WSOR has opened a 15,000 square-foot locomotive shop in Janesville, Wis. The facility features a drop pit for swapping traction motors and a 25-ton crane, Watco reported via social media platform X.
With 808.59 track miles (see map above), WSOR primarily hauls forest products, fertilizers, grain (corn, soybeans, and wheat), plastics, consumer foods, paper, aggregates, chemicals, frac sand, ethanol, and liquid petroleum.
Watco also reported via X that a new 25,000 square-foot warehouse will kick off operations in 2025 at the 184-acre Port Birmingham, which it describes as the only rail-served port in Central Alabama (see map right). “[T]his rail- and barge-served facility will primarily store steel coils and provide steel producers access to new markets,” according to Watco.
The Birmingham-Jefferson County Port Authority (BJCPA) earlier this year received an Alabama Inland Port Infrastructure Program grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs to help build the warehouse. Adding indoor storage will give the port an “opportunity to better serve the sensitive steel products market and diversify the commodity base,” according to Watco, whose BHRR subsidiary serves the port. Primarily handled there are liquid and bulk commodities, including coal; steel; coils; slabs; and dimensional, structural, and project cargo.
BJCPA is investing $1.1 million in the $1.9 million project with Watco providing the balance, as well as the property.
Port Birmingham is located on the Black Warrior River and offers five barge docks, 144 railcar spots and a direct-to-truck barge station. The port offers access to BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern.
“This project signifies a lot of work between a public and private entity to help develop additional transportation capacity and capability in the central Alabama region,” Watco Vice President K.R. McKenzie said when the grant was awarded. “We are excited to partner with the Birmingham-Jefferson County Port Authority.”
