The $2 Train Ride Hiding in a Coconut Creek Park

Jump to a section

• What it actually is
• The 2026 schedule
• The practical details
• Birthday parties, and how they actually work
• Who can ride
• The park entrance fee, and how to pay nothing
• Important: the north side is a construction zone
• What is still running at the park
• The south side is fully open
• A little history, since you are already there
• Why this is worth your Saturday
• Sources
• Frequently Asked Questions

There is a 5,800-foot railroad running through the north side of Tradewinds Park, and most people in Broward County have driven past it without knowing.

It costs $2 to ride. It runs one weekend a month. It is operated entirely by volunteers, who built the track themselves by hand over three years starting in 1987.

The next run is this weekend, Saturday September 19 and Sunday September 20, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

What it actually is

The Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, not a park concession or a carnival ride. The club formed in 1972 as the Southern Division of the Florida Live Steamers, with a mission to educate people about railroading, metalworking and mechanical engineering.

They began laying track on the north side of Tradewinds Park in 1987 and finished three years later, in 1990. The result is 5,800 feet of 7.5-inch gauge track that loops around a pond, through what the club affectionately calls its swamp curve.

The trains you ride are roughly 1/8 scale. Some are electric, some are genuinely steam-powered, which is the part most visitors do not expect.

There is a second, smaller operation alongside the rideable railroad. On an elevated track, club members run O gauge and G gauge model trains, G scale being what hobbyists call garden scale, powered by electricity or steam and controlled remotely or by radio. Those are too small to ride, but they are running while you wait.

In the club's own words, the mission is to teach young visitors about train safety, the value of hard work and the inner workings of a real rail yard, while keeping the experience safe, fun and inexpensive.

The 2026 schedule

Trains run the third weekend of every month, both Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting.

The December run lands the weekend before Christmas, which is worth noting if you are looking for something to do with visiting family. As always, weather can cancel a day, so check the club's Facebook page before driving out.

The practical details

Where: Tradewinds Park North, 3600 W. Sample Road, Coconut Creek, FL 33073. This matters: Sample Road splits the park in two, and the railroad is on the north side. If you turn into the south entrance you will end up at Butterfly World instead.

Cost: $2 per ticket. Card payment has been accepted in the past, but this is a volunteer-run operation, so bring cash as a backup.

How often trains leave: The club says trains depart the station every few minutes between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Weather: Operations can be suspended for thunderstorms. Given that this is September in South Florida, check before you drive.

Two different phone numbers, and this trips people up. The railroad is run by volunteers who do not handle anything else in the park. Train questions only: 954-494-6877. Park information, pavilion rentals and everything else: 954-357-8870. The club states plainly that its volunteers are not able to answer questions about park facilities.

Online: livesteamers.org and facebook.com/officialTARR. The Facebook page is where weather calls and day-of updates get posted.

Birthday parties, and how they actually work

This is the part worth reading closely, because the club's setup is unusual and a little counterintuitive.

The railroad only provides train rides. Everything else, the pavilion, the food, the decorations, is between you, Tradewinds Park and whatever vendors you bring. The volunteers are not party planners.

Parties can only happen on regular run days, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. No parties after 3 p.m., even though trains run until 4.

There are no private parties. Because the club is volunteer-based, it does not close the railroad for a single group.

Within that, they offer two approaches.

Option 1, unstructured. Hold the party somewhere in the park, buy enough $2 tickets for everyone, and hand them out. Guests ride whenever they want during the day through the regular boarding line. Simple, no coordination required.

Option 2, a scheduled ride. Email mike@livesteamers.org and request a time. When your group arrives, one person tells the ticket office you are there for a scheduled birthday ride. Your group skips the regular line and boards a special train in front of the bleachers, so meet there. The birthday train runs the loop twice without stopping, and repeats as many times as needed to get everyone through, since different trains hold different numbers of people.

The payment works backward from what you would expect. You do not buy tickets in advance for the scheduled train. The crew counts riders, and afterward you pay $2 for every person who rode, regardless of age.

For pavilions, the park rents a limited number, or you can take your chances on first-come picnic tables. That is a call to the park at 954-357-8870, not the railroad.

Who can ride

The club publishes firm rules, and a few of them will change your plans if you do not know them ahead of time:

• An adult or older child must ride in every train car.
• Children under 10 must have an adult with them.
• Children must be old enough to sit up by themselves.
• Pregnant women may not ride, for their own safety and their baby's.
• Never jump off or exit the train while it is moving.
• Supervise children. No throwing rocks, no playing or running on or across the tracks.
• For photos, do not place a child on any locomotive, engine or caboose.
• If you drop something during the ride, tell a crew member at the end rather than going after it yourself.

The crew also says to ask them anything. They are volunteers and they like talking about this.

The park entrance fee, and how to pay nothing

Tradewinds Park charges a gate fee on weekends and holidays, separate from the $2 train ticket. It is charged per vehicle, not per person:

• $3 per vehicle carrying eight or fewer people
• $20 per vehicle carrying nine or more

Do the math on a family outing and it is hard to beat. Four people in one car is $3 at the gate plus $8 in train tickets. Eleven dollars for the afternoon.

Here is the part almost nobody knows: entry is free if you walk or bike into the park. No gate fee at all. If you live close enough to ride over, the whole day costs you the price of the tickets.

And one more, which is very much a Tradewinds detail given the stables on site: entry by horseback is also free, at Tradewinds, Tree Tops and Vista View parks.

Note that some published listings still show a $1.50 per person gate fee. That structure is out of date. It is per vehicle now.

Important: the north side is a construction zone

If you are picturing the Tradewinds north side you remember, it is not that right now, and this is the single most important thing to know before you load the car.

Broward County states that because of major construction that began July 7, 2025, north side amenity operations are closed and are not expected to reopen until long-term construction is completed. That specifically includes:

• Farm tours
• Walk-up pony rides at the pony ring, unavailable since mid-June 2025
• The Museum
• Windmill square
• The north playground

The railroad is unaffected and still runs. And there is one important exception on the pony side: the casual walk-up pony ride is gone, but a registered Saturday program called Pony Trails is still operating. Details below.

If your plan was train plus walk-up pony ride plus playground, that plan needs adjusting.

Visitors have also reported that north side parking lot closures are not always well signed, which leaves drivers turning around in awkward places. Give yourself extra time and follow whatever signage is up the day you go.

What is behind the construction

This is not deferred maintenance. It is a $28.5 million redevelopment turning the area into the Tradewinds Educational Farm and Gardens.

The plan includes an open lawn and garden area with a stepped amphitheater under a grove of shade trees, five new picnic shelters worked in among the existing mature oaks, a large covered playground, additional public restrooms, bicycle parking and designated bus drop-off zones. The former barn area, along with the lunge and pony rings, is being reconfigured, and the old wooden barn on the north side has been demolished. New public artwork has been commissioned from the artist behind the park's "Lefty Lucy" piece.

So the pony rings are coming back, just not this year.

What is still running at the park

Plenty, and some of it is genuinely good.

Trail rides. The county-operated stables continue to offer public and private guided trail rides. The booking rules are strict, so read them before you call: reservations must be made at least 24 hours ahead, guided rides can be booked several weeks out, and payment is due within 24 hours of booking through Webtrac. Payment is not accepted over the phone. Call 954-357-8870, ext. 0.

Riders 16 and younger must wear an ASTM/SEI-certified helmet, which the stables provide. Closed-toe shoes and long pants are required. Crocs and slip-on clogs are not permitted.

Pony Trails, the Pony Ride Educational Hour. This is the one to know about, and it runs every Saturday. Children learn about horsemanship, help groom a horse, then take a pony ride through a portion of the trails. Sessions are $10 per child, and each session caps at six participants, so it books up. One guardian is required to attend with each child. Sessions run 12:30 to 2 p.m. and 1:30 to 3 p.m. Register through the Broward County Parks events page or call the park at 954-357-8870.

Note the timing: Pony Trails runs the same Saturday as this month's train weekend, September 19. A 12:30 pony session and train rides until 4 p.m. is a full afternoon on the same side of the park.

Pony Tales. Read a book to a horse, a pony or the stables' donkey, and take a picture at a themed photobooth. Bring your own chair and book, or borrow one from the on-site Little Free Library. Preregistration is required and spots are limited. Register through Webtrac or at the park's main office.

Farm Fables. An hour-long youth program with story time, an interactive activity and a chance to meet the featured farm animal of the month, rotating through chickens, pigs, sheep, goats, cows and the donkey. One caution: the county describes this program as taking place at the Farm Museum while also listing the Museum among the closures, so confirm the location when you register.

Trailblazers Horse Camp. A five-day horse camp for ages 9 to 14, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., $375 per session, offered during Broward County Public Schools breaks. Registration opens before each break through Webtrac or the park office.

Hayride and campfire. A seasonal family series running 6:30 to 9 p.m., listed at $3.50 per person including the hayride, the campfire and one bag of s'mores fixings, with additional refreshments for sale on site. Reservations are required for groups of 15 or more. These run in the cooler months, and the pricing above comes from a listing we could not date, so confirm current dates and cost with the park.

Holiday Fantasy of Lights. The drive-through light display returns to the park later in the year. Check the park's calendar for this season's dates.

The south side is fully open

Across Sample Road, nothing is affected by the north side work.

Butterfly World anchors it, one of the largest free-flight butterfly houses in the country, alongside an 18-hole disc golf course, a lake with pier fishing, athletic fields, and a boardwalk through a pond apple swamp.

Butterfly World charges its own admission on top of the park gate fee, and admission there closes at 4 p.m. daily. If you are doing the train and the butterflies in one trip, start early.

A little history, since you are already there

Broward County acquired Tradewinds Park in 1974 from Margueritte C. McLean, whose family had used the land to breed and raise thoroughbred horses. The McLean name is still on the farmhouse the county lists as part of the farm.

The Educational Farm opened in 1977 on roughly 325 acres of the north side. The county lists it as including a livestock barn, a horse stable, a micro-apiary and the historic McLean farmhouse, though the barn area is among what is being reconfigured in the current work.

The railroad club started laying its track there a decade later. Which means the land has gone from thoroughbred breeding, to working educational farm, to a volunteer-built miniature railroad, to a $28.5 million rebuild, all on the same few hundred acres.

Why this is worth your Saturday

South Florida has no shortage of paid attractions. What it has very little of is the thing this is: a working piece of hobbyist infrastructure, built by hand by people who wanted it to exist, still running 36 years after the last rail went down, charging two dollars.

The railroad takes donations through its website, which it says fund maintenance on the trains and track and upgrades to the facilities. For an operation charging two dollars a head, that is not a small thing.

Bring cash or a card, bring sunscreen, and be ready to go around twice.

Sources

• Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad, 2026 schedule
• Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad, Birthday Trains
• Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad, livesteamers.org
• Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad on Facebook
• Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad on Instagram
• Broward County Parks, Tradewinds Park & Stables
• Broward County Parks, Tradewinds Park events calendar
• Live Steam Clubs directory, Tradewinds & Atlantic Railroad
• South Florida Finds, Tradewinds Train Rides
• South Florida on the Cheap, "Ride a little train at Tradewinds Park"
• Visit Lauderdale, Tradewinds Park listing
• Butterfly World, Plan Your Visit
• Broward County Parks, Educational Farm & Stables
• Broward County Parks, Horses and trail rides
• TAPinto Coconut Creek, "$28.5 Million Project Underway to Transform Tradewinds Park Into Educational Farm and Gardens"
• South Florida on the Cheap, Tradewinds farm tours
• Florida Hikes, Tradewinds Park