If you are from Plant City or visit the historic downtown area, you know it’s all about the trains. If nothing else, you know that if the traffic is tied up, it is probably not a traffic jam; it is a train crossing.
“We love our trains, without which there would be no Plant City,” said local Plant City historian Gil Gott. “Imagine, if you will, what it was like before the railroad came. The roads were barely what we would call roads, dirt and sand and narrow. There were no Wawas or Circle Ks, no McDonald’s and no AAAs if you break down.”
The railway system is what connected Brandon, Plant City, Tampa and other cities along the way many decades ago.
To honor Plant City’s beloved trains, the city opened the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum and Train Viewing Platform.
“Being from Plant City, I wanted to be a part of board for the museum,” said board member Marsha Passmore. “Trains are part of our history here in Plant City.”
In January 1884, the Florida Southern Railroad — part of Henry B. Plant’s railroad system — completed the railway all the way from Sanford to Tampa, with Sanford’s access to the St. Johns River, Jacksonville and North and Tampa’s access to the Gulf and beyond. In the center of all this was a town soon to be named after Plant.
“Plant City was named after Henry B. Plant,” Gott said. “The Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line merged into the Seaboard Coast Line in 1967, terminating passenger service to Plant City in 1970. The station, known as the ‘depot,’ was deeded to the City of Plant City in 1974. It was saved from demolition by the Arts Council of Plant City. The Plant City Union Depot was added to the National Register of Historic Buildings in 1974.”
Currently, the museum displays and maintains a very sizable collection of railroad memorabilia, including its best-known item, a completely restored Seaboard Air Line, No. 5735 Caboose, built in 1963. Also, you will find a 1942 Whitcomb locomotive.
Across from the depot, you will find the Plant City Train Viewing Platform. Trains magazine rated the viewing platform as one of the top 75 best places to view trains in the United States.
“You can expect 15-20 trains max per 24 hours,” Passmore said. “The Tropicana Orange Juice Train, TECO coal trains, as well as ethanol trains are commonly seen in Plant City.”
If you would like to learn more about the Robert W. Willaford Railroad Museum in Plant City, you can visit its website at www.willafordrailroadmuseum.com. The museum is located at 102 N. Palmer St. in the historic downtown district of Plant City. The museum’s hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday, 12 Noon-4 p.m.
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