Jerry and Laura Jacobson Found

Description

Jerry Jacobson loved to watch the Baltimore & Ohio steam locomotives operating through his hometown of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Knowing that he would have to own his own railroad in order to run his own steam locomotive, in 1988 Jerry bought a 90-mile railroad, and named it Ohio Central. Twenty years later his Ohio Central Railroad System had grown to ten individual freight-hauling railroads, 84 diesels, ten steam locomotives, and two dozen heavyweight and lightweight passenger cars. Needing a site to safely store and restore his fleet of railroad old-timers, Jerry and his wife Laura acquired 36 acres of farmland and began construction of the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum site. Located just 2-1/2 miles south of the village of Sugarcreek, the Museum is surrounded by picturesque Amish farms with their horse-drawn buggies, plows and reapers. Today a visit to the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum is an immersive trip back into the heyday era of steam locomotives and travel. Site Interpreters provide guided tours of the Roundhouse’s 18-stall, accurately reconstructed brick roundhouse surrounding a 115-foot turntable and turntable pit. The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum houses the largest private collection of steam locomotives in the world, including 21 historic steam locomotives in various states of restoration and preservation. It operates a fully functioning, working back shop where skilled Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum staff actively continue to preserve, restore and repair steam locomotives.