Watco, based in Kansas, had been negotiating – unsuccessfully, it turns out – to keep operating the leased 117-mile line between Grafton and Cowen in West Virginia’s coal country. The biggest issue was car supply to the mines. A&O had planned to lease 1,500 hopper cars to alleviate the supposed strain on CSX’s car supply, but the cars just were not available.
“CSX is aware that Four Rivers and Watco are in discussions regarding a potential change of control,” CSX spokesman Gary Sease said.
Four Rivers, a Delaware Corporation, is a holding company jointly owned by CSX and the management of the 165-mile Paducah & Louisville Railway in western Kentucky. CSX has a stake in the P&L, a former Illinois Central property linking its namesake cities.
Four Rivers also operates the newly created (Jan. 6, 2006) 124-mile Evansville Western Railway, formerly CSX and earlier the eastern segment of predecessor Louisville & Nashville’s line to St. Louis, Mo. The right of way on the west end of the old L&N route, from the Belleville, Ill., area into East St. Louis, now hosts the Bi-State light-rail system serving the metro area.
