The American Shortline and Regional Railroad Association has named the Reading & Northern Railroad as the winner of its 2020 Shortline Marketing Award.

This is the fifth time that Reading & Northern has been honored with this award, winning in 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018.

This is the second major award that the railroad has earned in 2020, having also been named Regional Railroad of the Year by Railway Age Magazine in March, for its work to build a $14 million bridge near Nesquehoning.

The railroad was awarded the 2020 Shortline Marketing Award in recognition for two projects that occurred in 2019.

“These projects reflect the entrepreneurial spirit of our Owner/CEO Andy Muller, Jr. Andy encourages our team to take risks and to seize opportunities. That is why RBMN is consistently honored for marketing initiatives,” said Wayne Michel, RBMN president.

“Whether it is buying warehouses, building tracks, or buying equipment for facilities on and off the railroad, RBMN is working hard to develop new business and to keep our customer satisfied.”

In late 2018 RBMN purchased an 83,000 square foot warehouse in Ransom.

The railroad went to work clearing the racking from the building, constructing a 400-foot long interior boxcar dock, a new switch, and 600 feet of track.

All of this was accomplished in time for the customer to start shipping material into the warehouse in mid-January. The Ransom warehouse now features a six-car, 400 foot interior boxcar dock, both inside and outside storage space, and the ability to load/unload flatbed trucks and box trailers.

In late 2019 RBMN went to work to secure new business to an off-rail customer in the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazleton.

In a matter of weeks RBMN built and made operational the new West Hazleton Transload terminal, which specializes in the handling of steel coils by rail. Those coils are then moved by truck by RBMN’s new sister company, Reading Railroad Transfer LLC, which handles the trucking to the plant.

The railroad made significant investment in the transload facility by building a 400 x 60 ft pad, a new switch and 850 foot-long siding, and purchased the necessary equipment to lift the steel coils.

By handling the material in this way, the coils move hundreds of miles by rail, and then transfer to a Reading Railroad Transfer truck to travel the last few blocks to the plant. One truck is able to cycle between the transload terminal and the plant, making multiple deliveries in a single day.

Reading & Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving over 70 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties (Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill and Wyoming).

It has expanded its operations over the last 30+ years and now handles over 34,000 carloads of freight and 140,000 excursion train riders over 400 miles of track.

Reading and Northern operates both freight services and steam and diesel-powered excursion passenger services, owns almost 1,300 freight cars, and employs nearly 300 dedicated employees. Reading & Northern has repeatedly been honored as one of the premier railroads in the nation.