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North Shore Railroad Company & Affiliates - Newsletter $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
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Photo courtesy of Zach Kedge - found on the cover of our 2020 calendar.
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Feature from the President
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Times of trouble mandate the clear, defined and expeditious response of leadership. I’m proud to say that our company’s response to the ongoing pandemic was, and continues to be, proactive, swift and comprehensive. We initiated directives regarding: frequent sanitization of common surfaces, directives for proper hygiene, proper social distancing, limitation on the number of folks in one vehicle or locomotive cab, closing main doors to the public, cessation of use of common coffee makers and water coolers, keeping interior doors open to minimize the frequency of touching, and consistent crew assignment in order to limit potential exposure. We distributed visual aids and concise lists of expectations to employees. We reached out to customers to gauge the effect of the pandemic on their business plans and any subsequent operational changes we might need to initiate. We held and continue to schedule conference calls with our entire management team to coordinate our efforts toward staving off the Covid-19 virus and keeping our employees safe and well. We confirmed with each employee that she or he had a current railroad ID card and a letter from the company stating their essential role. I could go on and on with all of the precautions and protocol that have been initiated by our management team, but I won’t. I’d prefer to say, “Thank you.” It’s not often I get emotional, but I recently received a text message from my sister, who is a professor, living in Hawaii. It was totally out of the blue. It said, “Thank you, and please pass my thanks along to your employees for all they are doing to keep this country running.” That was the first time anyone had thanked me, personally, for our ongoing effort. And it made me slow down and realize, we need to do more of this. THANK YOU to each of our employees - in every department - who continue to work everyday through these uncertain times. Without YOUR resolve, all the directives in the world are meaningless. Each of you know that the railroad industry is life sustaining - serving customers who are life sustaining, but the decision to participate in this industry on a daily basis is a testament to YOUR character. While we are not yet out of the woods, we will continue to do everything within our power to keep our employees safe and well - enabling them to demonstrate their impeccable character in making this life sustaining industry run - serving the many life sustaining customers whose employees, like ours deserve THANKS for their daily, conscientious decision to go to work for the good of their communities and country. With common sense, diligence, will power, determination, and an attitude of thanks, we will get through this, together. This edition of On Track is dedicated to all of our company’s departments (in alphabetical order). We want to recognize how YOU are an important part of this life-sustaining business.
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Jeb Stotter
President & CEO |
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Whether administering budgets, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable, costing exercises/evaluations, taxes, or railroad retirement filings, to name a few of their many tasks, our Accounting Department employees make it happen every day. |
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And what could be better than the fact that they do it with a smile on their faces? Thank you! |
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Thank you to our Car Repair employees for making sure each railcar is fit and safe for movement and placement at our customers. |
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Your efforts insure that the railcars we handle are safe for the public as they travel through our communities. |
Communications & Signals Department
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How many railroad crossings do you traverse? Next time you go over a crossing or see the crossing lights, remember there is a team that is keeping all of the many electrical components in good working order to keep the public safe – signaling when train is approaching the crossing. |
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Thank you to our Signals Department employees! |
Customer Service Department
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Customer Service is a department that often gets overlooked in the railroad industry. Our CS team is a support system for our train crews and customers, and works closely with nearly every department in the company. |
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The CS employees make sure that all traffic is properly traveling to where it is destined and that customers are getting all of the information they need for production planning purposes. Thank you for playing such an integral role in our company, Customer Service! |
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Servers, computers, printers, cell phones, faxes - we would be lost without them, and our Information Technology Department does its best to make sure we are never lost - maintaining, upgrading, and staying abreast of the latest developments in order to keep us on top of our game. |
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Social media, company newsletter, ads, calendar - our Public Relations Department strives to constantly and consistently convey the professionalism that folks have come to expect and appreciate from our company - meanwhile being constantly on the lookout for opportunities to educate the public on rail safety and the danger of trespassing. Thank you to our IT and PR employees! |
Locomotive Repair Department
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The massive locomotives we operate to pull the trains seen each day are maintained and repaired in house by our own folks. Absent that maintenance, we would not be able to effectively serve our customers. |
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Whether it is routine maintenance, or major overhauls, our Newberry-based crew is second to none. Thank you to our Locomotive Repair Department employees! |
Maintenance of Way Department
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Whether it is brush cutting, tie and rail installation, tamping and surfacing, crossing repairs/upgrades, ditching and pipe work, crib wall construction, frog welding, joint tightening, or a litany of other activities, the safety of our train crews and the public truly rests upon the shoulders of our Maintenance of Way Department. |
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On behalf of everyone, we thank you for your fine efforts! |
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When people think of Marketing, they usually think of the department that brings new business to the company - but they are so much more than that. They are working with existing customers day-after-day, helping in any way they can. They work with Customer Service to be a constant resource for our customers. For that, and so much more, thank you! With all that said, you are interested in learning how you can become a customer of ours, they would be happy to take your call.
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The size of a locomotive is daunting and intimidating. The folks who climb on these units each and every day to safely pull thousands of tons of freight to and from our customers aren’t intimidated. |
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They respect the equipment, but they know how to utilize it to get the job done. |
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Switching, delivery, pulling, shoving, they make it look easy, and we know it isn’t. Thank you, Train & Engine Service employees! |
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As you can see, we are proud of our railroad family, and we will continue to keep our 20/20 vision trained on them, their safety, and their well-being.
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