that is free on the first Saturday of the month. You get to tour inside the cars and walk around the big engines. We took the ride on the train. Nice experience for the kids where you feel the cars falling apart, convoy breaking and accelerating, switching tracks, etc.Great way to spend a couple hours with the boys.

Breakfast with the Kringles was such a nice event to bring my grandchildren. We had fun meeting the Kringles as we start this merry season of fun and excitement. We took pictures and explored the trains.

Excellent place to work and shop

Definitely a place to visit in South Florida to bring your kids or for photoshoots. You are free to walk around the museum and there are many trains to climb on and check their interior. You should be able to see everything in about 2 hours.

Great museum to visit. A lot of history specially in the presidential train. Take the tour to the presidential train ($3 extra) is totally worth it. My kids loved it. A great experience for the whole family.

Very educational place for all. Had a good time.

This is a fun place to visit if youre in Miami! Very inexpensive ($8/person), there are vending machines that are also fairly priced, and the trains are amazing. Definitely spring for the guided tour of the Magellan if you can, its only $5/person. There is also a model train section and a Thomas the Tank Engine play area if you have kids. Highly recommended!

Mixed review. Im glad it was free. I dont know what it is like on other days. I would have loved to walk into the double decker or have seen more trains. Enjoyed that they open their doors for local vendors.

Do not pay to go there. It is free first Saturday of month and is almost worth thatThe 25 minute train ride was so disappointing. It goes there minutes, and then returned. Up and back. A three minute ride repeated 5x is not a 25 minute ride. The presidential car is only open for a tour that I did not see on the site. Offered so the coolest thing there you look thru a window. Do not pay to go in. And do not waste ,$6 on a ride I warmed you

Super place to visit. We took advantage of the first Saturday of the month entrance being free. My kids loved walking through the few trains that were open and taking the train ride. My suggestion is to put a few more fans inside some of the trains, it gets so hot, smelly and there is very little air circulating through.

So many old trains that you can explore! This place is really cool! Do the pics I posted tell you this place is off the hook?

It had potential to be something bigger, nicer and bring in more people. Nice place for pics but needs a big overhaul and remodeling.

Great Museum and staff! Hidden Gem.

I love trains and this place was a goldmine of history! I took my older brother here one rainy afternoon and he loved it. I think this would be a great place to bring a date as well. I may try it!

You guys! This was so much fun! We went to the Polar Express 2018 and what a wonderful experience it was! We also have visited during normal hours and its always a great time! They have a free day once a month. I have a 2 year old obsessed with all things choochoo!

So this was an OK outing.I took my son here for the Day Out With Thomas Event. I believe this was an OK outing to me because of the venue. In the marketing and website videos, I was expecting a different experience. In those photos a lot of the activities are outside and seemed to have more to offer. The train itself looked more updated.This venue is very old and the Day Out With Thomas and the Polar Express event is probably their money making events. With that in mind they should look into having trains updated and providing a better experience for everyone involved. For $20, I expected a more updated train; not a train that is rusted and have various pieces of tape throughout.I think with some updates, I can get past the fact that the train ride is simply the train going back and forth twice; really? Outside of the 20 minute train ride there really isnt anything to do. You can really be out of there within an hour. Then they have a mini train ride that actually goes leaves and come back but its an additional $5 per person.I think with some added exhibits and activities this could be a nice family outing. Especially for someone that comes from far north. I do not see myself bringing my son back.

We enjoy with my family, I think you should post more about this place. Great history

Every time I go to this Museum it just keeps amazing me on how much history is kept Under One Roof. From the only surviving pillar of the blimp building to all the trains. The only thing that I have to say I was disappointed about was that you have to pay extra to go into the presidential train. On my last trip here I didnt have to pay to go inside. Still a great place and I look forward to my next visit. Love seeing all the NASA stuff there.

First Saturday of the month is free. Small museum that has 4 rows of train carts. Excellent for small children, beyond that age they maybe be bored. They offer train rides at scheduled time for 6$ as of 2018. For adults there is not much to really do besides the Ferdinand Magellan train cart, that cart in and of itself is a national landmark. It was the train car that several presidents rode prior to air force one. It cost an extra 5$ to tour and is worth the admission, and helps maintain the preservation efforts.

Gotta love trains or its not what you expect. Great for pictures.

My family and I really enjoyed visiting. Wed definitely go again. Amazing history of trains and the train depot. Great for photography. Weve been there for the day tour and the Day out with Thomas. Highly recommended. Decent prices. Great customer service.

Great place to visit, even on a rainy Monday. Id like to go back when the model railroad display is reopened and maybe take a ride on one of the trains also.

Nice museum if you are excited about the history of trains. They have some really cool stuff here from the very early ages of US railways. Loved the small model room as well. Bit off the beaten path but worth going there.

We came for the Thomas and Friends event which was fun for him. I wish the other trains were in working conditions and did not look so run down

Kids and I truly enjoyed the Polar Express. Highly recommended!

Pretty cool old trains! My boys liked going in them to see different old train cars.

Great place to see older trains that have been retired

Journey to the past. Excellent place for those whom love to admire the history of the things the human kind have done.

My lil one is really into trains. This was a great place for him and us to relive the glory days of trains. There is also a small train that you can take the kids for a ride and its right next to the Miami Zoo.

Nice hidden place. First Saturdays are free and makes for a cool outing. Great to see the old trains up close and personal. Would return for the special events just to see how things are changed up

This place was awesome! The staff is super friendly. The display trains are a little hot and only two trains had working ACs but overall the experience was great. My kids and I also completed the 25 minute train ride! My daughter got a cool spot on the upper level of the train so she was so excited. We enjoyed our time here and will be back. Also, please don’t give much weight to the negative reviews here - it’s just typical nasty Miami folk.

We visited this museum prior to going to the adjacent Zoo. We were fortunate that Seniors have free admission on Wednesdays.There are 12 different cars and a partial train set up on 4 different sections of track. Of particular interest were the Ferdinand Magellan presidential car, an Army hospital car, the Jim Crow which depicted separate seating for whites and colored and the California Zephyr with its dome car.The unfortunate thing is that some cars are deteriorating badly and are exposed to the elements. Nevertheless the museum is certainly worth a visit. Allow about an hour.

Great experience not far from Miami.

My stepson loved the Thomas the Train today! Very good. We had fun.

Ive come here a million times and I will continue to come here. I really like the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. Its so cool and if youre ever looking to take some cool photos, this is a must-see place. Great for kids, families, couples, or however you wish to go. You can read and learn about the trains or even take a ride for yourself.

Polar express what Amazing family experience The attention to detail Customer care and service seconds To none Can we to next Christmas

Its ok, even with a train nut for a hubby, he only thought it was so, so. The model railway wasnt running and loads of the carriages were closed off to have a look around. Also on the day we went some people were having a photoshoot so took over half the trains!!! The toilets werent very clean either.

Un keeped terrible..waste of money sad place everything is basically closed and grass needs attention cats inside office entrance if allergic stay away staff seemed nice when we came in to the entrance then out side not a soul to be seen seemed closed

Its like an indoor outdoor museum. they have a nice collection of trains and equipment. And the location is spacious and wide open. Now some people have this thing for Trains. specially tho old types of trains. My uncle for instance would go crazy here. By the way on the first Saturday of the month they have a train ride on Free admission.

Small but extremely interesting museum!

This is the place for all age groups, especially for kids and train lovers! There is a real vintage working train to ride. Terrific display of train engines and passenger cars from a various eras... 1800s - 1950s! Even a presidential car used by FDR, Truman and Reagan.First Saturday of each month free entrance!!! Numerous train artifacts displayed. Ample free parking and several food vendors. A military history museum is within walking distance.

This is an excellent place for photographers to perform photoshoots! The train wagons are in excellent conditions, the stages are in good standing condition! This is a good place to have a vintage photo session!

My daughter loves trains and had a wonderful time touring the museum. For me, it was great to visit the presidential train. Must visit!

Very cool place to visit, very nostalgic. Train lovers will like it alot. Very neat little WWII Navy exhibit when you enter the museum. Needs to be updated and revamped badly! Alot of delapadated trains and the grounds are not in great shape! Still a good little place to check out.

The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is the beauty of Miami. The pinnacle of western civilization. Where else could you find trains that take you in record-breaking speeds of 2 mph with views that leave you in awe? Or the high-maintenance trains without a single breath of hot air? None other than the Gold Coast Railroad Museum. The majority of the venue is located inside rusty old warehouses (much like the trains themselves), which makes the entire museum look unappealing to the naked eye, but its the trains that count. The trains themselves are kept very nicely. You could tell, with the paint peeling off and the amount of cobwebs it contains. The main attraction however is the train that plays dress up every now and then as Thomas the Tank Engine, The Polar Express, or whatever iconic childrens train the low amount of staff could conjure up to roll in the dough. The view you could get from inside the train is pretty great too, the trees and the prison yard nearby is good enough to snap photos of.Overall this left me pretty satisfied. Would consider coming again if the admission is free.

Found a Groupon for me and the family.. was a great educational experience for the kids

Only 3 stars because we were able to enter only 4 trains. There were a lot of other trains in their patio but they were blocked to visit. 2 trains that could be visited had signs apologizing (they were closed for events). We did ride the little train and it was $5 per person. The little train was a cute experience for my kids (2 and 5 years old).I knew they had an activity room in the past but it was closed. We stayed for 1h and it was enough to see everything it was available.The trains were wet inside because it was raining the day before. But the lack of care inside the trains broke my heart. I thought that because they are a museum they would try to keep it a little better. I guess it is expensive to repair.It is a nice place to take old style pictures.

The employees where nice the museum overall wasnt necessarily big but you could go inside trains and read details for them. In addition in some trains there are QR codes for you to scan to obtain more information

Run down yet, authentic. Definitely needs some TLC. Staff could remove spiderwebs, sweep stairs, cut the lawn, clean windows to freshen things up a bit. We visited on a Sunday at 1pm and the warehouse had one overhead light on, none of the many model trains were working and not a staff member in sight. The train ride costs extra and it sucks. What a shame cause kids loves train.

Great family place for a quick outing. Just enough to not become boring. Both my toddler and teenager were amused. Nothing fancy and yes the trains are old, but it is a museum.

Plenty of old trains! Great for toddlers, waste of time for others. The place is inaccessible for strollers because of stairs and uneven sidewalks.Dont waste your money for a caboose/coach ride, the only jewel is a locomotive.

Nice place to bring your kids.

Very interesting museum, highly recommend!

An amazing place, all the staff so friendly, I loved it!

I simply love this place! Beautiful and historic trains from Floridas past! A fantastic place for children!!! Tip: If you want to see the GCRM at night, come to one of the ghost tours in October.

Great place to take your kids if they like Trains.

Awesome place! Amazing to think this is how the world used to get around!

Beautiful trains and play area for kids. Free day every month!

Great old Museum and wonderful people. An irreplaceable piece of Americana. We will come back to visit again.

This place is a hidden gem. It may not look like much, but theres some hidden history. This may have been popular back in the day, but coming here supports the efforts of the maintenance.

Amazing number of trains you can explore. Nice AC kids area where they can play with wooden train toys.

Visited the museum for the Brunch with Santa, it was a little misleading as it was only Breakfast (eggs, pancakes, sausage) It could have been better organized, ones the kids enter the place they took pictures with Mr and Mrs Claus... they walk around the trains, the breakfast took a while and the kids didnt have much to do so they started to get board. There was only one table open to write the letter to Santa. All other activities open after the breakfast. There was coloring stations and a small train ride. Not to many things to entertain the kids. A bouncy house- Facepainting- maybee even a table for the kids to make there own ornaments would have been nice.

We were here for the Polar Express ride! It was wonderful, the kids loved it, specially the hot chocolate! The decoration was great, the crew was very friendly and song all the time.

It is clean and the trains are in decent shape. I really like the place. Good for the whole family.

It is a little depressing. Perhaps it was the attitude from the staff that did not help but there was nothing happy or fun at this place.

Poor exhibit ! It is just a place for kids to ride the Thomas train, but for photographers there is not much to see as it used to be before. Same old painted few locomotives inside a hangar and outside the few machines that I used to do artistic photography are now surrounded by Do not pass fences, signs and maintenance material. If you are a photographer there is not much you are allowed to photograph. I would not call this a Museum any more, the place is getting worst every year The only reason visitors still go there is for parents taking kids to ride on the Thomas train. The rest is not worth it.

Kids love this place. Great historical site

Really awesome, cool local historical place. Would definitely go again!

We went there at a day that was suppose to be one when the museum was open. Went during opening hours. But no one was there at the ticket boot, nobody was anywhere to welcome us. We were not alone either there were others in the parking lot that were looking for help. Well anyway I cant talk for the museum itself since I was not able to enter but this is unacceptable..

We went for the Polar Express event. Kids had an AMAZING time!

Not a must see but not a waste of time. I sure enjoyed it tho and you will do if you like railroading and its history

Learn history of trains in Fl see the first trains and their famous passengers

A very cool train museum to walk around in and see how trains used to be. They also have the train car that Truman rode and carried the Dewey defeats Truman newspaper. I would have loved to take a tour of the presidential car the day we visited, but we were running short on time. I may have to make a return trip!

First Saturday of the month entrance is Free! My 3 and 5 year old enjoyed going through all the trains, specially the room in the far building were all the train models are.

Nice place to put your cellphone on plane mode and take a lot of pictures with the Trains, also if ur not into trains but ur already there, its the zoo next to the museum

Cool place , recomended

Totally awesome. Get to go inside the trains and look around and see different parts of the era. I loved it!!

If you love trains. This place is for you

Love this place. Been coming here for 13 years and now the last year with the Boy Scouts. If you want to eat a good burger chips and hot dogs make sure you find out when the Boy Scouts are coming on a Saturday. It’s usually the first Saturday Of the month which the entrance it’s free. More than likely the Boy Scouts troop 23 will be there. They have a phenomenal grill master that can cook up a storm. Furthermore it’s a great place to take your young ones and old ones the reminiscence about trains and learn about trains to. Again if you make sure the Boy Scouts are there you’ll get to sample of the best burgers chips and hot dogs ever at the museum.

Staff was awesome but not allowed to make noise

The ONLY reason Im giving this AMAZING place 4 stars, instead of 5, is not because of the Museum itself, but for the lack of money invested into it. The trains are great, the layout is awesome, and all the workers are very informed. I just wish the outdoor area, looked a little better, and had more information posted. But in all honesty, this museum is AMAZING for both adults and children. Its also great for parties and photo shoots!

This place is great for its blast from the past! Lots of history to learn from and experience here, not to mention their adorable mascot! Youll have to visit to see what Im talking about, just ask to see Ash.

We had a surprisingly great time here ! The trains are interesting and in many cases you can explore inside. Having driven past this many times on the way to the zoo, I only wish we had come sooner. BTW adults and children can all enjoy.

Isn’t bad. But it’s kind of abandoned.

I took my son for a day with Thomas the Train. The cost for both of us was $52 with tax and service charge.I had never been to the train museum so I didnt know what to expect... But I was hoping for an actual train ride considering its advertised as a 35 minute interactive train ride on Thomas the Train himselfInstead we go and sit on a train car with a front engine that is framed as Thomas the Train. Inside of the train car there is almost no air conditioning and you have to wait a little while for the train to depart.During this time there is absolutely no interaction or even music relating to Thomas the Train.Once the train departs... There is some Thomas the train background music (since the speakers arent loud) and a couple volunteers who hand out certificates and temporary tattoo stickers.The train goes nowhere. It moves at about 1-2 miles per hour to pull out of the train station with spectacular views of rusted train cars along the sides.It then pulls alongside the train museum and sits for a few minutes. Then the train pulls backwards again for another 3-5 minutes at 1-2 miles per hour with views of trees and shrubs and debris along the sides of the track.After this exhilarating experience it then pulls back into the train station and you get off the train.Outside of this one ride they have a storytelling interactive train which has 2 window ac units which cannot at all cool the train. Inside the train there is a single folding table with a few chairs and someone reading a Thomas the train book and a group of 10 or so chairs in front of an old tube TV playing some Thomas the train episodes/movie.The TV is small and not loud enough to hear even from the seating area and the storyteller has no real place to sit considering the width of the train car.Overall this event is really poorly setup considering the price and lack of attractions.Even my under 3 year old son thought that Thomas is broken when we didnt go anywhere and he was ready to go home in an hour.

The organizers seem to put their hearts into this but its extremely low budget and a little creepy given the common areas and train ride areas are not well lit up and youre outside...I was waiting for unexpected wildlife appearances....Summary: The organizers heads are in the right spot but I would never revisit.

Very cool place . Lots of old trains, you can check them out inside and out. Kida hot in the summer.

Its a nice spot for kids. I really enjoyed the murals.