Watco

New maintenance facility increases locomotive repair efficiency

National Construction built a new 18,000 square foot locomotive maintenance facility for Watco‘s Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. The project included three years of planning and research with Watco and Angus-Young, with a site visit to a maintenance facility in Kansas to better understand day-to-day operations and identify areas for improvement. This resulted in the design of the new drop pit, which allows train wheels to be extracted and lowered, serviced, and reinstalled, as well as other improvements. The team determined that a pre-engineered metal building was a cost-effective option for this project due to its size requirements.

The building site had unique challenges. Bringing new utilities to the site required National to perform horizontal borings with steel casing while maintaining the structural integrity of existing railroad tracks. The completed facility includes a 25-ton double girder turbo crane and two maintenance pits. It allows for maintenance on up to four 200-ton locomotives at a time.

This facility includes a 2,000 square foot office area with a full mezzanine, which is used for storage. The office area includes locker rooms with showers, work spaces and a break room.

The 25-ton double girder turbo crane parts were brought into the facility on a flatbed car and installed.

 

Locomotives can now pull directly into the facility.

 

The project began with a groundbreaking event and concluded with a ribbon-cutting celebration. This new facility increases the efficiency of locomotive maintenance and train car repairs.