Rough and Tumble Historical Association, Inc. is a unique museum located on 64 acres in Lancaster County in PA that helps preserve America's Agricultural and Industrial history by holding events throughout the year. We have many operating exhibits as well as numerous Steam Traction Engines including one of the Oldest running Steam Traction Engines in the US, the Schiedler built in 1886 just restored! See the video of the first test of this engine in our 2012 Photo Gallery.

Ride two special Steam Trains that run around our grounds. There is a huge collection of Gas Engines including the Oldest Internal Combustion engine running in North America built by Otto Langen in 1867. We have a large building of Stationary Steam Engines all running. You will see some of the best restored John Deere, IH, and Rumley tractors around to name a few. Our Model Shops have many very unique hand built items on display and running. Watch our Blacksmiths forging items. Founded in 1948, we are celebrating our 65th year in 2013 with the unique history as one of the longest and earliest running organizations of this type in the U.S.

Rough and Tumble is "The Most Complete Operating Steam and Gas Engine Show in the East"! Our Threshermen’s Reunion attracted thousands of visitors from across the U.S breaking attendance records last year. Come visit us and see up close the wide range of unique operating equipment of all types on our grounds. The R & T Threshermen's Reunion is the 2nd Oldest in the Country!

What's New!

Spring 2013 News

What is New at Rough and Tumble is our New Web Site you are looking at! After 14 years, it was time to update our site and add new features and make it easy to get around to find what you are looking for. Our new site allows members and visitors to join, renew, and update their membership and purchase it on line with their credit card via PayPal. Members can also update their profile information and download and print the Whistle. More info on the new site here.

Notice:  A new Link Page has just been added to the Web Site for Clubs, Guides, and Resources. The links area will continue to grow. 

The new Spring Whistle has been posted in the Members Info. Members must log in to view the materials there. Log in help can be found here.

Rough and Tumble has a very rare and valuable Conestoga Wagon, unique to the area's history in our Museum. You can read more history and see photos of our Conestoga Wagon on display from a Web Article here.

New Gift Shop items are also available to now easier purchase on line with a credit card. This project has been in process over several months to incorporate what members and visitors are looking for. The new site allows the R & T web team to easily update the site without being a HTML programmer. Look at the new Polo Shirts available in our Gift Shop.

All of us at Rough and Tumble would like to thank Jacob Merriweather for designing and maintaining the previous site since its creation in 1999. Jacob has taken hundreds of photos of all the events at R & T and posted them with details taking countless volunteer hours. Thank you Jacob!  We appreciate all you have done over the years for Rough and Tumble.

The 65th Annual Threshermen's Reunion Truck is now available to order. It feature's John Deere 520 and 720 tractors on a Rough and Tumble Flatbed Truck. This 1/64 scale model commemorative collectors edition truck is MADE IN THE USA  by the Penjoy Company. Supplies are limited and orders must be postmarked no later than August 17th. They are available to be picked up at the gift shop or shipped to your address. Click here for the order form.

Nevin Brubacker, R & T Chairman of Buildings and Maintanance went through a hip joint replacement and is recovering nicely.

Board of Director Meeting Minutes are now available for R & T Members from the Member Info tab on the top right after signing in. Members are invited to attend the Board Meetings listed on the right to keep up with everything going on in the organization. If you can not attend, you can read the Meeting Minutes highlights from our Monthly Meetings from January 2013 forward. Also available is The Whistle, ByLaws, and Commitee Contacts.

Our Circa 1900's, Line Shaft "Machine Works" continues to grow and add more equipment. We would like to thank R & T Director Bud Burdy and his team for the beautiful job they are doing after much research on how to design and build the shop. You can see project photos in the 2012 Photo Album. They are finding more interesting circa equipment as the project comes along.

Milestone Reached, the Cooper Engine ran on its own at Spring Steamup this Weekend!!! Bill Hazzard and his team have worked on this project for many years from dismantling it in Ohio, to bringing it back to R & T, pouring concrete and installing the engine. Bill was able to turn over the engine with compressed air summer 2012 to prove the mechanics. The next step was to complete the exhaust, fuel supply lines, and cooling system.  Look at the Cooper Engine Project and New Running Videos in our photo section. Congratulations Team!

Steam School 2013 is Full! Steam School 2013 filled in 2 hours at the "Time of Harvest" show in October. Look for the next school in 2014 and be at R & T early to sign up for the next school! Click here for more information on our 2014 Steam School. Students must be 14 or older.

Garden Tractor Pullers - In the interest of uniformity, any participants interested in pulling in the Garden Tractor pull that is held on the Saturday of Reunion, held in August, will be required to set up and display all four days of the show.  This four day requirement is already enforced for the large tractor pullers.  With two very popular features scheduled for both 2013 and 2014 we will not be able to allot the "spare" parking field for the Saturday morning parking of trucks and trailers that usually come with the Saturday only pullers.  Thank you for understanding that this is a necessary change to accomodate the need for more display and flea market space. More info here.