Age of Steam Roundhouse

Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum

Inside the Age of Steam Roundhouse
Established	2011
Location	Sugarcreek, Ohio
Type	Vintage steam and diesel locomotives, and other rail equipment
President	Jerry Joe Jacobson (2011–2017)
Website	www.ageofsteamroundhouse.org

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 vintage United States and Canadian railroad equipment.

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.^[1][2] 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.^[3] 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.^[2] 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.^[4]

The project was paid for by Jacobson and his wife, Laura. They set up an endowment to support the museum.^[2][4] 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.^[5] The Goodman company says the roundhouse is one of the largest heavy timber structures in America.^[5]

Locomotive details^[6]

Number	Images	Heritage	Wheel Configuration	Builder	Built	Status	Notes
1		Cuban Sugar	0-4-0CA	H.K. Porter	1915	Display	Fireless locomotive Compressed Air locomotive.[7]
2		Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Company	0-4-0F	Heisler Locomotive Works	1940	Display	Fireless, from Sharon, Pennsylvania.[7]
3		Southern Wood Preserving Company	0-4-0T	American Locomotive Company	1926	Display, awaiting a rebuild	[7]
9		McCloud Railway	2-6-2	Baldwin Locomotive Works	1901	Display, awaiting restoration[8]	From the Kettle Moraine Scenic Railroad, Wisconsin.[7]
12		Morehead & North Fork	0-6-0	American Locomotive Company	1905	Operational	Built as Southern Railway No. 1643.[7]
13		Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal	0-6-0T	H.K. Porter	1919	Display	From the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.[7]
13		Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad	2-8-0	American Locomotives Company	1920	Display, awaiting restoration	[7]
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).[7]
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.[9][10][11][7]
37		Sugar Pine Lumber Company	2-8-2T	American Locomotive Company	1925	Display	From the Timber Heritage Association.[12][13]
96		Canadian National	2-6-0	Canadian Locomotive Company	1910	Display	[7]
105		Sturm & Dillard Co.	0-6-0	Baldwin Locomotive Works	1917	Display	From the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society.[7]
401		Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad	2-10-0	Baldwin Locomotive Works	1928	Display	From the Mid-Continent Railway Museum.[7]
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[7]
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[14][15][7]
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.[16][17][7]
1190		Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	0-6-0	American Locomotive Company	1904	Display	[7]
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.[7]
1293		Canadian Pacific Railway	4-6-2	Canadian Locomotive Company	1948	Display, awaiting future rebuild	Age of Steam's primary locomotive/locomotive power.[18][7]
1551		Canadian National	4-6-0	Montreal Locomotive Works	1912	Display, awaiting restoration	Traded from Steamtown in exchange for BLW No. 26 in 1986.[7]
2630		US Army	2-8-0	Baldwin Locomotive Works	1943	Display	From the Southeastern Railway Museum, USATC S160 Class. Cosmetically restored.[7]
3960		Wheeling and Lake Erie	0-6-0	W&LE Brewster Shops	1935	Display, awaiting in-depth cosmetic restoration	From Canton, Ohio.[7]
6325		Grand Trunk Western Railroad	4-8-4	American Locomotives Company	1943	Display	From Battle Creek, Michigan.[19][7]

EMD

• List of heritage railroads in the United States
• Ohio Central Railroad System
• Ohio Central Railroad (1988)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Age of Steam Roundhouse.

• Official website

40°28′44.44″N 81°39′58.88″W / 40.4790111°N 81.6663556°W / 40.4790111; -81.6663556