NEW COLUMBIA, Pa. — A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, Sept. 27, marked the completion of a new feed mill to be served by the North Shore Railroad’s Union County Industrial Railroad.
The $47 million mill for Country View Family Farms, a division of Clemens Food Group LLC, was completed following two years of construction. The facility on 173 acres in New Columbia, about 18 miles south of Williamsport, Pa., features an 8,250-foot loop track allowing the delivery of unit trains of corn.
The mill will supply farms within a 50-mile radius with enough feed for 975,000 hogs, using 450,000 bushels of corn per week. It has silo capacity of 600,000 bushels. The facility will work on a 24-hour schedule five days a week and has created 50 permanent jobs.
“This project was 20 years in the making,” said Aaron Ott, president of County View Family Farms, “and the efforts of the North Shore Railroad with site selection and [Norfolk Southern] were instrumental in making this possible, as rail access was critical to the success of the project.” In addition to being served by a former Reading Co. rail line, the site is adjacent to Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 15, allowing excellent access for truck deliveries of feed to the farmers. It will support 30 full-time truck drivers.
“This was the largest project I was ever involved with,” said Todd Hunter, chief marketing officer at the North Shore Railroad, “and will feature the only grain facility in Pennsylvania to have a loop track. It took a lot of hard work to bring it to the finish line by all parties involved, and the railroad is extremely proud to now be a part of the Country View Family Farms family.” Rob Jones, director of industrial development at Norfolk Southern, said 105-car unit trains of corn originating on NS will serve the facility through a joint marketing effort between the Class I railroad and the North Shore, providing 420,000 bushels of corn at a time.
Russell Redding, state agriculture secretary, and Rick Siger, secretary of the state department of community and economic development, also spoke, addressing the impact of the investment by County View Family Farms. Other local officials instrumental in the project were also on hand.
At the request of North Shore, NS provided its Reading heritage locomotive, SD70ACe No. 1067, for the event; it took invited guests around the loop track on passenger cars provided by the North Shore to allow them to fully understand the scope of the project.
The facility is expected to receive an average of one unit train a week, along with carloads of soybeans, which are part of the feed mix. Nine cars of corn to test the unloading equipment will be delivered in the week ahead, while the first unit train to be loaded on NS is also scheduled for this week. Those trains are expected to be routed via NS’ Pittsburgh Line to Harrisburg, then north on the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad Buffalo Line to the connection with the Union County Industrial Railroad’s former Reading trackage at Milton, Pa. NS locomotives and crews will move the unit trains to the facility and North Shore Railroad crews will handle the unloading process and set up the empty trains to depart the facility.
