The Northern Ohio Railway Museum (NORM) has received a one-of-a-kind model from a late Garden Railways contributor. The family of the late Dr. Evan Roderick recently donated a 1:29 scale model of Cleveland Union Terminal P1-a locomotive No. 204.
Mr. Roderick passed away in 2008. In late 2023, his family contacted several Cleveland area museums, looking to donate both the model and a framed drawing of the prototype engine. A NORM volunteer made the drive from Cleveland to Richmond, Va. to transport the model to the museum.
The custom-built engine measures 10 inches tall (with pantographs raised) and is 32 inches long. The body is made from basswood, with hundreds of pins glued into predrilled holes to simulate rivets. Evan Roderick wrote an article on this engine in the October 2002 issue of GR.
The Northern Ohio Railway Museum is a museum of electric railways. The museum’s area of interest is the streetcar, interurban, rapid transit and heavy mainline electric rail operations of Northern Ohio. The museum is situated on 63 acres of land, which includes a 2 mile right of way of the former Cleveland, Southwestern and Columbus interurban railway.
The museum’s 2024 season runs from May 25-September 28, on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free with a donation. The musuem operates two cars for the public.
In the 2001 GR article, Dr. Roderick wrote about his motivation for building this model. It came from his youth, in the 1930s, when he would ride the Shaker Rapid Transit Line. This line paralleled the tracks of CUT for a couple of miles. It was aboard a Shaker Rapid car that the future Dr. Roderick became enthralled with the massive P1-a locomotives.
One of the cars the museum operates is one a young Evan Roderick could have been riding on when he became inspired–Shaker Rapid car No. 12. If you visit the museum, you will be riding this car. The museum also has preserved a track speeder and tower car that was used to maintain the CUT overhead lines. Both are awaiting restoration.
