A tabby cat named Felix spends his days hanging out among the massive steam locomotives at an Ohio train museum.
The Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek, Ohio, was established in 2012, a labor of love by Jerry Jacobson, former CEO of the Ohio Central Railroad System. The brick museum, called a roundhouse, holds Jacobson’s impressive collection of steam locomotives.
Felix arrived at the museum in 2015 as a kitten. He is the chief mouser but he also enjoys schmoozing with visitors.
Cat on Duty
“He does mouse… and then he just greets all the people that come through on tours,” said AoS Chief Mechanical Officer Timothy Sposato. “He’ll follow the groups of people, and he jumps from engine to engine, and they all take pictures of him. And then he goes to sleep in somebody’s office someplace.”
Felix loves to sneak into the depot building where guests gather.
“He normally likes to come in, just jump up on the little depot bench where a lot of people like to sit, and he’ll kind of roll all over the place. You know he’s just trying to get comfortable,” said AoS Social Media Coordinator, Sara Kammeraad.
Felix also visits the office and finds a good lap, making biscuits before settling down for a nap.
Kammeraad said Felix also likes to hang out on an old crane.
A Workplace Romance
“It’s like a mobile crane on wheels and everything, and it’s in between two of our big engines,” she said. “And he and his girlfriend—who’s kind of a semi-feral cat, she doesn’t really get close to people, but she’ll let you sneak a peek at her and everything—they’ll both take naps together in the seat of that old crane.”
Mouser in Chief
Felix pretty much has the run of the place.
“We don’t really keep him from anyplace unless we’ve got something that’s really out of the ordinary or dangerous, then maybe we’ll lock him up in one area or put him in an office for the day so he doesn’t get underfoot,” said Sposato.
The museum’s steam trains are operational, but when they’re fired up, Felix will be tucked away in the office or another building.
“He likes being with the trains, but when they’re running, he tends to stay far away from them, just because of the noise and smoke,” said Kammeraad.
A Dirty Job
Because Felix spends time around the locomotives, he tends to get dirty and has to be bathed. That’s also because his teeth were removed due to a chronic condition called stomatitis.
“He has a harder time cleaning himself, so we have to do that more, take him in for baths,” said Kammeraad.
Felix isn’t a fan of car rides and protests a lot when he has to go to the vet, but Kammeraad said he’s in great health and eats well, “He just looks like an old man when he yawns.”
Felix has a reputation for showing up in unusual places.
Keeping an Eye on Things
“There’s been times where I’ve come into the roundhouse and he’s on top of one of our tallest locomotives, you know, they’re 16 feet tall,” said Sposato. “He’s a climber, and he’ll appear someplace unexpected like that. And then I’ve seen a lot of paw prints where he’s been, which surprised me, you know, how did he get up in there? And somehow he did, so he’s really good about getting around and knowing every inch of the place.”
Kammeraad recalls an incident when a co-worker was giving a presentation in front of one of the locomotives to a tour group of 25-30 people.
“All of a sudden they just start snickering and giggling and laughing. And you know he’s just giving historical facts,” she said. “He kind of pauses for a second, he’s like, ‘Felix is right behind me, isn’t he?’ And they’re like, ‘Yep.’”
There was Felix high on engine with his hind leg straight up in the air, vigorously cleaning himself.
“It’s like, oh, of course he has to do that with a leg in the air,” said Kammeraad.
The museum welcomes thousands of visitors each year.
“We’re fairly well known throughout the world now, because we have a lot of followers that have foreign addresses, so they come from far and wide,” said Sposato.
Visitors can take a 90-minute tour and visit the gift shop, where a plush replica of Felix is among the souvenirs.