Watco Teams Rock Mid-States Partnership

Under the rolling hills in southeastern Kansas lies some of the best construction-grade limestone in the region. To take advantage of this natural deposit, Mid-States Materials, an aggregate producer, opened the Grand Summit quarry near the small town of Grenola. Once the rock was excavated, they faced the challenge of finding an economic way to get their product to market. Fortunately, Watco’s South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad (SKOL) runs right next to the quarry and has decades of experience hauling aggregates from this area. Mid-States Materials and Watco formed a partnership to construct a new siding at the quarry, find a fleet of railcars to carry the limestone, and get the rock to market.

“The good, construction-grade limestone rock in Kansas is located in the eastern part of the state,” said Chad Hasler, Mid-States Materials Sales. “It’s more durable than the limestone in central and western Kansas. Normally, we’d haul this by truck, but that’s only economically feasible for 30 to 60 miles. So, we began working Watco to get it on the rail.”

Crushed limestone is loaded into railcars at Mid-States Materials' Grand Summit Quarry in eastern Kansas.

Watco team members talk with Mid-States Materials representatives at the Grand Summit, Kansas, quarry.

A lot needed to happen before the rock could start moving. The Watco Sales team worked with MidStates to determine the volume that would be moved and coordinated with the SKOL to ensure they could handle the added volume. From there, Watco’s Design and Development team worked with the customer to plan the construction of the siding coming off the SKOL’s main line. They decided on two tracks, each long enough to hold 25 railcars.

Additionally, they also needed to locate a place nearer Mid-States’ customers to the west to unload and store the rock. A second siding and storage yard were designed and built along Watco’s Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad (KO) in Ness City. Watco’s Fleet Management team provided the final piece of the puzzle by securing a fleet of 50 gondolas to haul the limestone.

The new storage yard and siding in Mess City, Kansas.

Unloading railcars in Ness City, Kansas.

“One of the biggest challenges we faced at (Grenola) was the terrain,” said Watco Senior Trainmaster Robert Balzer. “That’s on the Grand Summit, one of the steepest railroad grades in Kansas. Once we got that figured out, we worked with the customer to get the siding built, add their fleet to the SKOL, and develop an operating plan. We always want to work with customers to grow their business and bring new customers online.”

Multiple Watco teams worked together to bring this new customer to Watco, and it’s been beneficial for all parties. Mid-States was able to economically grow their business in new markets, the SKOL and KO increased their volume. And Watco is shipping maintenance of way rock from the quarry as well. Their fleet makes the round trip about once each month.

“By utilizing the rail to bring rock into the part of the state that doesn’t have the material they need, it saves our customers money and helps us grow in that market,” said Hasler. “We’re excited to be using Watco to move material. It’s been a good deal for both of us.