The Smoky Ridge Railroad (SMO) in Tennessee joined Watco’s short line network on Feb. 2.
Pittsburg, Kans.-based Watco, which provides rail, transloading, terminal and port, and logistics services, reported the news to Railway Age via email on Feb. 5. SMO is the company’s 48th railroad.
The Class III’s 13 track miles comprise roughly 6.63 miles of spur track in Anderson and Roane counties, and an approximately 7.07-mile line from Blair, where it interchanges with Norfolk Southern’s Knoxville District Oakdale Line, to Oak Ridge, where its depot is located (see map above). “Oak Ridge was a pivotal site for the Manhattan Project during World War II,” Watco said.
The 7.07-mile line was originally built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and conveyed to the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE), according to a Surface Transportation Board notice published last month in the Federal Register. In 2003, the notice said, USDOE granted Heritage Railroad Corporation (HRRC) an easement to provide railroad freight service over the line, and in 2009, EnergySolutions, LLC, acquired HRRC’s easement. EnergySolutions, LLC, on Feb. 2 conveyed its common carrier easement interest in the line to SMO. Operations began Feb. 5.
The primary commodities moving on the line are waste and plastics, according to the SMO website.
Watco, which celebrated 40 years of service in 2023, acquired the 386.26-mile Great Lakes Central Railroad in Michigan last fall.
