2nd Quarter - North Shore Railroad

North Shore
Railroad Newsletter
2013
Second Quarter
2013 Second Quarter
Table of Contents
Notes from the President
page 2
First North Shore Excursions
page 4-8
New Members of Our Team
page 4-8
Notes from Marketing
page 9
Our Railroad Family
back cover
Notes from the President
Notes from Gary
On Saturday June 29, the North Shore Railroad Company provided free train rides from Lewisburg to
Winfield on the Union County Industrial Railroad. The
event was part of a weeklong celebration to honor our
Veterans and to recognize the 200th Anniversary of
Union County, Pennsylvania.
purchased the caboose in 2010 from Will Sanders of
Lewisburg. The vast majority of the restoration work
was completed in house by the multi-skilled craftsman
of our company. Our employees have the traditional
skills of professional railroaders; however, they are also
skilled in many disciplines including: carpentry, electrical, light and heavy fabrication, painting and any type of
design engineering imaginable. They represent the best
of the best!
There were three train trips following a two-hour parade
in Lewisburg. The train consisted of newly acquired 64
seat passenger car, a 56 seat table car, a 78 seat passenger car, a privately owned historic Car #2 (named
Phoebe Snow), and one of our two cabooses, the NSHR
61312. We purchased both the 64 and 56 seat cars in the
2nd quarter of 2013. For the comfort of our passengers,
these units are fully heated and air-conditioned.
While the NSHR 61312 is only one of the cars exhibited
during the passenger train ride, it truly is representative
of the hard working and dedicated employees that comprise the North Shore Railroad. We remain proud to
have participated in the festivities celebrating Union
County’s bicentennial and the celebrations that honor
our country’s veterans.
The NSHR 61312 is a magnificently restored, bay
window caboose. It is one of 50 cabooses built by the
International Car Company of Kenton, OH for the Erie
Railway in 1952. Today, only 14 of these cabooses
remain preserved. The North Shore Railroad Company
Gary Shields
President & CEO
2
First North Shore Excursions
19th Annual Union County Veteran’s Fourth of July Celebration
What a pleasure it was to be involved with the 19th
Annual Union County Veteran’s Fourth of July Celebration! For the first time ever we used our own passenger cars to run public excursions. We had seating in
our newly refurbished caboose, dining car, two coach
cars, and Will Sanders’ Phoebe Snow. The trips were
free to the public. We originally planned on offering
two trips, but due to overwhelming demand, we added
a third trip. All three of our trips were “sold out” around 700 tickets within 24 hours of availability. The
trips featured the scenic river valley from Lewisburg
to Winfield. It was a very exciting experience and a
delight to provide these free trips for the veterans, children, families, and dignitaries in our community.
Thank you to Stephanie Williams
for all of her awesome photographs.
3
New Members of Our Team
Caboose NSHR 61312
September 1, 2010 we added EL C338, an Erie Lackawanna Railway caboose built in 1952, to our passenger car
fleet. A lot of renovation has taken place from then until now, as we transformed this tired old caboose into the
beauty that is now known as NSHR 61312. She has truly been brought back to life thanks to a lot of hard work from
our very own employees. NSHR 61312 was numbered in recognition of the date the Joint Rail Authority approved
our company’s change of control to the North Shore Railroad Company’s Senior Management- June 13, 2012. On
May 6, 2013, 978 days after her arrival, this caboose was finally finished. A couple of days later, she gave her first
passenger ride, a special trip on the Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad, commemorating the retirement of Don Kremer
from the SEDA COG JRA.
The first bell ringing of the NSHR 61312
(Left to Right: Jeff Jeffrey, Pat McGaw, and Gary Shields)
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Before
After
5
New Members of Our Team
Coach Car NSHR 63247
ORXX 3247 was built for Canadian National as a coach in 1954
by Canadian Car & Foundry.
Canadian National later sold 3247
to Via Rail, Canada’s National
passenger service company. Via
Rail rebuilt her into a 64 seat
snack bar coach. Via Rail later
sold 3247 into private ownership
to Ontario Rail Equipment Leasing. ORXX 3247 was named the
Loralee and was used as a 64 seat
long distance day coach with a
galley. North Shore Railroad purchased her in March 2013 and
renamed her NSHR 63247.
Chris Marks
Engineer/Conductor
6
New Members of Our Team
Dining Car NSHR 64885
ORXX 4885 was built in March of 1952
for the Grand Trunk Western Railroad by
the Pullman Company as a 76 seat coach.
The car was later sold by Grand Trunk’s
parent, Canadian National, to Via Rail
Passenger system. Via Rail later converted
4885 to a snack bar coach. She was later
sold by Via Rail to Ontario Rail Equipment Leasing and converted to a 56 seat
table car and renamed the Isabelle Rose
where she was used in dinner train service. North Shore Railroad bought her in
March 2013 and has renamed her NSHR
64885.
April 3, 1953
Chris Marks
Engineer/Conductor
7
New Members of Our Team
Coach Car NSHR 62540
October 1978
Winter 2010
HRS 3590 was built in June
of 1930 for the Delaware
Lackawanna & Western
Railroad as a MU commuter
coach. The car had traction
motors that were powered
from the overhead electric
wires. Ownership changed to
Erie Lackawanna when the
Erie and DL&W merged in
October 1960. North Shore
Railroad purchased her from
the Everett Railroad in September of 2010 and renamed
her NSHR 62540, in honor of
North Shore Founder, Richard Robey’s date of birth.
Chris Marks
Engineer/Conductor
8
Notes from Marketing
A Note from Brigid
On the morning of April 16, a delegation of North Shore Railroad employees (Gary Shields, Todd Hunter,
Pete Symons and I) traveled to Harrisburg for Railroad Day on the Hill
organized by the Keystone State
Railroad Association (KSRRA).
Thank you to the following members and staff for taking
time from their busy schedules to meet with us: Senator
Richard Alloway, Kelly Phenicie from the office of
Senator Dominic Pileggi, Senator John Rafferty, Senator
John Wozniak, Senator Gene Yaw, Tim Rodrigo from
the office of Representative William Adolph, Representative Kerry Benninghoff, Representative Peter Daley,
Representative Doyle Heffley, Representative David
Hickernell, Representative Jerry Knowles, Representative Nicholas Micozzie and Representative Mike
Tobash.
After meeting up with the rest of the
KSRRA members in the Capitol, our
mission was to talk to Senators, Representatives, and
their staff about maintaining funding for the Rail Freight
Assistance Program (RFAP) in the state budget. With
our marching orders, state rail maps, documents and flyers in hand, we began spreading our message of the need
to support transportation funding, including RFAP and
RTAP, around the Capitol building.
Brigid Rich
Manager of Marketing and Car Hire
Group Photo of participants in Railroad Day on the Hill.
Congratulations to the employees of Lycoming Valley Railroad,
which received the Platinum Award for new business in excess of 1,000
carloads from Norfolk Southern at the 2013 Norfolk Southern Annual
Shortline Meeting in Roanoke, Virginia.
9
Our Railroad Family
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!
Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad Assistant General Manager, Bob Davidson, and
Safety & Compliance Manager, Phil Lucas, are members of the Pennsylvania State
Grange. The Grange is perhaps best known for the Grange Fair, which is being held
August 22nd to 29th this year, in Centre Hall. As a part of this organization, Bob
and Phil have worked with their fellow grangers to help raise money for many different public service projects and to help students with assistance and scholarships.
Phil has been a member of the Howard Grange for over 25 years. His dad
encouraged him to become involved with the program when he was the master of
the Howard Grange. Phil’s fondest memories are the times they had hayrides and the
enjoyment he received from how happy it made his kids.
Bob has been a member of the Bald Eagle Grange since 1984. He has had 29 years
of awesome experiences, and his favorite part of being an active member is meeting
a lot of new people and all the great food. Great job, gentlemen. Keep up the good
work!
North Shore in the Community
On April 3, Williamsport Area School District Superintendent
Dr. Kathleen Kelley, Muncy School District Superintendent Dr.
Portia Brandt, and Loyalsock School District Superintendent Dr.
Robert Gantier visited the Lycoming Valley Railroad Company
to discuss our local rail operation with a focus on the educational
requirements necessary to succeed in the railroad business.
We were glad to have the opportunity to meet with them and to
talk about these important workforce development issues. The
three Superintendents said they were impressed with our rail
operations, employees, and the quality of work shown to them.
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