Watco Helps Charlotte Pipe Lay Tracks for Growth

Collaboration creates opportunity, and that was on display last month when the Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad (KO) welcomed its newest customer, Charlotte Pipe and Foundry.

Two years ago, the site of the new plastic plumbing and irrigation pipe manufacturing facility in Maize, Kansas, was a rural farm field waiting for development. Now, it’s home to an $80 million, 134,000-sq.-ft. investment that created 50 full-time jobs. And there are already plans to grow.

“We worked with Charlotte Pipe to help them find the right spot,” said Casey Harbour, sales director. “They started with a concept and wanted to serve a market. We helped them make that a reality by identifying the right site, with the right rail access, and matching their needs with room to expand.”

Charlotte Pipe already has facilities that serve the east and west coasts but were looking to expand into the central U.S. Harbour says the full scope of the collaboration came into focus during the initial site visit in Maize. The City of Maize had land to develop, Sedgwick County applied for a state economic development and rail grant, and the Greater Wichita Partnership, a local economic development group, led the charge to bring the investment to central Kansas.

Rail access was one key factor. That’s where Watco made its largest contribution. The KO, real estate, industrial development, project management, and sales teams all collaborated to design and build a new siding for the facility.

“As with any of our projects, we worked closely with the customer to ensure the design fit their immediate needs and vision for the future,” said Drew White, director of engineering. “We went through at least eight iterations before we settled on a design that work for Charlotte Pipe and the operations team on the KO. It’s always a collaborative effort to balance that what we build works for the customer and our team.”

The final design features turnouts on the east and west sides of the facility, directly off the KO main line. These connect to a double-track siding, with nearly 3,000 feet of rail and room for 28 cars to unload plastic resin at dozens of pneumatic connections. Charlotte Pipe currently receives about 40 cars per month, and the capacity for more is already there.

“Everywhere they’ve built, Charlotte Pipe has expanded capacity within a couple years,” Harbour said. “They built the facility with that in mind. Watco wants to support that growth, so the rail infrastructure we built matches that vision, and we’re prepared to provide the rail service they’ll need.”