Tag: train

A Train Ride into a New Year

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

Each year begins on January 1 with New Year’s Day and ends on December 31 with New Year’s Eve.  A majority of people around the world stay up all night to celebrate the exact time when the clock strikes at midnight ending the year before and starting the year ahead.  Most people dress up and attend a party.  Some parties are private while others are public like the most popular party at Times Square in New York City, New York.  With twenty four time zones, the celebrations happen each hour around the world.  The celebrations begin in cities like Wellington, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia, and end in cities like Anchorage, Alaska and Honolulu, Hawaii.

How about riding a train from the old year to the new year?

The place is Boyertown, Pennsylvania.  What is special about Boyertown?  Well, it is not a famous town, but it is the home of the Colebrookdale Railroad.  What is special about the Colebrookdale Railroad?

It is December 31, 2025.  I arrive at 10:00pm and park my car in the parking lot.  As soon as I step out of my car, everything changes.  I see a clock, and it says, ‘It is 10:00pm.  The day is December 31, 1925’.  Wait!  What happened?  I heard somebody say, “We will soon say goodbye to 1925 and hello to 1926.”  Did I go back in time?  I walk to the Victorian train station to get the ticket to ride the train.  I look around and see Model T Fords arriving at the station.  I see other classic cars, but they are not classic cars.  It is 1925.  I board the train, and I go to my seat at a table in a first class car.

The train leaves Boyertown at 10:30pm.  Where are we going?  Ladies and gentlemen, we are headed to 2026.  Well, at this time, we are going to 1926.  We are going down the track seeing nothing but darkness with an occasional site of railroad lights at the grade crossings.  I see people walking up and down the train ready to ring in the new year.

Then, the time comes.  It is official.  We have officially ridden the train from the old year of 1925 to the new year of 1926.  We were the last people to ride the train from the old year and are the very first passengers on the train in the new year.

Well, the train returns to the station in Boyertown.  We deboard the train on January 1, 1926.  I walk away from the station, and things change.  What happened?  I see a sign that says, ‘Happy New Year 2026’.  I am back to the present.  It is said that the Colebrookdale Railroad is a railroad that takes you back in time.  A ride on the New Year’s Celebration train, you are not just riding history.  You are a part of history as you ride from one year to the next.

The Age of Steam Roundhouse, Sugarcreek, Ohio

by jbcowgill, posted in Ohio, Ohio History, Railroad History, Railroads

What is the Age of Steam Roundhouse?  In the early years of railroading, roundhouses were needed to service the steam locomotives.  From the first roundhouse in Baltimore in the U.S. state of Maryland, now the home of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, to roundhouses across the United States of America, they were a very essential part of the movement of the railroad.  When the steam locomotives which had to be serviced after one hundred miles of operation were replaced by the diesel locomotives that could run hundreds of miles of operation before they needed maintenance, the railroad roundhouse became obsolete.  Although most of the old roundhouses were preserved like the Mount Clare Roundhouse in Baltimore, many were demolished.  With many of these roundhouses in small towns, the closure of the roundhouses meant fewer jobs in the small town causing many small towns to decline.  The era of the railroad roundhouse was no more.

With the railroad roundhouse obsolete, there will be no need to build a roundhouse ever again.  A man named Jerry Joe Jacobson did not think so.  Who is Jerry Joe Jacobson?

Originally from Lancaster in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, a city famous for the Amish lifestyle and is home to the famous Strasburg Railroad, the oldest continuously operating railroad in the United States of America, Jerry Joe Jacobson made his way to the U.S. state of Ohio where his work on the railroad began with passenger excursions in the area around the small town of Sugarcreek.  It was here where he built a roundhouse.

Some of you are saying, “Wow!  He built a roundhouse, and that roundhouse is just a museum that just collects rolling stock, and people go and see the locomotives and old passenger and freight cars.”

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Age of Steam Roundhouse.  Jerry Joe Jacobson founded the Age of Steam Roundhouse with a collection of steam locomotives.  Yes, it is a museum, but it is also an actual working roundhouse.  As mentioned, it is an actual working roundhouse.  Yes, locomotives and rolling stock are serviced here.  During your visit, you may be fortunate to see restoration of a locomotive or freight car.

There are many railroad museums across the nation.  Some of these railroad museums are housed in old roundhouses.  What makes the Age of Steam Roundhouse special is that it is a newly built roundhouse with vintage steam locomotives from different railroads as well as diesel locomotives, old passenger cars, freight cars, and cabooses.  The founder, Jerry Joe Jacobson, passed away in 2017, and he is entombed in a mausoleum just a short walk from the roundhouse.

The Age of Steam Roundhouse is located at 213 Smokey Lane Road SW south of the town of Sugarcreek, Ohio off of Ohio State Route 93.  Different guided tours are offered on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from April into November with events throughout the year.  (Please note that due to safety reasons and the fact that this is a working facility, all tours are conducted by a tour guide.  Self-guided tours are strictly prohibited.)  Parking is on site, and the facility is wheelchair accessible.  You can get more information on tours (there are different tours offered), admission, events, read more into the life of Jerry Joe Jacobson and into the Jerry and Laura Jacobson Foundation, Inc. at https://ageofsteamroundhouse.org/.

It is called the Age of Steam Roundhouse to remind everyone of the era of steam railroading and the steam locomotive.  As you are taken on the tour, you will be taken back in time.

The South Carolina Railroad Museum, Winnsboro, South Carolina

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

When people think about the U.S. state of South Carolina, they mainly think about the beaches.  You have Charleston and Fort Sumpter where the first shot of the American Civil War was fired.  You have the beach towns of Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head.  As many treasure the beaches, this state has a history with the railroad as well.

Welcome to the South Carolina Railroad Museum in Winnsboro, South Carolina.  Yes.  It has railroad cars on display.  As you arrive, the first thing you will notice is the train with steam locomotive number 44 on the front, freight cars, a baggage car, rail post office, and the ‘Norfolk’ parlor car.  There is also a caboose.  Yes, many railroad museums have that, but there is also a gallery with railroad artifacts and model trains.

I know.  Many railroad museums have all of this.  Oh, they have train rides.

You have all of this at a museum that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Yes, it is a National Historic Site.  Therefore, if you think that this is just another railroad museum, you will discover that it is not.

The South Carolina Railroad Museum is located at 110 Industrial Park Road in Winnsboro, South Carolina just off of U.S. Route 321 and South Carolina Route 34.  It is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 10:00am to 4:00pm.  Trains rides take places from June to September plus on Easter, Halloween, and Christmas.  The museum is free, but there is a cost to ride the train.  Parking is on site.

Next time you think of South Carolina, do not just see the beach.  May your way to the South Carolina Railroad Museum, another state treasure.