The Roundhouse Railroad Museum (also called the Georgia State Railroad Museum) is located at the Savannah Shops Complex of the Central of Georgia Railway (CG) in Savannah, Georgia

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...

. The complex is considered one of the most complete antebellum railroad complexes in the southern United States. The museum, located at 601 West Harris Street, is part of a historic district included in the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. The site contains exhibits of historic railroad equipment and facilities.

Site history

The Central of Georgia Railway started as the Central Rail Road and Canal Company in 1833, and built a passenger station

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

, freight terminal and some shops in the Louisville Road area of Savannah around 1836. However, none of those structures remain today. By the mid-1840s the railway had expanded to 190 miles (305.8 km) of track

Rail tracks

The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...

, and the CG began construction of new shops in 1851. The first completed building was the carpenters' shop in 1853, followed by the original roundhouse

Roundhouse

A roundhouse is a building used by railroads for servicing locomotives. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular structures that were traditionally located surrounding or adjacent to turntables...

, machine shop, tender frame shop, blacksmith

Blacksmith

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

 shop and several other buildings in 1855. Additional buildings were constructed at the complex into the 1920s.

The roundhouse, turntable and other structures were rebuilt in the late 1920s after a major fire in 1923, as well as to accommodate larger locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s and rolling stock

Rolling stock

Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

.

Transition to museum

The Southern Railway

Southern Railway

The following railways or railroads are or were called the Southern Railway or Southern Railroad:- Europe :*Austrian Southern Railway, a railway company operating in Austria-Hungary between 1841 and 1923*South railway...

 purchased the CG in 1963 and closed the Savannah shops. Subsequently the railway transferred the complex to the City of Savannah. The Coastal Heritage Society, a non-profit organization, opened the museum on the site in 1989.

Museum facilities

Museum attractions include:

• Massive roundhouse with an operating turntable (length 85 feet (25.9 m))
• Numerous historic railroad buildings
• Historic machinery and stationary steam engine
  Stationary steam engine
  Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars , agricultural engines used for ploughing or...
  
  s
• Steam
  Steam locomotive
  A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
  
   and diesel
  Diesel locomotive
  A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
  
   locomotives, with locomotive cab rides
• Office cars & caboose
  Caboose
  A caboose is a manned North American rail transport vehicle coupled at the end of a freight train. Although cabooses were once used on nearly every freight train, their use has declined and they are seldom seen on trains, except on locals and smaller railroads.-Function:The caboose provided the...
  
  s.

See also

• Central of Georgia Railroad: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities
  Central of Georgia Railroad: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities
  The Central of Georgia Railroad: Savannah Shops and Terminal Facilities is a historic district in Savannah, Georgia, that was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It is dominated by the Central of Georgia Depot and Trainshed, a passenger depot and trainshed constructed...
  
  - National Register description