Steam Saturday: A Visit to Sugarcreek

It is Sept. 5, 2012, in Sugarcreek. I had been informed that the Age of Steam Roundhouse would be sending one of its locomotives to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad for Steam in the Valley 2012.

I had hoped to get there soon enough to catch the locomotive on the turntable at the roundhouse, but I was too late. Still, what a beautiful sight the roundhouse is.

There was smoke rising behind the roundhouse. How impressive and almost timeless the facility is.  

Central Ohio 1293 (formerly Canadian Pacific 1293/Ohio Central 1293) is on its way north. What a true gem that locomotive is.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas

AOS Sets Blue Tour for May 19

Tickets are on sale for a May 19 blue flag tour of the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek.

The immersive tour will be led by Chief Mechanical Officer Tim Sposato.

During the tour attendees will meet the roundhouse staff that maintains and restores the museum’s collection.

Attendees will assist with the prepping and firing of Morehead & North Fork 0-6-0 No. 12. 

All participants will receive a box lunch at the Roundhouse Depot and a special gift.

Participants must be 18 or older. The tour is being limited to 25 participants.

Tickets cost $175 per person and may be ordered at https://www.showclix.com/event/blue-flag-pass-tourasWxpBu

Photography Event Set for May 20 at AOS

A photography event has been set for May 20 at the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek.

The event is being co-sponsored by Trains magazine and will feature Moorhead & North Fork 0-6-0 No. 12 in operation.

Re-enactors in period dress will be inside the roundhouse to recall a mood of the past.

The event is limited to 25 participants and includes lunch. Event hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is timed so that participants will be able to travel to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to observe or ride behind Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765, which will be pulling excursions that weekend.

Tickets are $499 per person plus a fee of $23.51. They can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/age-of-steam-roundhouse-tickets-295948238147

AOS Forces Busy Over Winter, New Tours Planned for Summer

The shop forces at the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum have spent the winter working to restore former McCloud River Railroad /Yreka Western 2-8-2 No. 19.

In a report, AOS said the locomotive has been undergoing heavy repairs for quite some time that have involved taking the locomotive apart and repairing  or replacing worn out parts.

AOS said the overhaul of No. 19 will include a boiler inspection and rebuild that is expected to extend the locomotive’s life for another 15 years.

The boiler has been stripped of such external appliances as piping, jacketing and insulation, and its large flues and smaller tubes have been removed.

In addition to working on the boiler, workers have been inspecting and repairing running gear parts and components, including valve, main and side rods and their bearings.

Repairs have been made to the locomotive’s piping, spring rigging and brake rigging, and the electrical system has been rewired.

Other locomotives that received attention from the shop included former Southern Railway/Morehead & North Fork 0-6-0 No. 12,

Last month No. 12 passed its Federal Railroad Administration annual inspection, including a required hydrostatic test of its boiler.

Former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy commuter coach No. 705 received minor mechanical repairs and a cosmetic make-over.

Built in 1920, the car will have its original CB&Q road number of 7158 restored when the final exterior painting occurs.

AOS said its tour season will begin on May 1 and extend through Nov. 20.

New this year is a three-hour Founder’s Tour, which provides a three-hour, behind-the-scenes exploration that will highlight the life, locomotives and legacy of AOS founder Jerry Joe Jacobson.

Also new this year is a special exhibit titled “Tools of the Trade” that will feature original artifacts and tools used by railroad shop workers.

Family-oriented events that have been added to this year’s schedule include a series of special 45-minute events most of which will begin every Saturday at 1 p.m.

The first of these family events, titled  “Story Book and Explore,” is scheduled for June 10 at 1 p.m., and will feature a museum volunteer reading aloud from Watty Piper’s classic children’s book, The Little Engine That Could.

The shorter Saturday afternoon family tours will include a presentation about how steam locomotives operate.

Participants will also get to see how a locomotive is turned on the roundhouse turntable and touring the back shop.

 “Railroad Heritage Career Day” on July 8 at 1 p.m. will involve visiting stations located throughout the museum to learn about old-time railroad workers, their tools and their skilled trades as engineers, machinists, blacksmiths and Carmen.

AOS Offering Hands on Tour on April 30

The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek will offer an expanded tour on April 30 that will enable participants to help with the preparation and firing of a steam locomotive.

The Blue Flag tour will be led by Chief Mechanical Officer Tim Sposato and feature a tour of the roundhouse and collection as well as firing Morehead & North Fork 0-6-0 No. 12.

Tickets are $175 and can be ordered at https://www.showclix.com/event/blue-flag-pass-tour45d8yqzdzzzp4bFE43uLx/listing

The tour will be limited to 25 participants. The ticket price includes a box lunch at the Roundhouse Depot and a special gift. Participants must be at least 18 years of age.

Numerous COVID-19 pandemic procedures will be observed and are detailed at the museum’s website.

AOS Selling Tickets for 2021 Tour Season

Tickets are now being sold for public tours of the Age of Steam Roundhouse and Museum in Sugarcreek.

Tours are offered on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in May through October.

Prices are $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and veterans, and $12 for children (ages 3 to 16). There is no admission charge for children under age 3 or for active duty military members who present an identification card.

All tickets must be purchased in advance and can be ordered from the museum’s website https://www.ageofsteamroundhouse.org/events/

No walk up visitors will be allowed and the tour group sizes will be limited to 10 people.

Tour participants should wait in their vehicles or the parking lot until 10 minutes before their tour time.

Visitors and staff must adhere to social distancing requirements as determined by the State of Ohio with visitors encouraged to adhere to all state-mandated requirements, including the wearing of facial masks.

Public areas such as the gift shop and restrooms will be cleaned and disinfected multiple times a day. A deep clean is performed once a week by an outside, professional cleaning service.

AOS Sets Tours for February

The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum will offer ferroequinologist tours on two Fridays during February.

Tickets for the three-hour guided tours are $75 per person. Tour dates are Feb. 19 and 26 at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.

The tour will provide a more detailed and technical tour of the roundhouse and its collection.

This will include the collection of steam locomotives, restoration shop, machine shop, and store house.

Tour guides will provide in-depth commentary about the technical aspects concerning steam engineering, locomotive mechanics, industrial heritage, railroad history, and roundhouse architecture.

Tickets must be purchased in advance and group size is limited to 10.

Dates of the tours are subject to change due to weather conditions and may be cancelled or rescheduled.

Attendees should wear comfortable, closed- toe footwear and sign a liability waiver.

AOS Honors 2 Volunteers

The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum has honored two men by naming them to receive the Volunteer of the Year Award and Master Mechanic’s Award.

Akron Railroad Club member Mike Costill of Canal Fulton won the mechanic’s award while the volunteer award went to Matt Arnold of Bolivar.

Costill is a regular member of the back-shop team and was a longtime friend of museum the late Jerry J. Jacobson.

A news release issued by the museum said Costill is often at the roundhouse for regular hours and has helped with numerous projects.

Arnold was recognized for his work as a videographer and digital media volunteer.

He contributed to several short social media videos and other virtual media during the spring and summer when the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the museum’s focus away from on-site programming and events.

Steam Saturday: A Roundhouse Full of Steamers

McCloud (Kettle Morain) 2-6-2 No. 9.

It was during a an Akron Railroad Railroad Club event – maybe the former December banquet the used to be held at the Martin Center at the University of Akron – that the late Jerry Jacobson said during an impromptu speech that there was no better site than a steam locomotive in steam sitting in front of a roundhouse.

He pledged that when ARRC came to visit his Age of Steam Roundhouse in the not too distant future that he would have a locomotive in steam for us sitting out front.

Alas, when club members made that tour on June 1, 2013, the staff was unable to have a steam locomotive steamed up for us. But it did place a locomotive on the turntable.

But we got the second best sight, which is a roundhouse full of steam locomotives.

Thousands have had the opportunity to see that for themselves since the roundhouse opened in 2011.

Occasional tours are offered and Ed Ribinskas went on one of those tours on Sept. 19 with his friend Jeff Toutman and neighbor Dan Patterson.

Here is a portfolio of photographs of what sits inside the roundhouse that Jerry built.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Wheeling & Lake Erie 0-6-0 No. 3960.

 

Baltimore & Ohio 0-6-0 No. 1190.

McCloud 2-8-2 No. 19.

 

Reading -0-4-0 (Camelback) No. 1187.

Morehead & North Fork 0-6-0 No. 12 (operational).

Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 763.

 

Alabama, Tennessee & Northern 2-10-0 No. 401.

Buffalo Creek & Gauley 2-8-0 No. 13, Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1293 and Canadian National 4-6-0 No. 1551.

AOS to Offer Events Marking Anniversary of 1950 Troop Train Collision in West Lafayette, Ohio

The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum will pay tribute to soldiers who were killed in a 1950 Ohio rail disaster with a virtual event that begins on Sept. 11.

The collision on Sept. 11, 1950, between a westbound troop train and the Spirit of St. Louis of the Pennsylvania Railroad near West Lafayette killed 33 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard en route to Camp Atterburry in Indiana.

AOS said in a news release that visitors to its website will be able to view a series of posts and videos exploring aspects of wartime railroading, historic materials related to that history, and information and images depicting the 1950 collision.

The posts will begin on Sept. 11 and be completed the next day.

The event is being undertaken in partnership with the West Lafayette Historical Society, which has an extensive collection of historic materials relating to 1950 crash.

These include original newspaper accounts, historic newspaper press photographs, personal photos, and artifacts from the wreck site.

These items will be displayed in the Roundhouse’s Depot exhibit building on public tour days of Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during September and October.