Proud to Keep Essential Services Moving
Americans rely on basic services like electricity, gas, water, and even trash removal to live comfortably. And at Watco, our team works behind the scenes to help utility providers deliver these necessities nationwide.
Using all modes of transportation, Watco moves infrastructure and equipment crucial to supporting our nation’s energy grid. Colossal Transport Solutions hauls over-dimensional cargo like substations and transformers, while Watco Greens Port transloads and moves reactors and wind turbine blades.
The Watco team also handles, transports, and stores power sources like coal. From the foothills of the Rockies to the Appalachian Mountains, and along our inland waterways, our railroads, switching sites, terminals, and ports keep this energy source moving across the country.
Solar power is one of the fastest growing sources of electricity in the United States. The Pittsburg Transload Terminal helps customers support the demand for renewable energy by storing solar panels in southeast Kansas. Solar farms also receive support from the Timber Rock Railroad. This Louisiana- and Texas-based Watco team regularly moves crushed limestone rock by rail to a customer facility. From there, the customer trucks it to solar farms, where it’s used to stabilize the ground for heavy construction equipment.
Both cryogenic plants and pressure tanks store renewable energy throughout the country. At Watco’s Port of Catoosa in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the team handles and moves this equipment for customers.
Watco also supports our nation’s pipelines. This underground network delivers natural gas to power plants to generate electricity. Pipelines also carry crude oil that’s eventually refined for home heating and gasoline. Watco Logistics moves necessary pipeline components, like couplings and compressors, over the road. On the Texas & New Mexico Railway, the team hauls both pipe and crude oil for customers.
Propane is an alternative fuel that also provides heat. This commodity is moved across Watco’s short line network, most frequently at the Fox Valley & Lake Superior Rail System as well as Kansas & Oklahoma (KO), Great Lakes Central, and the Wisconsin & Southern railroads.
When it comes to discharging liquids like crude oil and natural gas liquids, Watco’s Main Line Measurement provides on-site tank and pipeline meter proving.
Our mobile repair teams and maintenance terminals are essential to Watco’s transportation network. They provide the necessary repairs to keep all types of railcars like tank cars moving throughout North America.
For one oil and gas customer, Watco Logistics manages all repairs to their railcar fleet. Each day, this team manages the flow of requests and delegates them to Watco’s mobile repair and maintenance terminals.
At the end of the month, Watco Logistics provides a single invoice for all repairs completed, providing a seamless experience for this customer.
Water is another necessity. Across the country, municipalities and water companies use caustic soda to treat drinking water to make it taste less acidic. This commodity is stored and moved across Watco’s terminals and ports, including those in Alabama and Tennessee. At the Guntersville Terminal alone, the team stores 1.1 million gallons of caustic soda. Additionally, the Glendale Transload Terminal in Arizona stores other chemicals used to treat drinking water.
Plumbing manufacturers also rely on Watco. Our Industrial Development team helped a PVC pipe producer find the best site to expand their operations. Watco also coordinated design and construction efforts of the facility’s dual, 3,000-foot rail siding. In 2025, the facility opened and is now served by the KO.
Trash must be handled and hauled somewhere. At Watco, it’s on the Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad in Oregon as well as at our dedicated terminals in New York. Additionally, Watco Logistics serves a waste customer, managing the movement of materials over the road to landfills, compost facilities, and recycling plants throughout the United States.
Flipping a light switch or turning on a tap or tossing trash in a bin are everyday parts of American society. We just expect it to work, but there’s an entire supply chain and thousands of people working to make it all happen. Whatever the utility service, Watco is here to help. View our system map and visit our website to learn more.
