AOS to Have Public Tours Sept. 10

Jerry Jacobson’s Age of Steam Roundhouse will offer public tours on Sept. 10 for a $20 fee.

The tours will begin at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m., at the facility located just outside Sugarcreek, Ohio.

Following the tours, AOS will host a reception to raise money for the Garaway Education Foundation, which awards scholarships to Garaway High School students to pursue higher education.

The reception, which begins at 5:30 p.m., will cost $50 per person and feature access to the locomotives and other areas of the roundhouse.

Although periodic tours of the AOS facility have been held in recent years, it is not common for the site to hold an open to all event.

To purchase tickets online for the roundhouse tour and/or the reception, click on the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/roundhouse-daytime-tours-tickets-22410658884

Canton Railroad Book Now Available

Akron Railroad Club president Craig Sanders’ latest book, Canton Area Railroads, has been released by Arcadia Publishing. The book was written in cooperation with the Akron Railroad Club and features photographs from club members Richard Antibus, John Beach, Michael Boss, Peter Bowler, Richard Jacobs, Chris Lantz, James McMullen, Bob Redmond, Edward Ribinskas, Marty Surdyk and Paul Vernier.

The book chronicles the history and development of the railroads that served Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Carroll and Tuscarawas counties. Among the cities coverd are Canton, Massillon, Alliance, Orrville, Wooster, Dover, New Philadelphia, Dennison, Brewster, Navarre, Minerva and Sugar Creek.

Canton Area Railroads documents how railroad operations changed as the steel industry declined and railroad consolidations led to traffic shifts and route abandonments. Among the railroads that served this region were the Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio, New York Central and Wheeling & Lake Erie. The book has images of these roads plus their sucessors Penn Central, Norfolk & Western, Conrail, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Ohio Central, R.J. Corman and OhiRail.

Also discussed are modern passenger operations Amtrak, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society. The book is 128 pages and has more than 200 photographs.

Canton Area Railroads is the fifth railroad history book published by Sanders. His other works include Akron Railroads, Amtrak in the Heartland, Limiteds, Locals and Expresses in Indiana, 1838-1971, and Mattoon and Charleston Area Railroads.

The ARRC will be selling copies of Canton Area Railroads at train shows and at its monthly meetings. The book is also available from  booksellers and the publisher (www.arcadiapublishing.com).