NOrtH SHORE DELIVERANCE A matched pair of Lycoming Valley GP35Rs in Reading-inspired “Bee Line” livery wait for orders near the flood-wall gate at Lock Haven, Pa. Mike Zollitsch 44 Trains© 2013 SEPTEMBER Kalmbach 2013Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.TrainsMag.com hen Congress formed Conrail from bankrupt predecessors almost 40 years ago, it was hard to imagine a happy outcome for the collection Conrail shed them, a short line Wof woebegone branch lines of fabled heritage in central Pennsylvania. These former pieces of the entrepreneur saved them Pennsylvania, Reading, New York Central, and Dela- ware, Lackawanna & Western railroads were victims of the economic decline of local businesses and lackluster By Al DiCenso marketing efforts by the railroads. Industrial development agencies watching the rail- roads’ collapses weighed the future of their counties without rail and concluded that remaining industries needed rail service to survive. Knowing that “insufficient revenue” could be used as SHORE a basis for large-scale rail abandonments, the Susque- hanna Economic Development Association-Council of Governments, later known as SEDA-Council of Govern- ments, formed a Joint Rail Authority in 1983 to buy lines and seek operators to preserve rail traffic. After considering plans from six operators, the authority con- DELIVERANCE tracted with the only group that offered both local man- agement and ownership of all rail lines, a group led by Richard and Mimi Robey. The agencies’ efforts to preserve rail service not only saved local industries but fruited in the form of six shortline railroads collec- tively known as the North Shore Rail- road Co. Each road proudly bears a name associated with area histo- ry: Lycoming Valley, Shamokin Valley, Union County Indus- trial, North Shore, Juniata Valley, and Nittany & Bald Eagle. North Shore SW1500 No. 1940 shown in an autumn scene is numbered for founder Richard Robey’s birth year. Chris Starnes Business on the first two lines, an ex- president, enabling Robey to take a step land headquarters office serve a plastics Lackawanna and an ex-Pennsylvania, grew back from operations to serve in a more manufacturer, lumber dealer, feed mill, and rapidly as lineside industries understood strategic role as chairman and chief execu- a coal mine. the railroad assured regular service at rea- tive. For his part, Shields says this was his After a brief visit on the Shamokin prop- sonable rates. With Conrail still getting out chance to get back to the “people side” of the erty, we moved on to the Union County In- of the branchline business, new opportuni- business that he loves most. dustrial Railroad. This is a collection of sev- ties arose nearly as fast as the authority and In just 29 years from the first North eral privately owned, interconnected the Robeys could evaluate them. Shore group railroad, employment grew ex-Reading branches served, as needed, out In 1988, Richard Robey assembled the from six employees to 96, three locomotives of the same Northumberland office. Cus- Shamokin Valley Railroad from two paral- were replaced with 25; 15 customers became tomers include ConAgra’s Chef Boyardee lel, discarded Conrail branches between 120 customers; and 1,500 carloads a year food plant in Milton, Pa., plus a feed plant Sunbury and Mt. Carmel, Pa. The authority turned into 34,000. and a gypsum processor. Access to the line is purchased the property below the rails, Read along with me as we visit the busi- via trackage rights for a short trip over Nor- while Robey operated a railroad over the nesses these railroaders raised from ashes. folk Southern’s Buffalo Line from Northum- choicest portions of each line to serve re- berland to Milton. The railroad intends to maining customers. He repeated the act in STARTING SMALL serve the Great Steam Commons Business 1995 with a cluster of ex-Reading branch One cool fall morning, Robey and Park in Allenwood, Pa., 4 miles beyond the lines near Milton, Pa., but with private cap- Shields agreed to meet me at a former current end of track, which Pennsylvania is ital. This railroad became the Union Coun- Delaware, Lackawanna & Western freight developing. The authority contracted with ty Industrial Railroad. house made into the railroad’s main office, the railroad to re-lay track on an abandoned Robey says Conrail’s decision to shed ad- in Northumberland, Pa. Todd Hunter, the Reading right-of-way, and replace a washed- ditional branch lines in 1996 was the turning North Shore group’s marketing director, was out bridge to provide railroad access to the point in the life of the North Shore group. with them. Hunter joined the rail group in Union County Industrial. This will boost the Ex-Conrail miles between Milesburg and 1996 to offer additional management sup- North Shore group’s traffic volume. Lock Haven, Pa., made the already operating port for the Juniata Valley and Lycoming This leads us to talk about the third larg- Nittany & Bald Eagle complete, while small Valley start-ups. He was the one who guided est in traffic volume, the namesake North branches radiating from Lewistown, Pa., me through the North Shore’s properties for Shore Railroad. One of the two original formed the Juniata Valley. Ex-Reading and several days. Robey operations, the North Shore was NYC routes between Muncy, Williamsport, We started on the 27-mile Shamokin formed to take over the operations of the au- and Avis, Pa., became the Lycoming Valley. Valley line that was spliced from the best thority’s ex-DL&W/Conrail line in Pennsyl- By 2002, Robey says he needed help parts of ex-Pennsy and ex-Reading lines be- vania from Northumberland to Berwick, managing the company’s growth and com- tween Sunbury, Shamokin, and Mt. Carmel. Pa., and beyond. The line interchanges with plexity. The person Robey reached out to The rail group’s rigorous maintenance stan- NS at Northumberland, and with Canadian was Gary Shields, a longtime friend with a dards and intense sales efforts assure contin- Pacific just to the south, at Sunbury. These short line and industrial railroad back- ued service for years to come. 37 miles of railroad serve a variety of indus- ground. Shields signed on as North Shore’s Crews operating out of the Northumber- tries, including food products, plastics, lum- NORTH SHORE GROUP SHARED LOCOMOTIVE ROSTER (UNIT NO., LOCO. TYPE) 231, SW9 // 238, SW9 // 239, SW9 // 2016, GP35R // 2011, GP35R // 2010, GP38 // 9050, GP20 // CP Canadian Pacific To Buffalo, N.Y. JVRR Juniata Valley Williamsport Newberry LVRR Lycoming Valley Jersey (NYC, RDG) NBER Nittany & Bald Eagle Shore LVRR NS Muncy NS Norfolk Southern Avis NS CP Linden NSHR North Shore Watsontown N Lock Haven RBMN Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Allenwood PPL Corp. SVRR Shamokin Valley NS Berwick UCIR Union County Industrial NBER West Milton NSHR (DLW) Selected predecessor railroads: (PRR) Milton Bloomsburg To Binghamton, N.Y. Milesburg UCIR (RDG) DLW Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Lewisburg NYC New York Central Bellefonte CP PRR Pennsylvania Northumberland SVRR RDG Reading NBER Pleasant Gap Sunbury (RDG, PRR) NBER Mount Carmel 0 Scale 25 miles (PRR) Lemont Shamokin r RBMN © 2013 Kalmbach Publishing Co. e v TRAINS: Rick Johnson Burnham i R a To Pittsburgh Tyrone n PENNSYLVANIA Mifflin County n Maitland a NS Industrial Park JVRR (PRR) eh NS u q Map area s u NORTH SHORE Lewistown S RAILROADS AND NS To Harrisburg To Harrisburg CONNECTIONS and Enola Yard and Enola Yard NOrtH SHORE RAILROAds Nittany & Bald Eagle AND PREDECessORS Shamokin Valley Pennsylvania Juniata Valley New York Central Conrail Lycoming Valley Reading Union County Industrial Delaware, Lackawanna & Western North Shore 1976 1978 1992 2012 1982 1994 1985 1996 1986 1998 1984 1988 2010 1990 1980 2002 2004 2008 2000 ber, scrap steel, machinery, pet foods, and grain. Business justifies a Berwick local five or more days per week. Hunter gave me a first-hand look at the line early one morning from the cab of SW1500 No. 1940, num- bered for Richard Robey’s birth year. It is also one of the North Shore’s heritage units, this one decked out in the maroon, gray, and yellow Lackawanna color scheme found on most of the units operating out of Northum- berland. The line winds through bustling towns and villages along the way, each one contributing to North Shore’s thriving traffic base. The track is in top condition, as is typi- cal of all the group’s operations. Juniata Valley SW9 No. 2106 sports a bright Pennsy-style gold-and-Tuscan red paint job. JUNIATA VALLEY Each of North Shore group’s locomotives carries a historic paint scheme. Mike Zollitsch Moving 60 miles to the southwest, I met Hunter at the Juniata Valley Railroad’s offic- liquid and dry-bulk fertilizer transfer opera- The 6-mile Burnham, Pa., branch serves es early on a different and foggy morning. tions close at hand while we explored the the largest of the Juniata Valley’s customers, Inside the railroad’s Lewistown, Pa., shop of- yard and the adjacent NS interchange con- Standard Steel. Standard is the only U.S. fice alongside the locomotive bay, Hunter in- nection. As the fog lifted, we set out to ex- manufacturer of forged steel railroad wheels troduced me to Juniata’s then-General Man- plore each of the railroad’s three branches and axles, and provides the railroad with in- ager Jim Mackey. Hunter pointed out the radiating out of Lewistown. coming and outgoing loads. Other custom- 231, SW9 // 238, SW9 // 239, SW9 // 2016, GP35R // 2011, GP35R // 2010, GP38 // 9050, GP20 // www.TrainsMag.com 47 operations, involving three crews.