Inside the Age of Steam Roundhouse.

(Alvintrusty, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum logo.

AGE OF STEAM ROUNDHOUSE MUSEUM

The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum, located in Sugarcreek, Ohio, United States, is a museum roundhouse housing steam and diesel locomotives, passenger cars and other railroad equipment.

 

History

The roundhouse was built by Jerry Joe Jacobson, former CEO of the Ohio Central Railroad System (OCRS). In October 2008, Jacobson sold his interest in OCRS to Genesee & Wyoming, including the track, modern equipment, and most of the workshops and depots. Jacobson kept a collection of vintage steam and diesel locomotives, other old equipment, and a depot at Sugarcreek, Ohio. He bought 34 acres in Sugarcreek and began constructing a roundhouse to house his collection. The roundhouse building was completed in 2011 and all of the steam locomotives, along with a few other select pieces of rolling stock in Jacobson's collection, were moved inside the roundhouse that same year. It was the "first large roundhouse built in the United States since 1951," with the previous building being Nickel Plate Road's roundhouse in its Calumet Yard. As of 2012, the Age of Steam Roundhouse's website outlines its goals as:

  • Preserve the steam locomotives, historic diesels, passenger cars, and other railroad relics in the collection of Jerry Joe Jacobson.
  • Build a full-scale, operating, and realistic roundhouse and back shop to overhaul, repair, and maintain Jerry’s rolling stock.
  • Operate the steam locomotives on freight trains.
  • Display railroad heritage for future generations.

The project was paid for by Jacobson and his wife, Laura. They set up an endowment to support the museum. Architect F. A. Goodman says the building is 48,000 square feet and of "solid masonry walls" and "heavy timber framing". It has 18 stalls, each of which is large enough for a locomotive and its tender. The Goodman company says the roundhouse is one of the largest heavy timber structures in America.

Sadly, Jerry Jacobson passed away in 2017 at the age of 74.

 

No. 1. (DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

No. 2. (DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

No. 9. (DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

No. 763. (DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

No. 2630. (DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

No. 6325. (DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Steam locomotives

Number Heritage Wheel Configuration Builder Built Status Notes
1 Cuban Sugar 0-4-0CA H.K. Porter 1915 Display Fireless locomotive Compressed Air locomotive.
2 Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Company 0-4-0F Heisler Locomotive Works 1940 Display Fireless, from Sharon, Pennsylvania.
3 Southern Wood Preserving Company 0-4-0T American Locomotive Company 1926 Display, awaiting a rebuild
9 McCloud Railway 2-6-2 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1901 Display, awaiting restoration From the Kettle Moraine Scenic Railroad, Wisconsin.
12 Morehead & North Fork 0-6-0 American Locomotive Company 1905 Operational Built as Southern Railway No. 1643.
13 Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal 0-6-0T H.K. Porter 1919 Display From the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.
13 Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad 2-8-0 American Locomotives Company 1920 Display, awaiting restoration
19 McCloud River Railroad 2-8-2 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1915 Under restoration From the Yreka Western Railroad and the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway (pictured). No. 19 was used as OP&E No. 19 in the 1973 Robert Aldrich film Emperor of the North (Pole).
33 Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad 2-8-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1916 Display, awaiting future overhaul First from the Munising, Marquette and Southeastern as No. 44, No. 33 operated on the LS&I until 1962. Owned by the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway from 1965 to 2003, when it first arrived at the Ohio Central.
37 Sugar Pine Lumber Company 2-8-2T American Locomotive Company 1925 From the Timber Heritage Association.
96 Canadian National 2-6-0 Canadian Locomotive Company 1910 Display
105 Sturm & Dillard Co. 0-6-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1917 Display From the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society.
401 Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad 2-10-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1928 Display From the Mid-Continent Railway Museum.
643 Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad 2-10-4 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1944 Display As of January 2024, the engine has been moved from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.
727 U.S. Steel 0-4-0T H.K. Porter 1897 Display From Sewickley, Pennsylvania
763 New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad 2-8-4 Lima Locomotive Works 1944 Display, awaiting possible restoration From the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
1187 Reading Company 0-4-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1903 Display From the Strasburg Rail Road, No. 1187 was recently acquired from Strasburg from an auction on July 15, 2020 and left Strasburg on July 31, 2020.
1190 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 0-6-0 American Locomotive Company 1904 Display
1278 Canadian Pacific Railway 4-6-2 Canadian Locomotive Company 1948 Display From the Gettysburg Railroad, No. 1278 suffered a crown sheet failure in 1995, underwent a partial cosmetic restoration in 2016.
1293 Canadian Pacific Railway 4-6-2 Canadian Locomotive Company 1948 Display, awaiting future rebuild Age of Steam's primary locomotive/locomotive power.
1551 Canadian National 4-6-0 Montreal Locomotive Works 1912 Display, awaiting restoration Traded from Steamtown in exchange for BLW No. 26 in 1986.
2630 US Army 2-8-0 Baldwin Locomotive Works 1943 Display From the Southeastern Railway Museum, USATC S160 Class. Cosmetically restored.
3960 Wheeling and Lake Erie 0-6-0 W&LE Brewster Shops 1935 Display, awaiting in-depth cosmetic restoration From Canton, Ohio.
6325 Grand Trunk Western Railroad 4-8-4 American Locomotives Company 1943 Display From Battle Creek, Michigan.

Diesel locomotives

ALCO

Number Heritage Model Notes
14 Newburgh & South Shore Railroad S2
18 South Buffalo Railway S4
84 Great Northern S2 Painted in fictional Nickel Plate Road livery
100 Southern Pacific S2
101 Norfolk & Western S2
102 Norfolk & Western S2
400 Monongahela Connecting Railroad T6
1077 Long Island Rail Road RS3
1663 South Buffalo Railway S2
1782 S2
1800 Erie Mining Co. RS18 Named "Chappy"
4099 Delaware & Hudson RS3 From Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad
7230 Erie Mining Co. C424
9100 Baltimore & Ohio S4

EMD

Number Heritage Model Notes
82 Montour Railroad SW9
84 Montour Railroad SW9
211 Detroit Edison SW1
212 Detroit Edison SW1
452 Amtrak F40M-2C
460 Amtrak F40M-2C
556 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe SW1200
736 New York Central SW1
1202 Aliquippa & Southern SW1200
1203 Wabash SW1200
1205 Aliquippa & Southern SW1200
1501 Pittsburgh & Lake Erie GP7

Fairbanks-Morse

Number Heritage Model Notes
1802 Yankeetown Dock H12-44
1852 United States Army H12-44 Painted in a Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railway inspired scheme.

General Electric

Number Heritage Model Notes
4 Bethlehem Steel Johnstown Works 25-Ton

Welcome to the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum

Created by Len Brown, this video is a profile of the Museum itself and how they got to where we are today. Interviews with the Executive Director, Chief Mechanical Officer, and other volunteers and employees help paint a picture of what it's like to be a part of the amazing Museum.

Overview

Location: Sugarcreek, Ohio
Type: Vintage steam and diesel locomotives, and other rail equipment
President: Jerry Joe Jacobson (2011–2017)
Website: www.ageofsteamroundhouse.org

Address: 213 Smokey Lane Road SW, Sugarcreek, OH 44681

Phone: 330-852-4676

Email: info@ageofsteamroundhouse.org