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About Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum
Stand inside a working 18-stall roundhouse — the first large one built in the United States since 1951 — and take in steam locomotives, historic diesels, and vintage passenger cars from American and Canadian railroads. The 48,000-square-foot building in Sugarcreek, Ohio, ranks among the largest heavy timber structures in America, with each stall sized to hold a locomotive and its tender.
📍 SUGARCREEK, OH 44681
History
The Age of Steam Roundhouse is the creation of Jerry Joe Jacobson, former CEO of the Ohio Central Railroad System. When Jacobson sold his interest in the railroad to Genesee & Wyoming in October 2008 — track, modern equipment, and most of the workshops and depots included — he held on to his collection of vintage steam and diesel locomotives, other historic equipment, and a depot at Sugarcreek, Ohio. He purchased 34 acres in Sugarcreek and set about constructing a roundhouse for the collection; the building was finished in 2011, and the steam locomotives plus select rolling stock moved inside the same year. It was the first large roundhouse erected in the United States since 1951, when Nickel Plate Road built one at its Calumet Yard. Jacobson and his wife Laura paid for the project themselves and established an endowment to support the museum. Architect F. A. Goodman's design runs 48,000 square feet with solid masonry walls and heavy timber framing across 18 stalls, each big enough for a locomotive and tender, and the Goodman company counts it among the largest heavy timber structures in America. The museum's stated goals include preserving the Jacobson collection, operating a full-scale working roundhouse and back shop, running the steam locomotives, and displaying railroad heritage for future generations.
The Trains
The roundhouse shelters Jerry Joe Jacobson's collection of vintage steam locomotives, historic diesels, passenger cars, and other railroad equipment from both the United States and Canada. Diesel power spans builders from ALCO and EMD to Fairbanks-Morse and General Electric. The complex pairs the 18-stall roundhouse with a back shop built to overhaul, repair, and maintain the rolling stock, and all of the collection's steam locomotives have been housed inside since the building opened in 2011.
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