The area which became the cargo terminal area, west of the diagonal runway, used to be before the 1960s-70s warehousing for the Florida fruit industry. The branch railway line which passes to the west of the airport seems to have had multiple reroutings as time has passed and it has been pushed further away from the airport, but it used to have sidings curving right into this area between the warehouses that the fruit trains shunted into. The writer could have been referring to any of these. When I went in 1991 a cargo train actually came along and made the huge bend around the end of 09R that was installed when the runway was extended.
There used to be a pilots' shop in the corner of a large office block just south of the 09R threshhold, on the stub of 72St. I went there in I think 1996 and still have a range of books from there. Nonchalently went back 10 years later and it was just grass, all buildings completely cleared away, like a moment from a Hollywood B movie. Having made a notable diversion in our journey specifically to go there and waxed eloquently about how good it was and worth the trip, Mrs WHBM
(not on the horizon in 1996) was not too impressed.