Full Steam Ahead
Near Sugarcreek, an 18-stall roundhouse is almost hidden in 34 acres of cornfields. The brick-and-wood structure is the Age of Steam Roundhouse — the first full-sized working roundhouse built in the U.S. since 1951 — and it holds the largest private collection of steam locomotives in the world.
Local Jerry Jacobson is the man behind that grand collection. Growing up in Cuyahoga Falls, he fell in love with railroads as he sat alongside telegraph operators routing trains and listened to Baltimore & Ohio steam locomotives barrel by. He went on to own a 525-mile Ohio freight railroad and began building the roundhouse in 2009 to preserve old equipment he acquired and 22 historic steam locomotives he had collected.
Next to existing Ohio Central Railroad mainline track, the museum features 2 miles of storage tracks, a depot, a storehouse, a coal loader, a wooden water tank, an ash pit, a back shop and a roundhouse with a 115-foot turntable.
Jacobson built the roundhouse to be accurate to the style of the 1930s to 1950s era when steam reigned supreme. Local craftsmen made the railyard’s water tower in the style of that time, and wooden buildings and doors incorporate work from local Amish wood framers and iron hinges created by area blacksmiths.
A few modern diesel trains made it into Jacobson’s collection in addition to the 22 steamers. Highlights of the steamer fleet include a 1919 Brooklyn Navy Yard locomotive that hauled supplies for World War II battleship repairs and a 1901 California McCloud River locomotive initially designed to burn wood. The collection is continuously altered.
“The Amtrak-style trains will go,” says Executive Director Noel B. Poirier. “We are focusing on the 1930s to 1950s, the modern steam era, to make this a jewel of a collection.”
Light pours through cathedral-like high windows inside the roundhouse, illuminating immaculately preserved equipment and gleaming engines of myriad personalities. The visitors’ center continues the throwback design with a vintage railway lounge where you might spot railyard cat Felix roaming around.
“We have a 1930s roundhouse in the middle of the countryside. Our mission is to maintain that feel,” Poirier says.
This is no static museum, though. The roundhouse is a working one with a fully functional back shop where specialists actively repair and restore the fleet of historic steamers, railcars, tools and period machinery.
Formerly only available for visits from private groups, the Age of Steam Roundhouse recently signaled the green light for public tours Thursday to Saturday through October. People have responded so enthusiastically with high turnout that more public programs are being considered for the future. That means there will be plenty of ways for us all to experience the glory days of steam railroads and the fast-disappearing art of keeping them alive.
“There is a pent-up demand for it,”
Poirier says.