Volunteer of the Year

Each year, the Friends of the  Railroad Museum and Museum Management select a member as Volunteer of the Year. This individual is also honored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. This individual represents the high level of commitment and service that characterizes so many of our volunteers.

Elvin Ressler and Steve Kistler
have been selected as the Museum's Volunteers of the Year for 2013. 

Elvin Ressler has been a Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania volunteer and member for eleven years, and is an established presence in the Museum's vast Rolling Stock Hall, where he often interprets the GP30, GP9 and H6 locomotives. Always interested in adding to his repertoire as a docent, Elvin gives the Museum's orientation tour, assists the staff in greeting groups and demonstrates the principles of steam power in Stewart Junction railway education center. He also developed his own Museum tour, "Iron Horses Making Tracks," which he frequently offers to visitors.

Steve Kistler has been a Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania volunteer and member for two years. He learned Morse Code on his own and began interpreting the telegrapher's office in the Museum's Steinman Station passenger depot. Steve also learned the art of train order hooping and assists the staff with educational tours. A native of Elmira, New York, he is a graduate of SUNY/Oswego and was a high school math teacher for 35 years. Steve and his wife Christina Keck reside in Elizabethtown. He enjoys trains, reading, travel, history and is a weaver, with his own loom.

Information on volunteer opportunities at the museum may be found here.