On Track | 2023 Fourth Quarter

The above picture (by Ethan Brodie) was taken above our Shamokin Valley Railroad this past December. Don’t you feel cold just looking at it?

Feature from the President
It’s A Wonderful Life

Anyone who really knows me, knows that my favorite classic holiday film is, “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

This movie is about George Bailey, a man who has big dreams for his life. A series of events interrupts his anticipated goals as he continues to place others before himself. His regret of never placing his own desires before others leads George to want to end it all… However, God has other plans. He sends an angel to interfere with George’s suicide attempt, and in a Christmas Carol kind of fashion, George is given an inside look at how his town, and the lives of those he loves, would have turned-out, had he never been born. In a nutshell, this movie shows us, if you take one person out of the equation, it would impact so much and so many.

One man's life touches so many others, when he's not there, it leaves an awfully big hole.

Life (and work) sometimes have us wondering, “What if I had…” or “Where would I be if I had…” But at the end of it all, if you had done something different, ripple effects would have ensued, and the world around us would be different for everyone. The lives you have touched or inspired (usually unknowingly) would never have been touched or inspired. The traits you have developed would have never developed. The people you have met and gotten to know along the way may have never crossed your path. We can’t change the past, but we can affect what happens in the future. George Bailey’s story demonstrates that when we put others first, the future is better and more beautiful.

Sometimes, what is making us feel like we have made mistakes is strictly coming from our own perspective. Often, that perspective is affected by the world’s interpretation of success. Pause. Look around your home, work place, or wherever you find yourself right now. Observe those who surround you. You don’t know where they are in life right now. Are they grieving a great loss? Are they hiding physical pain? Are they anxious and scared of the unknown? The reality is, you will never know what the person next to you is truly feeling, but you can positively impact them in a moment. Smile. Compliment. Show kindness. Choose to bring joy to others. We, as humankind, need to do more of this. Instead of jumping to conclusions, we need to pause and assume the best in our family members, neighbors, and coworkers. We need to stick together and take care of one another.

Now, we can get through this thing all right. We've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other.

No matter where you are, life is hard. Setting aside our selfish desires is hard. We need to focus on what is in the best interest of the greater good for everyone. Lord knows I am pressed to do it every day, but I know this world would be a much better place if we were all George Baileys - putting others before ourselves. So, I and our company will continue to work towards that goal. Please join us.

…remember no man is a failure who has friends...

Jeb Stotter
President & CEO

Railroad Family

2023 New Hires

Gary Bowers
LVRR MoW

Paula (“PJ”) Brosius
Customer Logistics & Support

Jason Hollenbach
NSHR T&E

Nick Sandri
NSHR T&E

Mitchell Spicher
NBER T&E

5 Year Anniversaries

Cosimo Degennaro
NSHR T&E

Riley Mahosky
LVRR MoW

10 Year Anniversaries

Brandon Davidson
LVRR T&E

Seth Heddings
LVRR MoW

Randy Jeffrey
NSHR T&E

Justin Wagner
Director of Operations

15 Year Anniversaries

Seth Barth
LVRR MoW

Loni Martz Briner
PR & Media Manager

Glen Swope
NSHR T&E

20 Year Anniversaries

Caleb Hoover
NSHR T&E

Shane Smith
NSHR T&E

Roy Toner
LVRR General Manager

30 Year Anniversary

Brian Robey
IT Manager

2023 Retiree

Mike Bailets

Employed with NSHR from 2003 to 2023
Happy retirement, Mike!!!

2023 Terry Webster Safety Award Winner

Randy Jeffrey

Join us in congratulating North Shore Railroad Conductor/Engineer Randy Jeffrey for being this year’s safety award winner!

Past Winners

The Terry Webster Safety Award is named after the late Terry Webster. Terry worked on the railroad his whole life, and he never had a single railroad injury in his entire railroad career.

We want to give a shout out to the Central PA Chamber of Commerce for being a gracious host for our Safety Committee Meetings and Managers Meetings - one of their membership perks. Their facilities are perfect and we are proud to be members of this organization. THANK YOU!!!

Notes from Marketing
On the Road to Success, the Windshield is Bigger than the Rear View Mirror

As the year comes to an end, we are looking forward to 2024 and everything we will see in the new year. But first we would like to look in the “rear view mirror” and reflect on the successes in 2023.

This year we saw several new business projects get under way-the largest being the Country View Family Farms, and the raising of the buildings and silos of this $47.3M project that will be served by our Union County Industrial Railroad. ,:

The expansion of a bulk commodities transload terminal on our Lycoming Valley Railroad.
A new plastics transload on the Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad that is now up and operating after a long delay caused by Covid-19.
The first full year’s operation of our new propane transload on the North Shore Railroad.
The first full year of handling new frac sand, unit train business on the Lycoming Valley Railroad.
New outbound aggregate business from our Shamokin Valley Railroad.

With all that said, the windshield is bigger than the rear view mirror, and that is an appropriate comment on what we see for 2024.

We will continue to build on our 2023 success stories and develop more as we drive forward into the future. Just a couple of examples that we will see up and running next year include a new lumber customer locating on the North Shore Railroad, as well as a new scrap customer developing on the Union County Industrial Railroad. Further, several railroad customers all over our network are either currently undergoing expansion projects, or planning to expand, and our marketing team will be assisting them along the way.

We are excited as we look ahead through the “windshield” to see what is in store for our customers in 2024!

Will you be one of our next success stories? Contact us, and let’s see if we can get you on the road to success too!

Todd Hunter
Chief Marketing Officer
570.274.4484
toddh@nshr.com

Joe Kantz
Business & Development Manager
570.898.4910
jkantz@nshr.com

This past November, Todd presented Clark Adelman, of American Eagle Paper Mills (AEP), with a Congratulations & Resolution from the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority and the Nittany & Bald Eagle Railroad, in celebration of AEP’s 20th Anniversary.

AEP was established on 2003, by a group of local investors, past mill managers, and business leaders to revive the paper mill that was built in the 1880’s. This team realized its vision of sustainability and rebuilt a paper mill that could support the families of Tyrone, by producing paper sensibly with recycled fiber, using integrated deinking technology. The mill converts paper waste into premium uncoated printing and writing paper and ultimately produces approximately 300 tons of recycled paper products daily and employs 240 people. In 2016, AEP strengthened its commitment to its mission and community with an $8M investment, replacing its 1957 coal fired boiler with a highly efficient natural gas boiler, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering water intake by 82%, and positioning the company for future, sustainable growth into new paper markets.

Congratulations, AEP! We look forward to the great things you will do over the next 20 years!

In the Community
Employees & the Company

Coach Reber

This past summer, MoW employee, Duane Reber, got to spend quality time with his daughter, as a volunteer coach for her softball team. As you can see in the picture, she was pretty happy about it. Good work, coach!!!

Dwell - 2023 Miles for Minus 1

We were privileged to, again, be a Protector Level Sponsor for the Annual Dwell Orphan Care 5K.

Dwell named this event, “Miles for Minus 1” because their focus is on having 1 less orphan in the world, 1 less child in foster care, 1 less teen aging out, and 1 less foster family feeling unsupported and alone.

Clinton County Economic Partnership’s 2023 Annual Dinner

On October 25th, we were proud to sponsor the Clinton County Economic Partnership’s Annual Dinner. Chris Barnett, Site Manager of Croda, Inc., was the keynote speaker, and he gave an amazing presentation about the exciting expansion of Croda in Clinton County. We are honored to serve Croda on our NBER.

This was a great event that was enjoyed by the more than 200 people who attended. Great job, CCEP!

Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society

On October 27th, we joined the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society (BHRS), in welcoming back to service their 9167 bud car. She is a beauty!

The BHRS is now in full swing scheduling trips on the 9167. The BHRS volunteers have been working tirelessly to bring this piece of history back to Bellefonte - in good working order. They did an amazing job!

We are happy to work with the BHRS in running the 9167 trips, as well as passenger trains, on our NBER. Please check out their website for information about the organization and their upcoming events.

Bellefonte Historical Railroad (bellefontetrain.org)

SVRR’s 35th Anniversary

This past November, we were honored to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Shamokin Valley Railroad (SVRR) by hearing presentations from the SVRR customers on a private rail tour of the line – joined by some of our partners and elected officials.

We were then pleasantly surprised by citations from PA State Representative Stehr, PA State Representative Stender, and PA State Senator Lynda Schlegel Culver.

It was a beautiful day!

Sunbury YMCA 2023 Coat Drive

This year, employees and friends came together and donated about 80 new coats to the Sunbury YMCA coat drive. This helped keep kids warm this winter - at no expense to them or their families. Thank you for organizing this drive each year, Sunbury Y!

20th Annual Toys for Tots Drive
The Most Successful Year Yet!

On Saturday, November 18th, and Sunday, November 19th, we hosted NARCOA speeder drivers on NSHR (for the 20th year) and UCIR (for the fifth year), safely meeting up with hundreds of people from Northumberland to Berwick, New Columbia to Allenwood, and Lewisburg to Winfield. Families brought their Toys for Tots donations out, where they were collected for the Susquehanna Valley Marine Corps League #308 distribution center.

The result of the drive this year was $4,576 raised and more than 1,900 toys and books collected.

We are astounded at the generosity of the people who came out and donated. This would not have been possible without each of you and the NARCOA drivers who helped collect. You are all amazing and have made many children happy this Christmas. THANK YOU, ALL!

Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner

On Thursday, December 14th, we were a Reindeer Sponsor of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce (CMCC) Annual Holiday Open House. More than 300 people attended this event - because it is so great each year. Great work, CMCC!!!

Having Some Fun!
Making You Smile

Ultimate Railroading for the Holidays Collection

Having a little fun this year, we put together an infomercial for everyone’s enjoyment. You can learn more about it HERE.

The Ultimate Railroading for the Holidays Collection is not a real collection and is not available by cash, credit card, check, venmo, crypto - or in stores, by phone, or online.

2024 Calendar

Each year, we enjoy sharing beautiful photography (from our railfans and employees) in a full-color, 12-month calendar. In 2010, Bigfoot made an appearance… He has been a demanded part of our calendar since then. This year, you can find him in two different months. We also have our 40th anniversary logo hidden in each month’s photo. Can you find them all???

If you do not have one of our calendars and would like to obtain one, you can purchase them

at the
Sunbury Station (Tues-Sun, 11am-5pm)
100 N. 3rd Street,
Sunbury, PA 17801

from our online company store (with free shipping)

www.NorthShoreWarehouse.com

Tartaglia Railroad Services
Let us know how we can serve you!

Tartaglia is well-known for its safe, reliable, efficient track work, as well as its state-of-the-art hi-rail shop, based in Syracuse, NY.

Contact Tartaglia today to see how they can help you with your next rail (construction, rehabilitation, or servicing) project OR hi-rail equipment project.

Tartaglia Railroad Services
5867 East Molloy Road, Syracuse, NY 13211
315.455.0100

www.TartagliaRail.com

CONNECT WITH US!

VISIT OUR WEBSITE (www.NSHR.com)

Feature from the PresidentIt’s A Wonderful Life