Strasburg Rail Road Opens Freight Yard

The Strasburg Rail Road has opened a six-track yard to handle its freight business.

Trains magazine reported on its website that the yard is located at Leaman Place, where the Strasburg has a junction with Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor.

The yard cost $3.3 million and is situated just off U.S. Route 30 on seven acres.

A Norfolk Southern local based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, interchanges freight with the Strasburg, using the Keystone Corridor.

Freight business on the Strasburg has been growing in recent years to about 500 cars annually.

Among the commodities handled by the Strasburg are retail and specialty lumber, grain, fertilizer, agricultural products, and tank cars of chicken fat.

Railroad officials said they expect the new yard to enable a tripling of their freight business.

Pa. Short Line Expected to Retire GP10s

The GP10 locomotives used by Pennsylvania short line railroad Gettysburg & Northern appear to be running on borrowed time.

Trains magazine reported on its website that the 27-mile railroad, which connects with CSX at Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania, has been testing CEFX GP15D No. 1501, with a GP20 locomotive expected to arrive on the property soon.

The report said G&N plans to sell or scrap two of the GP10s but keep former Elkhart & Western PREX GP10 No. 1000 as a backup.

Pa. Short Line Takes Over NS Track

Pennsylvania short line North Shore Railroad will take over Norfolk Southern operations in Snyder County, Pennsylvania.

It ran its first train to Kreamer on May 4. North Shore operates for the Susquehanna Economic Development Association Council of Government Joint Rail Authority.

SEDA-COG purchased the rail line serving Kreamer, plus those serving Selinsgrove and Shamokin Dam, from NS last month.

NS had been operating the lines since 1999, when it took over service from Conrail. The lines now make up North Shore Railroad’s Selinsgrove Branch, extending its original operation that runs from Northumberland through Danville, Bloomsburg, and Berwick to Beach Haven.

R&N Acquires Industrial Complex

Pennsylvania regional railroad Reading & Northern said this week it has acquired an industrial complex located in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania.

The complex includes nine buildings situated on 10 acres of land.

It is currently being used by KME Fire Appartus to build fire trucks. That company is winding down that business.

In a news release, R&N said the complex is located on a 19.5-mile rail line that it purchased last year from Carbon County and plans to upgrade to 40-mph operation.

R&N indicated it plans to use the facility to expand its equipment maintenance and repair facilities and to provide storage space.

OC&T to Have Photo Freight on May 28

All three operating locomotives of the Oil Creek & Titusville Railroad will be in action on May 28 during a five-hour photo charter event.

The highlight will be M420W No. 3568, which is being given a new livery inspired by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Also in service that day will be Alco S2 Nos. 75 and 85.

The Pennsylvania-based short line railroad said it will limit attendance to 35 people. Tickets are $50 per person and available by calling 814-676-1733. A box lunch can be ordered for an additional $15.

The photo freight excursion will depart at 3 p.m. from the Perry Street Station in Titusville.

The railroad also it also plans to host other Memorial Day weekend events including a wine-tasting trip on May 27 and regular train rides May 28-29.

2 Pennsylvania Short Lines Join EPA Program

Two Pennsylvania short line railroads have joined in the SmartWay program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The railroads are East Penn Railroad, which operates 110 miles of track southeastern Pennsylvania, and Tyburn Railroad, which operates a transloading facility and terminal switching operation in Morrisville.

The SmartWay program collects efficiency and air quality data from its member railroads and aggregates that information in five ranked performance ranges.

In a news release, program officials described their mission as providing “a comprehensive and well-recognized system for tracking, documenting and sharing information about fuel use and freight emissions across supply chains.”

The program also said it helps “companies identify and select more efficient freight carriers, transport modes, equipment, and operational strategies to improve supply chain sustainability and lower costs from goods movement; and supports global energy security and offsets environmental risk for companies and countries.”

SmartWay has nearly 4,000 members, which include shippers; logistics companies; and truck, rail, barge and multimodal carriers.

R&N Buys 19-mile Rail Line

Pennsylvania short line Reading & Northern has purchased a 19-mile line from Carbon County, Pennsylvania.

The route gives R&N a continuous mainline between Reading and Scranton.

In a news release, R&N said it paid $4.7 million for the track, which it now uses under a trackage rights agreement.

The route links R&N’s Reading and Lehigh divisions. R&N said it will honor a lease with the current freight operator of the line, the C&S Railroad.

The latter provides service to three shippers. R&N will use the line for overhead freight traffic and its passenger excursion trains.

The acquisition fulfills a 30-year desire of R&N owner and CEO Andy Muller, Jr. of having a continuous main line railroad between Reading and Scranton.

R&N in a news release said the Reading-Scranton route “never before [was] owned by any railroad.

Mueller reportedly sought several times over the years to purchase the track from Carbon County.

Last year the R&N completed construction of a $14 million railroad bridge over the Lehigh River as part of a plan to provide a more efficient, direct route between Reading and Scranton.

R&N said it plans to spend more than a million to rebuild the track of the Carbon County line.

Pa. to Fund Rail Freight Projects

Pennsylvania will provide $31.3 million in funding for 26 rail freight improvement projects through the state’s Rail Transportation Assistance Program and Rail Freight Assistance Program.

The projects range from $8.4 million to CSX to increase clearance in a tunnel to provide double-stack and auto rack clearance to the Port of Philadelphia to $130,900 to Winfield Storage of Union County to rebuild 400 feet of track and build an unloading pit and conveyor to transload agricultural products.  Other recipients included:

• Boyd Station, $2.6 million, for construction of four new tracks and installation of unloading equipment.

• Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, $700,000, for replacement of some 44,000 feet of rail and 2,500 ties, and the line surfacing.

• Corsa Coal , $246,434, for rehabilitation of about 10 miles of track from its Coleman Junction to the Cambria Plant.

• Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad, $1.3 million, for the construction of a 3,900-foot siding and replacement of approximately 7,440 feet of rail and 1,550 ties.

• Dyer Quarry, $192,150, for a locomotive storage expansion project, including track re-alignment.

• East Penn Railroad, $500,500, for the replacement of about 4,500 ties on the Wilmington Northern line and 2,000 ties on the Quakertown line.

• Gettysburg and Northern Railroad, $1.5 million, for replacement of approximately 2,600 ties and 3,315 feet of main line rail, and for improvements to three at-grade crossings.

• Lehigh Railway, LLC, $506,100, for replacement of approximately 4,900 ties.

• New Castle Industrial Railroad, Inc., $262,500, for construction of a 3,200-foot siding to accommodate increased interchange traffic with CSX and Norfolk Southern.

• Oil Creek Titusville Lines, Inc., $140,000, for a 1,000-foot siding extension.  

• P and S Railyard, $227,658, for transloading project work.

• Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad, $483,000, for replacement of approximately 6,000 ties on its Stony Creek and Bethlehem branches.

• Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co., $246,886, for turnout replacement work.

• Redevelopment Authority of Luzerne County, $276,500, for replacement of about 1,500 ties and surfacing 5 miles of track.

• Redevelopment Authority of the County of Berks, $991,250, for construction of about 1,200 feet of yard tracks at the Boyertown Transload Facility.

• RJ Corman Railroad, $3 million, for replacement of approximately 7,500 ties and 74,000 feet of rail on its Cherry Tree and Cresson subdivisions.

• SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority, $282,245, for rehabilitation of 1,550 feet of track on its West Park branch.  

• South Avis Realty, $391,461, for tie replacement and surfacing of industrial park tracks.

• Three Rivers Marine & Rail Terminals, LLC,  $176,146, for replacement of about 600 ties and two switches, and the surfacing of 800 feet of track.

• Union Railroad Co., $700,000, for replacement of about 500 bridge ties and 700 feet of rail, as the first phase of a low-grade bridge project; $1 million for Port Perry Bridge repairs, including replacement of floor beams and bridge stringers.

• Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad, $4.7 million, for replacement of three thru-truss bridges and rehabilitation of two abutments on a thru-girder bridge.

•  York Railway Co., $2.1 million, for 1.2 miles of rail replacement and the rehabilitation of seven turnouts and 10 public grade crossings.

R&N Says it Gained Traffic in 2020

Pennsylvania regional railroad Reading & Northern said it managed to post gains in revenue in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which generally depressed rail freight traffic in North  America.

R&N said in a news release that it moved more than 34,000 carloads and had a revenue increase of almost than 4 percent.

The railroad said its coal business increased in tonnage and revenues. Its warehouse in Ransom, Pennsylvania, saw a 54 percent increase in carloads.

R&N handled 91,000 people in passenger operations that were limited by the pandemic, and purchased 17 locomotives, 143 coal hoppers, a welded rail train, and 34,000 ties.

Corman Completes Deal for Short Lines

R. J. Corman has completed its acquisition of three short line railroads that operate in Pennsylvania and New York.

Corman now owns 17 short lines in its R.J. Corman Railroad Group with the latest members being the Owego and Harford Railway, Lehigh Railway, and Luzerne & Susquehanna Railway.

All three companies were founded by Steve May and handle 14,000 annual carloads that include sand, scrap, feed products, plastic, propane and wood products.

Traffic is interchanged with Norfolk Southern and the Reading & Northern.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed in a Corman announcement.