Reading & Northern Railroad is boasting a banner 2016.

By the end of the year, the Port Clinton-based company that provides rail services throughout Carbon and Schuylkill counties, had grown to include the most employees, track, locomotives, freight cars, facilities and customers in its nearly 30-year history."Business has been very good the last few years and in order to keep growing we invest in the railroad ahead of the demand," said Andy Muller Jr., owner and CEO. "That is why this year we bought more locomotives and freight cars and did an unprecedented amount of track work."Fueling thisgrowth wasanother excellent year of both freight and passenger traffic. R&N grew its merchandise traffic by 16 percent in 2016 with almost 20,000 carloads.Its tourist operations handledover 100,000 visitors, the second time in its history that it reached the 100,000 passengers mark.Mullernoted that it has always been his strategy to reinvest in the company.To accomplish this, Reading & Northern added 10 miles of new track to its system, which includes the acquisition of the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazleton;installed over 15,000 ties, replaced over 20,000 linear feet of rail and built a dozen new switches; acquired six 4-axle locomotivesand 162 additional freight cars; began or completed construction of six additional facilities; added over a dozen new customers; andhired 21 new employees."It takes well-trained employees operating well-powered trains over well-maintained tracks to deliver the high quality service that our customers have learned to expect from Reading & Northern." said Wayne Michel, president of R&N. "We offer our customers guaranteed service windows and provide additional service at no cost to help them with their demands."Taking care of the customers is job 1 at the Reading & Northern."Mullersaid that the past growth isa precursor tothe future."I expect our railroad to grow. I expect our superior service will help our customers grow and as they grow we will benefit. I expect our reputation to encourage more businesses to locate along our lines. We will always take care of our customers and our employees. That is the cornerstone of our success," he said.