Watco officials confirm with Trains News Wire that the Kanawha River Railroad is in the process of taking over coal loading operations on the original 6-mile Winifrede Railroad. The Big Eagle Railroad, operated by Appalachian Railcar Services, has handled operations on the branch line for more than a decade.
Kanawha River Railroad General Manager Derrick W. Jackson says the railroad is familiarizing its train crews with the rail line and will begin loading coal trains on the obscure branch line in the near future. The branch line interchanges with CSX Transportation’s former Chesapeake & Ohio mainline near Chesapeake, W.Va., southeast of Charleston. The line is separate from the railroad’s 308-mile rail line located across the Kanawha River.
Railroad crews will use GATX Rail-leased EMD GP38-2s to load coal trains at the Blackhawk Mining-owned Kanawha Eagle coal mine. According to Blackhawk’s description, metallurgical, thermal, and stoker coals mined at the facility are sold to domestic and international steel companies, electric utilities, and industrial end-users.
Recent operations indicate the facility and its rail line will load an average of 2-3 coal trains per month. The branch line accompanies the railroad’s existing coal and freight customer base extending from central Ohio to southern West Virginia on tracks formerly operated by Norfolk Southern. Kanawha River began operating the former NS line in July 2016 through a lease agreement with the Class I railroad.
Assuming operations on the nearby Winifrede Railroad is the railroad’s latest move in expanding coal and freight business since inking a fly ash transload deal at two rail yards in southern Ohio and West Virginia.
It’s unknown how many carloads the new operation will add to the railroad’s annual carloads. The railroad hauls an average of 40,000 railcars annually.
I keep being impressed by Watco, over and over.