The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) on April 6, 2016 awarded Reading and Northern Railroad the industry’s highest award for marketing achievement. This is the third time Reading & Northern has won this prestigious award in the last six years. Dennis Shaffer, Vice President Business Development, accepted the award at the annual ASLRRA ceremony held in Washington D.C.
ASLRRA recognized Reading & Northern for its rapid response and development of a railroad-operated warehouse in Old Forge, Pa. The need for this new warehouse facility came suddenly in April 2015 when a valued customer notified Reading & Northern that it needed a new warehouse to handle and store its wood pulp. The critical part of the request is that this new warehouse needed to be available within a month. In a little over a month Reading & Northern was able to find a long unused building along its railroad in Old Forge, negotiate a lease, modify and rehabilitate the building, acquire the necessary handling equipment, train its employees, and rehabilitate a long unused rail siding that was buried under several feet of dirt. Simultaneously, Reading & Northern moved to acquire and rehabilitate, in its Port Clinton car shop, additional boxcars to handle this wood pulp from Old Forge to final destination. This new facility was up and running by May 2015 and has seen continual business growth ever since.
In addition to the ASLRRA Marketing Award, Reading and Northern was also recognized in 2015 when Railway Age Magazine named it Regional Railroad of the Year. This was the third time the railroad won the prestigious award and is the only railroad ever to have achieved this recognition three times.
Reading and Northern’s superior marketing and business development efforts have paid dividends in business growth. 2015 was a record-breaking year for the railroad with freight carloads up 19% and revenue up 30% compared to 2014.
Reading Northern’s passenger operation, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, also broke all previous ridership record in 2015 as over 100,000 visitors rode its trains, a 38% increase in ridership over the previous record year.
Reading & Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving over 60 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties (Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill and Wyoming). It has expanded its operations over the last 20-plus years and has grown into one of the premier railroads in Pennsylvania. Reading and Northern operates both freight services and steam and diesel powered excursion passenger services through its Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, owns over 1,000 freight cars, and employs over 200 dedicated employees.