The American Shortline and Regional Railroad Association recently awarded the industry’s highest award for marketing achievement to the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad.

This is the fourth time Reading & Northern of Port Clinton has won the award in the last eight years.

Bill Clark, senior vice president — coal, accepted the award at a ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee.

The association recognized Reading & Northern for its efforts to connect a large anthracite coal producer, Atlantic Coal in Hazleton, to the interstate railroad system. The project was more complicated because the facility was along the lines of Norfolk Southern Railroad.

Reading & Northern had rights to travel over the Norfolk Southern line and with the active support of the Norfolk Southern Coal Business Group, Reading & Northern was able to get permission to connect to the Atlantic Coal facility.

This cooperative effort was an acknowledgment of the unique role Reading & Northern holds in transporting Pennsylvania anthracite.

Long known as “The Road of Anthracite,” Reading & Northern has acquired over 1,200 coal cars and a weigh-in-motion scale in North Reading to facilitate the movement of Pennsylvania anthracite.

At Reading, the rail cars filled with anthracite coal are interchanged to Norfolk Southern.

In 2017, over 7,300 cars were interchanged to Norfolk Southern.

This close working relationship caused Norfolk Southern to greenlight the Reading & Northern plan to connect with Atlantic Coal, a project that took nearly seven years to complete. Atlantic Coal had to acquire government approvals to build the track, and Reading & Northern completed the construction in 2017.

In its first partial year of operation, Atlantic Coal shipped over 500 carloads of anthracite. It is anticipated that Atlantic Coal will soon be shipping in excess of 2,000 carloads a year, thus removing over 8,000 trucks from local roads and highways.

Reading & Northern’s marketing and business development efforts is reflected in its growth.

Over the last five years, Reading & Northern’s carloadings increased 50 percent. In 2017, the railroad broke all its freight records and handled over 31,000 carloads.

In addition, Reading & Northern’s passenger operation, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, also broke all previous ridership record as over 120,000 visitors rode its trains.

Reading & Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving over 70 customers in nine counties, including Carbon and Schuylkill.