Watco’s Alabama Warrior Railway begins operations

Written by jrood

Watco Transportation Services, Inc., started up a new railroad, the Alabama Warrior Railway August 7. The ABWR operates 15 miles of track in and around Birmingham, Ala., and interchanges with BNSF, Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation. The ABWR's chief mission is to deliver coal to Walter Coke Inc., a furnace and foundry coke producer based in Birmingham.  

Along
with serving Walter Coke’s operations, other rail customers served by the ABWR
include:  LaFarge, US Pipe, Cemex
and two transloading customers, Harrison Gypsum and Performance Minerals. Commodities
shipped by these customers include aggregates, pipe, scrap steel, cement and
various other commodities.

 

In
addition to rail service, mechanical services will also be provided at the
location. Cars are inspected and repaired as needed before delivery to Walter
Coke, Inc. and the yard has a bulk handling facility where it receives railroad
cars with aggregates that are unloaded for delivery to area industries.

  

The
ABWR (formerly Jefferson Warrior Railroad) began as the Mary Lee Railroad prior
to 1900 and was taken over by Sloss Industries (now Walter Coke) in 1969. In
1985, the name was changed to Jefferson Warrior.

 

Watco Companies, Inc., is a
Pittsburg, Kan., based transportation company serving transportation,
mechanical and transload/intermodal needs of customers throughout the nation.
WCI is the owner of Watco Transportation Services, Inc. (WTS), the largest
privately-held short line railroad company in the U.S. operating 21 short line
railroads on more than 3,500 miles of track, as well as 21 industrial contract
switching locations.

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