North Shore Railroad Newsletter 2014 Fourth Quarter
2014 Fourth Quarter Notes from Gary To Our Railroad Family: The close of 2014 marks the end of our 30th year of continuous rail freight service, but we have reason to continue to celebrate. Since 1984, when the concept of a public-private partnership was implemented to serve the communities and customers in Central Pennsylvania, we have become an integral part of the local business community and a powerhouse for business development that has been noted from the first day of operation for its high level of customer service. As such, we celebrate. We celebrate our customers, our partners, our devotion to a philosophy of putting our customers first, and most of all, we celebrate our employees who make it happen every day. While we celebrate, we also focus. We focus on the reason we have prospered for 30 years. The reason for our continued success is our employees dedication to the four tenets of our mission statement: To be the most customer focused and safest transportation system possible To provide quality regional rail freight service to our region To conduct our business with the highest degree of integrity and professionalism To be a responsible civic partner with the communities we serve As the President of the North Shore Railroad Company, I thank all of our railroad family members for your service. Our future looks bright for business development, and we will continue to contribute to the local communities we serve, helping to build a stronger local economy. You have always made me proud to be part of your team- the safest and best group of railroaders on the planet. Gary Shields President & CEO Above Photo by: Mike Seese Cover Photo by: Chris Marks On Track, edited by: Blanchard, Briner, and Stotter 2
Go Green, Use Rail Dedicated to safely and efficiently serving our region's industries for 30 years Like us on Facebook or Visit us online at: www.nshr.com North Shore Railroad Main Office 356 Priestley Avenue Northumberland, PA 17857 Phone: 570.473.7949 Fax: 570.473.8432 3
Our Railroad Family Family Events of 2014 2014 STATE COLLEGE SPIKES BASEBALL GAME 2014 KNOEBELS ANNUAL PICNIC 2014 EMPLOYEE CHRISTMAS PARTY 4
Our Railroad Family Family Train Rides of 2014 WILLIAMSPORT 4TH OF JULY FIREWORKS TRAIN NSHR 30TH ANNIVERSARY EMPLOYEE TRAIN RIDE NBER 30TH ANNIVERSARY EMPLOYEE TRAIN RIDE 5
Our Railroad Family Notable 2014 Employment Anniversaries 5 YEARS LUCAS HARTER CHRISTINA HAVEROVICH ADAM MARTIN JOSH MILLER 10 YEARS NATHAN BILL GREG JASON NIKKI BRANDON PETE BENINTENDE BOYER COLEMAN, JR. KIFT REEDY REESE SIMCOX 15 YEARS STEVE BEACH GERARD BLACK JEFF JEFFREY JIM MACKEY DAN RENK RICH SPONG 20 YEARS 21 YEARS 27 YEARS OF OUR EMPLOYEES, 69% HAVE BEEN WORKING GEORGE COMFORT BRIAN ROBEY RANDY ULRICH FOR US FOR LONGER THAN FIVE YEARS! New Members to our Marketing Team in 2014 Charles Barker Charlie is assisting the NSHR marketing team with special projects, such as the Shamokin Valley Transload Facility. He has more than 37 years of railroad and marketing experience with Norfolk Southern. Joe Kantz Joe is the current Chairman of the Snyder County Commissioners. He has 20 years of marketing experience with local companies and his own marketing firm. Joe focuses on sales and marketing efforts on NSHR, SVRR, and UCIR. 6
In this edition of On Track, we are excited to feature the most important component of our company, OUR EMPLOYEES! Every year we honor our employees with various company events. This year, due to our 30th Anniversary, we were able to add to our regularly scheduled gatherings. The ladies from our Accounting Department put in many hours planning and coordinating these events. Thanks to their herculean efforts, the events were a huge success and everyone had a great time! Our Railroad Family Letter from the Editors We are glad to be able to do such things for our employees who are dedicated to their work on the railroad and make the North Shore Railroad Company the finely tuned machine that it is. Thank you to Representatives Lynda Schlegel Culver, Kurt Masser, and Rick Mirabito for sponsoring and signing this very meaningful citation. This past Fall, our employees efforts were celebrated in another big way Representative Lynda Schlegel Culver recognized our company with a citation highlighting our 30-year history as a small, local, familyowned and operated business. The citation also recognizes North Shore as a business that contributes to the well-being of its communities by adhering to the highest of standards; this is achieved only by the focus and efforts of our employees. On Track Editors Blanchard, Briner, and Stotter Employees in the Community There is much talent in our company, exhibited during and after work. Many of our employees are actively involved in their communities. We would like to brag about it! Every year North Shore employees rally together to donate new or slightly used coats, scarves, and gloves to the Sunbury YMCA coat drive. The coats are given to people of all ages who need them. Steiningers Laundry and Dry Cleaning donates its cleaning services to prepare the coats for their new owners. 7 This past year, North Shore employees were able to collect more than 50 winter coats and other items (such as scarves) for the drive!
Our Railroad Family North Shore in the Community Triangle Tech, Sunbury (Nov.14th) Our Chief Mechanical Officer, Ray O'Brien, gave Triangle Tech, Sunbury students a tour of the electronic aspects of the LVRR Engine House. Our Signals Supervisor, Ray Solt, showed them the Howard Street Grade Crossing in Williamsport, PA. The students were able to benefit much from the tour since the school trains its students in the residential and commercial field for various types of electronics. Bellefonte VC (Dec. 12th-14th) We were proud to be the Corporate Sponsor of the Bellefonte Victorian Christmas celebration. The three day event had carriage rides, shows, Dickens & Company, and so much more! www.bellefontevictorianchristmas.com Toys for Tots (Dec.13th) This year we were happy to be able to reward the generous people who donated toys to the Toys for Tots drive by giving them one of our 30th Anniversary coins. The toy drive concluded with its annual NARCOA speeder ride where Representative Lynda Schelgel-Culver judged the best decorated speeder car. This year's drive resulted in: 548 Toys 156 Small/Stocking stuffer Toys 9 Books $2,498.00 A Note from Andy: BHRS Passenger Car Movement (Dec. 15th) Here are some pictures from the big move yesterday (12/15/14). The move was fun to watch, but following the car over Skytop Mountain was even more interesting! This was truly a rare mileage trip. Big thanks to Jim Mackey and the NBER for helping to make this happen. Donating the time and equipment to move the RDC to the various sidings used for work to be performed was very generous! It sure was great to see the 9167 project get fully underway! We are looking forward to seeing it back in service. -Andy Richards Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society, Treasurer To learn more about the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society and see more pictures of this move, visit: www.bellefontetrain.org. 8