FREIGHT SERVICES

Since its founding in 1983, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad (RBMN) had its roots firmly entrenched in the freight industry. From securing a mere ten miles of track during its genesis, which ran from Pennsylvania stations in Port Clinton to Temple, Andy Muller was able to progressively acquire additional adjacent infrastructure. These rail lines were in need of desperate repair. Andy, along with a select group of trusted partners, painstakingly (and often independently) resurrected the branching lines. With the railroad’s life renewed and additional business ventures secured, RBMN flourished. This trend often became the heralded song from national publications such as Trains and Railway Age with Andy himself receiving multiple years of distinction in their pages.

Most recently, he was featured in the May 2023 issue of Railway Age on the cover of their “Exemplary Executives” edition as one of the country’s “Most Influential Leaders”.

RBMN’S FREIGHT POWER QUARTET

As of 2023 and celebrating 40 successful years in the rail industry, RBMN now services more than 70 major freight customers utilizing over 400 miles of track, boasts a fleet of 1,700 freight cars, and handles over 34,000 carloads annually. The four pillars of RBMN’s freight successes are attributed to coal, general merchandise, the Tunkhannock Transload (Frac Sand Terminal), and its trucking/transload company, Reading Railroad Transfer.

Coal

True in form to RBMN’s diamond emblem, “The Road to Anthracite”, coal is a cornerstone of the railroad’s freight business despite market and industry volatility.

American anthracite coal has been an integral energy source for countless decades and the lifeblood surrounding the communities where it is mined and, subsequently, transported. Coal is also used in steelmaking, zinc recycling, and even sugar beet refining.

Since December of 1990, and following Andy's securing the purchase of the Reading Cluster, RBMN has dedicated multiple millions of dollars to expand its coal fleet, improve track infrastructure to support an increase of carloads, invest in offline facilities, and support customer demand without fail.

While anthracite production stabilized at around 2 million tons per year from 1990 through 2022, the tonnage moved by rail fluctuated wildly. Thanks to improved rail service, and greater attention to the needs of our customers, domestic and export shipments increased throughout RBMN’s first decade of business. During that time, RBMN regularly handled over 600,000 tons a year, peaking in 1996 by RBMN originating 730,000 tons of Anthracite.

Currently, export facilities at Fairless Hills (operated by Kinder Morgan) and Moldok River Barge Facility near Pittsburg are recent locations included in expansion efforts. Atlantic Coal is rail-served as of 2017, and 2020 investments into a loading facility at Locust Summit now support offline coal producers like Keystone Anthracite.

Major growth occurred between 2016 and 2022 with domestic shipments increasing by 80%. Export traffic markedly increased after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting embargoes in Europe and the US. Ninety days prior to the event occurring, Andy wisely decided to purchase additional rapid discharge cars in the event of supply chain cut-offs or sluggishness. This pivotal decision allowed RBMN to support existing customer needs as well as significant export demands for anthracite which skyrocketed nearly overnight.

Reading & Northern's Tunkhannock Transload

The Tunkhannock Marcellus Terminal is a terminal initially designed for receipt of Frac Sand by rail.  The sand is transferred to a truck (via Reading Railroad Transfer: see below.) at this location. Trucks then haul the sand from their” last mile” to its final destination, a Marcellus Gas well.  The terminal is considered an “open” terminal whereas it can receive sand from any sand shipper and will distribute to any sand receiver.

 From 2009-2016 Reading & Northern participated in a “closed” terminal in Pittston.  While the terminal was profitable, it was only open to receive sand from one shipper.  This limited the amount of sand that could go through it: if the shipper was priced out of a contract, the competitor had to ship their sand elsewhere.  During this time, the terminal received 5,868 cars in total. Since the terminal was 30 miles South of the Marcellus play, the location proved the main difficulty to expand business interests.

 In 2021, the existing concept of the sand terminal was re-evaluated.  The new vision was to make it an open terminal and make it closer to the Marcellus play.  This allowed the Tunkhannock Transload to go after destination business without being tied to one single supplier. 

After multiple tests in the Marcellus region, the concept has worked and continues to succeed. As of December 2021, the terminal will have moved 7000+ carloads. In less than two years, the new location has outperformed the Pittston Terminal’s numbers over the last eight.

The Tunkhannock Transload was designed with expansion in mind.  Despite the initial design to have 30 car spots, the footprint will allow for 50 cars in the future.   Additionally, eyes have been set on possible pipe, drill cuttings, and chemical transload.

Frac sand from the region has been shipped across the United States similar to the expanse of RBMN’s coal interests. Businesses we have shipped to include Nextier, Chesapeake, BVK, Cottera, SWN (Southwest), and Universal.

General Merchandise Customers

Primary materials handled by RBMN for general merchandise customers include forest products such as pulp, paper, wood, plastics, food, beverages, agriculture products, chemicals, minerals, and metals. Some of these customers, such as International Paper, are the largest companies in their respective industries along with a global footprint.

For examples of our customer base per industry, please tap to expand the fields below…

RBMN also has the ability to load and unload materials at one of our transload locations (see Reading Railroad Transfer below) using dedicated machinery for a multitude of applications.

Reading Railroad Transfer (Trucking) & RBMN Transload

RBMN’s transload facilities encompass four main hubs dotting the entirety of RBMN’s 400+ miles of traffic strategically placed to provide optimal transload services to freight customers.

Please tap to expand the fields below to view each transload site’s features and services…

Reading Railroad Transfer (RRT) is an independent company within the umbrella of RBMN to support the railroad’s interests and to enhance customer service options.

RRT has the resources and experience to load/unload the following materials:

• Aluminum logs

• Lumber

• Paper rolls

• Pipe

• Steel coils

• Metal ingots

• Wood pulp bales

• Wood pulp rolls

Our material handling equipment is able to accommodate material in box cars, gondolas, standard flatcars, and centerbeam flatcars.

Considering the vast array of options, locations, and Reading Railroad Transfer’s capabilities, please follow the link below to access our main site regarding transload and trucking options as well as whom to contact for additional information…

Reading Railroad Transfer

CARBON & SCHUYLKILL (C&S) LINE: The Perfect Connection

For over 30 years, Andy dreamed of connecting the main lines of RBMN’s Schuylkill and Berks Counties to Wyoming County. What separated these tracks was a 19-mile strip owned by Carbon and Schuylkill (C&S) Railroad (you may see the track’s location by clicking on the map above). This would provide a continuous service for freight and passenger trains without interruption. And, as reported by the regional, had an infrastructure of “poor quality rail.” If Andy could achieve his goals, this regional feat would be one that was previously unattainable by any other railroad.

In 2016 and throughout subsequent years despite Andy’s persistence to offer to buy the line from the county, the Carbon County Commissioners denied his advances. However, after eighteen months of negotiations from 2020-2021 along with RBMN’s President Wayne Michel, Andy was able to acquire C&S with a unanimous vote from the Commissioners.

True to his word, Andy set to work restoring the track’s condition by investing millions of dollars in the project. To this day, RBMN’s “fast freight service” is able to navigate the entirety of the mainline system unimpeded.

Now armed with C&S Railroad, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern spans over four hundred miles of joined track: much of which is dedicated to high-speed freight traffic that provides customer service more efficiently, reliably, and with timely execution.

Reading & Northern Railroad, with its corporate headquarters in Port Clinton, is a privately held railroad company serving over 70 customers in nine eastern Pennsylvania counties (Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Schuylkill, and Wyoming). It has expanded its operations over the last 40 years and now handles over 34,000 carloads of freight and 250,000 excursion train riders over 400 miles of track. Reading & Northern operates both freight services and steam and diesel-powered excursion passenger services, owns over 1,700 freight cars, and employs nearly 300 dedicated employees. Reading & Northern has repeatedly been honored as one of the premier railroads in the nation including being named Regional Railroad of the Year in 2020 by Railway Age Magazine.

Video: Please enjoy a view of our meticulously maintained freight cars flanking the caboose of a passing passenger excursion (c. 2022)