'Florida Railroad Experience' could make Parrish a destination

PARRISH — “Florida Railroad Experience” says it all.

What if the Florida Railroad Museum, with its massive collection of full-size rolling stock — locomotives, sleeper cars, box cars and cabooses — and RealRail with its scale models, were under one roof?

A 25,000-square-foot roof to be precise, designed to resemble an old-fashioned train depot with ticket area, interactive displays, library, classroom and boarding for train rides to an 80-year-old ghost town named Willow.

And many of the pieces are already in place, say members of the Parrish Civic Association, Parrish Foundation, RealRail and the Florida Railroad Museum. It’s a matter of pulling it all together by raising several million dollars to acquire 11 acres near the present site of the Florida Railroad Museum and the old Parrish post office on 82nd Street East and U.S. 301, then build the structure.

It has the potential to attract families from far and near to an educational, interactive attraction that not only looks at Florida’s railroading history, but its future as well.

Parrish residents want to see a walkable community with lots of shops, says Ben Jordan, president of the Parrish Civic Association.

But that won’t happen with more residential rooftops alone.

The Florida Railroad Experience would make Parrish a destination, Jordan predicts, and encourage the development of new businesses to serve visitors and residents alike.

Through a facilitator from the Sarasota Community Foundation, the Florida Railroad Museum and RealRail determined that they could work together to help create Florida Railroad Experience.

A board has been formed, $10,000 raised, work has started on forming a nonprofit corporation, and a website launched, Jordan said. Architect Jerry Zoller has drawn up plans for the way that the Experience might look.

“There are few other facilities in the United States with a working railroad and a working museum. We will be one of the few in the world,” Jordan said.

Currently, the Florida Railroad Museum and RealRail operate only on weekends. Florida Railroad Experience could be open five or six days a week, year-round.

George Johnson, president of RealRail, which operates from interim space at 6804 14th St. W., Bradenton, said his group has been part of the fabric of the Manatee-Sarasota community for 35 years.

“We had talked to the Florida Railroad Museum. They run the big stuff. We always said wouldn’t it be great to get us together? Then Ben came along with the Parrish Civic Association. They saw an opportunity and so did we,” Johnson said.

“Florida was built by the railroads. This is how Bradenton and Sarasota came to be,” Johnson said, pointing to the role that the Henry Plants and the Henry Flaglers had in developing the east and west coasts of Florida.

“They contributed so much to what we are today,” Johnson said.

Early rail not only helped open up wild country, but it helped get local goods to market, such as crops, timber and turpentine products.