{"id":92843,"date":"2026-02-17T23:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/893250829"},"modified":"2026-02-17T23:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T02:39:13","slug":"robert-willaford-railroad-museum-society-looks-to-renovate-its-freight-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/robert-willaford-railroad-museum-society-looks-to-renovate-its-freight-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Willaford Railroad Museum Society looks to renovate its freight tower"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img data-opt-id=758893364  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=75&resize=75&ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=100&resize=100&ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=150&resize=150&ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=240&resize=240&ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=320&resize=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=500&resize=500&ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=640&resize=640&ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=800&resize=800&ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=1024&resize=1024&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=1280&resize=1280&ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1&w=1600&resize=1600&ssl=1 1600w\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/s7d2.scene7.com\/is\/image\/TWCNews\/IMG_1039-3?ssl=1\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>PLANT CITY, Fla. \u2014&nbsp;Changes could be coming to what was once a well-traveled train stop in Plant City. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.willafordrailroadmuseum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Willaford Railroad Museum Society<\/a> is looking to renovate its freight tower to showcase more of the museum&#8217;s railroad collection.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embedcode\">\n<div class=\"keypointsbox\">\n<hr>\n<h4><b>What You Need To Know<\/b><\/h4>\n<h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.willafordrailroadmuseum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Robert Willaford Railroad Museum<\/a> is located in the heart of Plant City<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>The museum is looking for funding from the city to help renovate its freight tower<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li>The museum says its goal is to showcase more of its memorabilia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/h5>\n<hr><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"remove-embeded\"><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Robert Woods\u2019 love of trains didn\u2019t start at a young age. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cGetting involved in downtown, I realized trains were a big deal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He moved to Plant City in 2008 and joined the Robert Willaford Railroad Museum Society shortly after.<\/p>\n<p>He built this train as a way to draw people into the museum. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that live in Plant City that don\u2019t really know about the museum,&#8221; Woods said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlant City brought in trains, 44 trains per day,\u201d says Lloyd Thomas, is the executive director of the museum. <\/p>\n<p>He said that back in 1909, Plant City brought in the most trains to the area next to Jacksonville.<\/p>\n<p>Today, it\u2019s a train depot that still sees trains pass by, but no stops.<\/p>\n<p>But Thomas still wants visitors to stop by and see what\u2019s in the freight tower next door.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re able to share it with people, rotate these things out and educate them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That\u2019s part of my mission is preservation of the history, but education is also very important.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He is asking city commissioners for funding to help renovate the freight tower and expand its memorabilia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy goal is to showcase freight and pictures, and stuff that talked about what came in and what came out, aside from passengers,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The museum saw about 3,500 visitors last month. It\u2019s a number that Thomas says is increasing as they reach more people through local events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven though passenger service doesn\u2019t happen here, we still have freight trains passing on a regular basis,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a love for trains that\u2019s grown for Thomas, and he hopes others get to experience that too.<\/p>\n<p>The board says the renovation of the freight tower is the first part of several projects to restore the museum, along with painting the seaboard caboose.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\"> <\/a><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/blockads.fivefilters.org\/acceptable.html\"> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230; is looking to renovate its <span class=\"match\">freight<\/span> tower to showcase more of &#8230; funding to help renovate the <span class=\"match\">freight<\/span> tower and expand its memorabilia &#8230; . \u00e2\u0080\u009cMy goal is to showcase <span class=\"match\">freight<\/span> and pictures, and stuff that &#8230; happen here, we still have <span class=\"match\">freight<\/span> trains passing on a regular &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92843\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}