Tom Ohlhaber Named Volunteer of the Year
The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is pleased to announce that Tom Ohlhaber has been named volunteer of the year for 2025. Tom was selected by the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s board of directors from among the Museum’s corps of more than 150 active volunteers for this honor.
During his 28-year career as a commissioned officer in the U. S. Public Health Service, Tom oversaw the development of precision laboratories and the regulation of radiation producing products. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics served as a basis for his technical skills while leading scientists, engineers and support staff in these national and international programs.
Retiring in 2011 from his 42-year career as a radiation physicist and business manager, Tom’s goal has been to pursue two of his lifelong interests: travel and trains. He has thus far enjoyed many trips to Chicago to visit family, as well as to numerous destinations in the U. S. and Europe.
Tom grew up in Chicago near the Northwestern Railroad and the Chicago elevated line, watching trains coming and going, or train heaven as he describes it. He revived his childhood interest in model trains after college and today participates as one of the home sites on the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s annual Garden Railways Tour with his G scale operating outdoor layout.
Tom began volunteering at the Museum in 2011. Since that time, he has served on the board of directors of the Friends of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and has volunteered for the Rails & Ales event, railroading merit badge workshops and summer day camps. He also helps maintain the G scale locomotives in Stewart Junction railway education center and conducts restoration shop tours. A versatile docent, Tom applies his considerable talents to the vital role of interpreting the Museum’s historic railroad equipment for the public. He can often be found in the cab of the GP30 No. 2233 locomotive, one of his favorite places.
“I love my interactions with our visitors, especially the kids,” says Tom, “and I want them to enjoy their Museum experience and leave with more energy and knowledge about our world-class collection than when they came. It is an honor and a privilege to be able to showcase these historic locomotives and railroad cars and tell the important story of railroading in Pennsylvania.”
Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania director Patrick C. Morrison states that, “Tom is a team player who is eager to learn and to impart his knowledge to others. I have always been impressed by Tom’s amazing generosity and resourcefulness, especially when it comes to serving our visitors and advocating for our Museum. He is a singular wit and a studious interpreter, who is willing to lend a hand whenever and wherever his services are needed.”
Tom resides in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania with his wife Karen. They are the parents of two grown daughters and have two granddaughters. He will be formally recognized as the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania’s volunteer of the year by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission at a ceremony at Landis Valley Museum this spring and during the annual Members Day banquet at the Museum on Saturday, September 27, 2025.
